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Shaving face: Israel’s army faces legal battle over right to grow a beard

  • Israeli military rules compel all secular male troops to be clean-shaven, which is seen as discriminatory and counterproductive
  • There is a ‘Beard Exemptions for All’ Facebook group and a Supreme Court challenge has been filed, with some saying the army’s future is at stake

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Gilad Levi and Bar Pinto have founded the ‘Beard for All’ campaign challenging Israeli military rules forcing all male troops to be clean shaven. Photo: AFP
Agence France-Presse
Israel’s military is facing a challenge on the home front unrelated to traditional threats against the Jewish state: it is over facial hair, and activists say the army’s future is at stake.

Bar Pinto and Gilad Levi, two red-bearded 29-year-olds, have founded “Beard Exemptions for All” (“Ptor Zakan Lekulam” in Hebrew), a campaign challenging Israeli military rules forcing all male troops to be clean-shaven.

Pinto and Levi have taken issue with a system that grants exemptions to that rule on religious grounds, while the faces of secular troops must remain smooth. They argue this exacerbates tensions within the ranks.

“There is an obvious discrimination between religious and secular,” Pinto said. “It’s not legal,” Levi added.

Israeli soldiers arrive at a gathering site in the Golan Heights. Photo: EPA-EFE
Israeli soldiers arrive at a gathering site in the Golan Heights. Photo: EPA-EFE

Military duty at age 18 is mandatory in Israel, with young men compelled to serve for nearly three years and women for two. But increasing numbers are seeking exemptions, citing psychological conditions and other factors as grounds to avoid service.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz recently said that more than half of young Israelis were not serving in the military.

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