Golani soldiers leave base over commander's conduct
Several fighters who saw combat in summer war did not report for duty, saying captain prevented medical leave and mental health counseling; IDF says they refused to perform tasks.
Seven Golani Brigade combat soldiers from the 12th Battalion left their base on the Golan Heights over the past two weeks in an organized protest against their commanding officer, Ynet learned on Monday. The soldiers have yet to return to base.
The soldiers claimed the commander humiliated dozens under his command.
The military, however, said that five of the complainants asserted that they should not have to perform junior tasks and two others were AWOL due to financial hardship. A military source said that the five refused to carry heavy weaponry, perform kitchen duties, and leave for a week-long war simulation – eventually choosing to leave the base.
When the soldiers returned after several days, they were tried by the battalion commander and sentenced to confinement and 20 days in military prison – at which point they again abandoned the base.
According to their relatives, they left the base following the "discriminatory conduct" of their commander, an IDF captain, which was manifested through lack of consideration in permitting medical leave or mental health counseling. They said many of them had turned to the mental health officer after the harrowing fighting in the Saja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza.
The soldiers, who served in various platoons of the battalion's light infantry company, left the base in separate groups, as recently as last Thursday. According to the soldiers' account, their battalion commander, who holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, send them a message in which he threatened to send them to jail, transfer them to the logistics company, and revoke their military IDs and military rights - including release benefits.
The soldiers were persuaded to return on Sunday to their training base in the Golan Heights. They agreed to do so after their sergeant promised they would not be jailed upon their return. However, the battalion commander decided to send them to jail, and according to their relatives, even refused a request by one soldier to be tried by the brigade commander, Colonel Rassan Alian – a right given to every soldier facing a disciplinary hearing.
"The battalion commander refused the request and told the soldier with contempt, 'get out of here'," claimed a source close to the soldiers. "In response, the soldiers left the base again and did not present themselves to the military jail to serve their sentences.
"These are good fighters who proved themselves in Operation Protective Edge, went through the worst sacrifices, and lost scores of their friends who were killed or wounded, like their previous battalion commander, who was critically wounded. Therefore, they deserve to be treated like human beings and not in a callous and disrespectful manner. The commander even scornfully called one of the soldiers a 'homo'."
According to the soldiers, eight additional soldiers tried to escape during the most recent departure from the base on Thursday, but were stopped at the gate by personnel.
An IDF spokesperson said in response: "The seven soldiers in this case were sentenced to imprisonment because they violated military orders. They defected in light of their refusal to complete tasks given to them."
