JERUSALEM (JTA) — A record five women were awarded their pilots wings in a graduation ceremony for the Israel Air Force’s pilots course.

Fourteen soldiers completed the three-year course, which includes a bachelor’s degree; each has signed on to serve the Israeli military for nine years.

"A country where women sit in the pilot’s seat is a country where women should be able to sit anywhere," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the graduates, referring to the recent controversy over women in the public sphere.

"There is no bigger proof to the absurdity of the exclusion of women than the fact that you stand here today," he told the female graduates.