Jerusalem: Israel`s chief military rabbi has condemned ultra-Orthodox Jews who discriminate against women and pledged such behaviour will not be tolerated in the armed forces, media reported on Friday.

Radio stations and websites said Brigadier General Rafi Peretz had sent officers a memorandum denouncing as "immoral" a slew of acts such as the verbal abuse of a young female soldier for refusing to sit at the back of a public bus and attempts to segregate a town`s pavements.
"Of late there is a grave phenomenon of discrimination against women both outside the army and within it," public radio quoted him as saying. "I`m working to ensure that radical, wrong notions, such as those which inspired the events in Beit Shemesh, will not permeate the Army," he wrote according to news website Ynet.
Beit Shemesh, a town of 80,000 near Jerusalem, has been witnessing a wave of clashes between ultra-Orthodox activists and other residents.
Yesterday night, hundreds of activists there torched refuse bins, blocked streets and stoned police sent to disperse them, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "There were several hundred who took part in the disturbances," he said. "Three people were arrested."
Rosenfeld said that there were no reports of any new trouble so far today morning.
"It`s coming back to normal," he said, there`s a strong police presence in the area."
There have also been contentious incidents within the army, with religious male soldiers walking out of official events where female troops sing, and women at celebrations are asked to move to segregated enclosures. An orthodox Jew was charged with on Thursday with sexual harassment after he allegedly verbally abused 19-year-old soldier Doron Matalon for refusing to comply with demands to sit with other women in the rear of a bus.
Shlomo Fuchs, a 44-year-old father, was charged with allegedly calling her a "whore".
"The increasing phenomenon of discrimination against women endangers democratic society," a court hearing at which the suspect was charged was told.
He was granted bail of 20,000 shekels (USD 5,260, 4,000 euros) until his case is heard, but he was unable to pay and was remanded in custody.
PTI