Editing Israel Defense Forces (section)

===LGBT people===<!-- Linked to by Sexual orientation and military service#Israel-->
{{Further|Sexual orientation and gender identity in the Israeli military}}
{{Further|Sexual orientation and military service#Israel}}

Since the early 1990s, sexual identity has presented no formal barrier in terms of soldiers' military specialization or eligibility for promotion.<ref name="eichner" /><ref>Suzanne B. Goldberg, "Open Service and Our Allies: A Report on the Inclusion of Openly Gay and Lesbian Servicemembers in U.S. Allies' Armed Forces," ''William & Mary Journal of Women & Law'' (2011) v 17 pp 547–90 [http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol17/iss3/3 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913214209/http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol17/iss3/3/ |date=13 September 2014 }}</ref>

Until the 1980s, the IDF tended to discharge soldiers who were openly gay. In 1983, the IDF permitted homosexuals to serve but banned them from intelligence and top-secret positions. A decade later, professor Uzi Even,<ref name="barbara" /> an IDF reserves officer and chairman of [[Tel Aviv University]]'s Chemistry Department, revealed that his rank had been revoked and that he had been barred from researching sensitive topics in military intelligence, solely because of his sexual orientation. His testimony to the [[Knesset]] in 1993 raised a political storm, forcing the IDF to remove such restrictions against gays.<ref name="eichner">{{cite news|last=Eichner|first=Itamar|title=Follow Israel's example on gays in the military, US study says|publisher=Ynetnews|access-date=10 June 2010|date=8 February 2007|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362505,00.html|archive-date=27 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727141804/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362505,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The chief of staff's policy states that it is strictly forbidden to harm or hurt anyone's dignity or feeling based on their gender or sexual orientation in any way, including signs, slogans, pictures, poems, lectures, any means of guidance, propaganda, publishing, voicing, and utterance. Moreover, gays in the IDF have additional rights, such as the right to take a shower alone if they want to. According to a [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] study,<ref name="barbara">{{cite web|url=http://www.filmforum.org/films/yossi/israelstudyafs.pdf |title=Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces: Did Lifting the Gay Ban Undermine Military Performance? |access-date=1 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214044435/http://www.filmforum.org/films/yossi/israelstudyafs.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2010 }}</ref> a brigadier general stated that Israelis show a "great tolerance" for gay soldiers. Consul [[David Saranga]] at the Israeli Consulate in New York, who was interviewed by the ''St. Petersburg Times'', said, "It's a non-issue. You can be a very good officer, a creative one, a brave one, and be gay at the same time."<ref name="eichner" />

A study published by the [[Israel Gay Youth]] (IGY) Movement in January 2012 found that half of the homosexual soldiers who serve in the IDF suffer from violence and homophobia, although the head of the group said "I am happy to say that the intention among the top brass is to change that."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=273609 |title=Does viral IDF Gay Pride photo show full picture? |author=Yaakov Katz |newspaper=Jerusalem Post |date=12 June 2012 |access-date=6 April 2019 |archive-date=13 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120613175207/http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=273609 |url-status=live }}</ref>