The soldier who initiated the mutiny to C14: "I asked the battalion commander 'What are you doing?!'"
The soldier who initiated the mutiny of the "Tzabar" battalion in the Givati Brigade was revealed in an interview with C14, in which he explains the soldiers' version of one of the most dramatic events ever recorded in the IDF.
The soldier who initiated the mutiny of the "Tzabar" battalion in the Givati Brigade was revealed in an interview with C14, in which he explains the soldiers' version of one of the most dramatic events ever recorded in the IDF.
The soldiers' version of the largest mutiny in the IDF — and the response: "We will not be silent"
How did your morning start on the base?
"We started the morning as usual with equipment inspections with the battalion commander outside the base. These are routine inspections that we know well. Later in the day, additional inspections were supposed to take place on the containers and the living quarters inside Sde Teiman."
When did you realize something unusual was happening?
"We were waiting for the battalion commander to arrive for the container inspection. Suddenly, the company sergeant major ran to us, literally crying. He told me: 'The battalion commander is going crazy there, he is breaking our signs.' At that moment, the whole company dropped everything and ran towards the containers. When I entered there, I saw a sight I never imagined I would see. My heart broke."
Drama in Sde Teiman: Givati soldiers abandoned the base — and went AWOL
What did you say to the battalion commander when you saw him breaking the equipment?
"I ran to him and asked him, 'What are you doing? What do you think you are doing?'"
He answered me that these signs distract us from our truth, and that they are the reason we do what we want. I answered him that these are signs that people worked very hard on, and that no one — not me and not him — has the right to break them.
How did he react to your claims?
"He told me: 'What does it matter? Your job is only to kill terrorists.' At that moment, I just stood there and didn't let him move. He tried to advance with the forklift and I didn't allow him. He gave an ultimatum of 10 minutes to load everything onto the FMTV truck, and said that if we didn't do it, he would continue to break things because, according to him, it is 'destructive'."
According to the soldier, the battalion commander added that "he doesn't care and it's just signs, and even his little daughter's signs from kindergarten he always throws in the trash."
What made you decide to leave the base?
"I saw the whole company and battalion completely broken. There were new guys standing there and I didn't know how to explain the situation to them. I felt that if, because of his high rank, he thinks he can do whatever he wants and treat his soldiers with such contempt, then he forgets that without his soldiers he has nothing. I told the guys: 'That's it, we are not here.' I told them to pack their bags, return the equipment to the armory, and leave. As soon as we started packing, the company next to us also joined. Everyone packed their equipment and we went home."
