Actually, I recently read, to research for another such discussion on this forum, that Israeli feminist lawmakers are responsible for adding verbiage to a law that states that all opportunities in the IDF are equally open to both men and women. There is even a coed unit that is stationed in their southern desert of Israel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracal_Battalion
However, the IDF is taking heat for dragging their feet on further deploying more women as combat grunts. Your larger point that this is being forced on the IDF is spot on. The original coed nature of Israeli fighting forces in 1948 grew out of a far left egalitarian ideal that there is no difference bewteen the sexes. That spirit lives on, at least until the sh*t really hits the fan.
That's certainly true -- but there may also have been an element of anyone big enough to carry a weapon, fights!