In response to:
Much has been made out of women in the Israeli military, but that is not a settled issue either.
"....on 7 December 1977 the Israel Defense Force set forth a new directive precluding any more women from pilot training....
The military role of Israeli women is and will continue to be predominantly a helping role, and their role as wife and mother will continue to be a dominant factor ...beyond the numbers and kinds of jobs in which women serve must reflect these cultural differences. The Israeli military woman certainly cannot be considered a role- model for the American military Woman. In fact, just the opposite may be true.
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1978/nov-dec/landrum.html
Last week as a last hoorah, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifted the ban on women serving combat even though women have been serving in combat for quite some time. Now, a new Rasmussen Report shows 59 percent of voters favor women serving in full combat positions.
Most voters think women in the military should be able to fight in combat just like men do. But they still believe overwhelmingly that women need to pass the same physical tests as men if they’re in special forces like the Green Berets and Navy SEALs.
...
Some opponents, like professor emeritus Martin Van Creveld, argue that the "whole feminist experiment of getting women to enter the military and participate in combat has been a ludicrous failure," in Israel and elsewhere.
"Partly because women themselves don't want to (fight) and partly because there are so many things that they are not up to physically,"......
http://womensenews.org/story/the-world/080912/israels-female-soldiers-face-military-inspection