General Scolded For Gender Roles Comment

A brigadier general who told high school seniors that historically men have been warriors and women have been prostitutes was reprimanded Thursday.

The furor over comments by the armored corps officer, Gershon Hacohen, was the latest chapter in Israel’s lively debate over the role of female soldiers.

Womens’ rights activists, politicians and a Cabinet minister had called for Hacohen’s dismissal for his comments two weeks ago.

Women in Israel are drafted at the age of 18, like men, but often do menial jobs because they are barred from combat duty.

Calling Hacohen’s remark “offensive and humiliating,” the army said that women soldiers were essential to the armed forces.

Hacohen’s commander, Gen. Amiram Levine, severely reprimanded him Thursday, an unusual punishment for an officer of Hacohen’s rank. In a letter to Levine made public by the army, Hacohen apologized, saying his remarks were “superfluous and wrong.”