“Shame”: IDF announced a victory while a battle was still ongoing — and the losers were its own fighters | Avi Ashkenazi

The IDF’s great victory: today (Tuesday) before noon, the IDF Spokesperson, Brigadier General Efi Deferin, issued a special statement. He informed the public in Israel about one of the significant victories the IDF achieved in the recent period. Without a doubt, the IDF demonstrated a quick and decisive move.

The victory the IDF achieved this morning was not against Hamas militants, not in the Lebanese arena against Hezbollah, and certainly not against the head of the snake in Iran. This time, the IDF defeated its own fighters from the “Tzabar” battalion in the Givati Brigade. Those fighters who, according to their claims, rose up and rebelled following the conduct of the battalion commander, Lt. Col. M. In the statement by Brigadier General Efi Deferin, it was said that the IDF has completed the handling of the mutiny in the Givati Brigade.

“Following the incident in the Tzabar battalion, the trials regarding the four remaining soldiers ended. The fourth soldier was tried while on release leave due to his involvement in the incident.” In the name of a military source, the IDF updated that three of the soldiers who led the mutiny were sentenced to 30 days in prison, will be removed from fighting and transferred immediately from combat service. Another soldier, who was on release leave, was sentenced to 20 days in prison, will be removed from fighting and transferred immediately from combat service. Thus, the IDF sent 18 fighters to imprisonment.

Until now, five days after the difficult incident, the IDF has not updated what the charges were in which the fighters were accused, who were tried by the Givati Brigade commander, Lt. Col. Natanal Shmaka. Were they accused of rebellion? Of insubordination? Of violence?

At the beginning of the incident, even before the videos were released in which the battalion commander, Lt. Col. M, is apparently seen engaging in bullying, the IDF said that the background to the mutiny of the 115 fighters was a dispute with the commanders on the basis of “Pazm games” and violent mistreatment of young soldiers by veterans. It is very possible that there is full or partial truth in the IDF’s claim that this was the background to the incident. But the videos show, at least in appearance, that the factor that ignited the incident was the “problematic” conduct of the battalion commander, who was seen holding a hammer and breaking the signs of one of the companies in front of the soldiers.

Yes, in the end, it is forbidden for soldiers to abandon weapons, rebel, and desert from service. There is no matter of a dispute here. But already from the beginning of the incident it was clear how the concluding campaign of it would look: a complete victory of the IDF over the fighters. Sending them to jail while expelling them from their combat role. It was clear that the entire military top brass—from the brigade commander, Lt. Col. Natanal Shmaka, through the divisional commander 162, Brigadier General Giv Dehan—would do everything to close the incident in a way in which the “bad guys” in the story would pay the price while the “good guys” would win, gain glory, and continue on. Now it is clear that the battalion commander, Lt. Col. M, received backing from the divisional commander: from the IDF’s perspective, he won. From the IDF’s perspective, there are two norms of discipline and punishment: one for the fighters, and the second for the commanders.

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion set the term so important: “Let every Hebrew mother know that she entrusted the fate of her sons to the commanders worthy of that.” There is doubt whether Ben-Gurion saw the conduct of the commanders when he set the statement.

It is important to understand. The fighters, even if they were wrong, even if they harmed the values of IDF discipline, are not enemies of the people. They are not criminals. They are the heroic children of the entire People of Israel. They fought for almost three years without interruption, with self-sacrifice, in Gaza and in Lebanon. The IDF is committed to preserving the values of discipline. But it is important to remember that discipline is across the entire army. Even the Givati Brigade commander, Lt. Col. Natanal Shmaka, is not a “tablecloth full of blue.” Only a few months ago, while he was fighting in Lebanon, he committed a disciplinary offense among the most severe, when he brought unauthorized civilians and soldiers into the combat area in Bint Jebel in Lebanon.

So the IDF knew how to protect the commander, and he was punished with the lightest punishment of a command remark. Despite the severity of his act, he was not dismissed, not sent to jail, and the IDF did not echo the sentence. Now, in the case of the mutiny in the IDF, they did not think to examine and take a command or disciplinary step against the battalion commander who, apparently in the videos, is seen acting violently.

In Bed 1 there is a huge sign with the statement “From me you will see and thus you will do.” It is important that the Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, will read already today to the commander of Division 162, Brigadier General Giv Dehan, and demand from him explanations why he preferred to act only against the fighters and turned his gaze away from the conduct of the battalion commander. Is this the example the IDF is instilling in the fighters: to behave and to dismiss everything by a method of bullying, smashing objects with hammers?

The IDF won the battle. The IDF Spokesperson, Brigadier General Efi Deferin, published this this morning. 18 fighters were sent to jail. Certainly an impressive achievement for the IDF in this battle. But there is doubt whether the IDF won this campaign. Because just as it expects the People of Israel to stand and defend the honor of the commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Blot, which was trampled in a wild television broadcast by panelists and a defense minister without restraint, it is also expected that commanders will preserve the honor of the fighters right before they are forced to carry out extremist moves like “mass mutiny.”

The IDF Spokesperson’s response: “The claims presented do not reflect reality. This is a serious disciplinary incident that has no place in the IDF, certainly at a time of war. The entire incident was investigated and handled by the commanders, and the required lessons were produced across all levels.”