Givati Brigade commander Col. Netanel Shamaka on Friday completed disciplinary proceedings against most of the soldiers from the Sayeret battalion who left the Sde Teiman base a day earlier while chanting an obscene slogan against their officers. Fourteen soldiers identified as leaders of the incident were sentenced to 30 days in military prison and will be removed from combat roles.
Two other soldiers considered among the leaders of the incident reported back during the night and will face disciplinary proceedings later. Another soldier has yet to report, and a decision in his case will be made later.
Dozens of Givati soldiers leave the Sde Teiman base
(Video: Used under Section 27A of Israel’s Copyright Law)
Gallery
Dozens of Givati soldiers leave the Sde Teiman base
(Photo: Used under Section 27A of Israel’s Copyright Law)
About 80 other soldiers who left the base and returned will undergo what the military described as a “command and educational process to reinforce discipline, values and the standards expected of IDF combat soldiers” together with their commanders on Saturday.
The unusual incident began Thursday afternoon when veteran soldiers left the base to protest their commanders’ removal of signs and symbols they had hung. Brigade officers drove around the area trying to locate the soldiers and bring them back.
Videos from the scene circulated widely on X and were also shared by Arabic-language accounts that celebrated the revolt within the IDF.
In one video, a soldier is heard telling the others: “I want to say that everyone here is man enough to understand the consequences. I understand the consequences too. I don’t know what they’ll do to us, and I don’t really care. If they interfere with a company that has been here for 40 years, with soldiers from the company who were killed, and spit in our faces, then we don’t care about anything. I don’t think you can be a combat soldier like this. Do you think you can be a combat soldier like this?”
The battalion commander, who was accused of breaking and smashing the symbols, sent a message to the soldiers’ parents.
“I understand that you are aware of the absence without leave involving some of your sons,” he wrote. “Those of you familiar from your own military service with seniority rituals between younger and veteran soldiers know how serious this phenomenon is and how many soldiers are harmed by the violence and humiliation involved.”
He said he decided to break wooden signs depicting Satan, the Angel of Death and other images that, in his view, represented those practices. He ordered the remaining signs removed from the companies, apart from a small number retained because of their sentimental value.
The broken signs
(Photo: Used under Section 27A of Israel’s Copyright Law)
“It is important to emphasize that the signs had no connection to fallen battalion soldiers or memorial corners, contrary to claims made in some media reports,” he said.
He added that many soldiers who left their weapons behind and walked out of the base did so because of negative peer pressure rather than careful judgment.
“To help many of them climb down from the tree, I decided to allow them to return to the base by 4 p.m.,” he said. “Those who return will be treated with understanding. Those who decide not to return will have to answer for it.”
The soldiers who left the base, however, said commanders had smashed the signs they made with a hammer. They said the symbols had accompanied them during combat in Gaza and Lebanon and were part of a battalion tradition passed from one group of soldiers to the next.
The signs, they said, represented their connection to the battalion and its traditions, and their destruction deeply offended them. The battalion commander’s decision to remove the signs himself further inflamed tensions.
In an official statement, the soldiers said: “When these symbols are broken, it is not only a piece of wood or a sign that is being broken. Something in the spirit of the soldiers is being broken. After everything we have been through, the small thing that gives us strength, pride and a smile was destroyed.”
“Unfortunately, this is only a small part of the treatment and conduct we experience from some officers toward the soldiers,” they added. “We cannot continue to remain silent.”
A senior military official said Thursday: “All the soldiers in the battalion, from the battalion commander to the last soldier, fought in the war and risked their lives in every combat arena. At the same time, this is a serious disciplinary incident that has no place in the IDF.”
“As in combat incidents, this matter will be handled by commanders with love and respect for the soldiers, while also setting high and uncompromising standards,” the official said.
First published: 13:04, 07.31.26