Army officials have made their decisions today and it seems it has been decided that Brigadier General Ofer Vinter will not be promoted. Generally when this happens at this level it means this is the end for Vinter in the IDF.

To remind you, Vinter is a religious Brigadier General, and would have been the first religious person to reach this  level in the IDF, which now will not happen.

The suspicion is that the top brass did not like Vinter due to his outspoken religious beliefs. He upset many in the last Gaza War when he published a letter for the soldiers under his command in which he referenced God. Since then, Vinter has been continually passed over for promotions. Essentially he is now being pushed out of the IDF.

We do not actually know the reason Vinter was rejected for promotion. The people who make these decisions have not said what the reason is. Anything spoken about among th epublic is just the suspicion, not actual fact.

To that end, it would be a shame if that is the approach of IDF brass, rejecting good soldiers because of non-soldiering issues that in no way cause problems for his service. It is especially bothersome in the days in which the number of religious soldiers in the IDF is increasing by leaps and bounds, and the army works to incorporate even more into the IDF from among the Haredi community. Either they want religious boys or they do not, but forcing them in and then forcing them out makes no sense.

That being said, it is inevitable that it will eventually happen. The IDF head honchos can only delay it for so long, but not forever. At a certain point, they won't be able to avoid it any longer. It is just a matter of time.