The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released photos of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) preparing for its overnight mission attacking Iran’s missile sites and air defenses — and the photos included several female pilots and crew members.
As Breitbart News reported, the attack came in retaliation for massive Iranian attacks on Israel in April and early October. The strikes appeared to have been limited to military targets, not oil and gas industry sites or nuclear sites.
The IDF released videos and photos of its forces on Saturday preparing for the attack, which took place across long distances, in several waves, with midair refueling, and without losing a single aircraft or pilot to Iranian air defenses.
There is a psychological purpose in releasing such images, which is both to shame Iran’s highly patriarchal military that they were unable to defend themselves from women, and to inspire domestic political opponents of the regime, for whom women’s rights are an important cause.
Women have been forced to wear the chador and other restrictive Islamic clothing since the Islamic revolution in 1979, often facing arrest — even death — for disobeying.