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This Week

U.K. Galleries
Admit Loot

An Opening In The Ranks

Women slowly gain acceptance in Israeli military combat posts.

abbi Yuval Sherlo, a major in the
reserves, runs a training course for
future soldiers who combine yeshiva studies
with military classes. He says he is extreme-
ly distressed by the law that permits women
to serve in combat units.
"This measure," he declares, "reflects a
world-view entirely at odds with the Jewish
way of life." Rabbi Sherlo adds that "it puts
into question the continued participation of
religious Zionists in the army."
Many Orthodox Jews disagree with him,
including some Orthodox women who are
already doing their military service in com-
bat units.
Dana Meir and Dana Aharon, for exam-
ple, now officers in a tank unit, previously
served in outposts on the border with
Lebanon. Unlike kippot-wearing Orthodox
men, their religious convictions are not
immediately evident, but their behavior sets
them off from other female soldiers.
As Dana Aharon points out, "The other
soldiers in the outpost knew that when
there was a party or a film on Friday night,
I went to my room to read. It was no prob-
lem for me, for when you truly believe in
something, you behave accordingly."
When asked about the dangers facing a
modest religious woman in a mixed unit,
she replied: "It depends on the girl. I cer-
tainly know how to resist temptation."

for a pilot's course was admit-
ted in 1995 only after a suc-
cessful appeal to the Israeli
Rehovot, Israel
Supreme Court. In the end, she
washed out, but now two
third of the women being
women are combat navigators.
called up for military service
The threat last year by
say they want to join combat
another young woman to peti-
units, according to a recent
survey of female inductees. Now, in
tion the Supreme Court was
accordance with a recent
enough to convince
Knesset decision, they will be
the army to allow
Ready to rumble:
eligible to join any unit in the
her to participate in
Women command a course for ship
Israel Defense Forces, includ-
IDF tan ks.
ing tough commando groups
captains. Most
hitherto closed to them.
recently, a woman
This latest measure is the
"pushed her way"
culmination of a long struggle by fern-
into the IDF's prestigious air rescue unit.
inists, in the military and elsewhere, to
Despite these precedents and the
change the "job description" for
new legislation, Brig. General Orit
women, who now make up nearly
Adato, commander of the Women's
one-quarter of the IDF.
Corps, doesn't expect a mass flood of
A decade ago they were seen pri-
young women into combat units. She
marily as potential secretaries for the
says, "In Canada, where a major effort
officer corps, hopefully able to type
was made to convince female recruits to
letters and certainly able to serve cof-
join such units, few did so. And I imag-
fee. Then a range of opportunities
ine that it will be the same situation
opened up as the brass realized that
here, certainly for the next few years."
young women could do a lot of
A similar if more cynical analysis of
important behind-the-lines jobs as
the new law was recently offered by
well as or better than young men.
author and columnist Meir Shalev.
Six months ago, Lt. General Shaul
"Its main importance," he suggests,
Mofaz, the army chief of staff,
"is in the sphere of public relations
changed the official policy so that
and political correctness. The media
women could be considered for all
obviously prefer to spotlight pretty
positions. The Knesset action ratified
young women lugging machine guns
that shift.
up a hill than worn-out female factory
There had been struggles in some
workers who have just lost their jobs.
spheres. The first woman to be accepted
"Stories about the former increase

NECHEMIA MEYERS
Israel Correspondent

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ratings as well as the popularity of
Knesset Members who sponsor bills
for equality in the army. But they
don't contribute to improving the sta-
tus of women in Israel."
Hebrew University military histori-
an Martin Van Creveld argues that
opening more IDF roles to women "is
the best way to wreck the Israeli army."
"Once a profession is invaded by
women," he said, "its prestige goes
down. The more it goes down, the
more men run away. The more they
run away, the more women come in.
It's a vicious circle."
One army officer who asked not to
be identified argued the opposite. He
said the most talented female recruits are
the ones who seek challenging jobs in
the military and they often raise the level
of the mixed units in which they serve.
It won't be too long before Israelis
find out who is correct. Li

London/JTA
he United Kingdom's public art
galleries and museums are
expected to admit in the coming
days to having acquired thousands
of artworks since 1933 that may
have been looted from Holocaust
victims.
London's Tate Gallery alone is
expected to reveal that it may have
more than 100 Nazi-looted paint-
ings on its walls, including famous
works by Monet, Degas and Picasso.
The anticipated statement from
the museums follows a call by the
government last - year for all public
galleries to audit their collections for
suspected looted artworks.
It is believed that lack of time has
prevented the galleries and museums
from conducting full audits of major
silver, stamp, coin and firearm collec-
tions that have been acquired since
1933, when Hitler came to power.
The Tate is also currently facing a
claim for an 18th-century painting,
"View of Hampton Court," by
Dutch master Jan Grittier the Elder.
Two brothers and their sister, who
fled to England from their home in
Dusseldorf, Germany, say the work
was stolen after their father, a
German Jewish banker, was shot by
the Nazis in the 1930s.
The gallery says it has delayed a
settlement on the grounds that resti-
tution is a political matter and the
government must decide how such
claims should be handled.
In a related development, the
British government announced last
week that it is setting up a panel to
adjudicate claims by Holocaust sur-
vivors and their heirs to artworks in
national Collections.
France recently returned 13 works
that were looted by the Nazis from
Jewish-run galleries, while Germany
has said that it wants to accelerate
the return of art stolen by the Nazis.
In a related development, the
British government announced that
it had paid out some $2.5 million in
claims by Holocaust survivors and
their heirs — mostly in Israel —
whose prewar assets in Britain were
seized as "enemy property" and not
returned. Most of the assets involved
cash that was deposited for safekeep-
ing in British banks by residents of
European countries that fell under
Nazi occupation. 0

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