The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that the army is investigating a “serious violent incident” in which a senior officer was beaten during an altercation with a group of soldiers at a West Bank base.
According to a preliminary IDF investigation of the incident and eyewitness accounts, the incident began on Sunday when the Yehuda Territorial Brigade’s chief signal operator called the deputy commander of the 51st Golani Battalion “the one”.golanchik arcsduring a video conference call.
Ars is a derogatory Hebrew slang term for those who associate with a type of macho culture, and is often used as an ethnic stereotype for working-class Israelis of Mizrahi origin.
In response, the deputy commander, a major, threatened to punish any soldier who allowed the chief signal operator to go to the Harsina military outpost near Hebron – where the battalion is currently stationed according to the investigation.
The chief signal operator, accompanied by the deputy commander of the Yehuda Territorial Brigade – a lieutenant colonel – arrived at the base on Monday afternoon and attempted to enter the base. The investigation states that the constable posted at the entrance told the two officers that they were not allowed to enter.
The deputy commander of the Yehuda Brigade telephoned the deputy commander of the 51st Battalion, who replied that the lieutenant colonel could enter, but not the chief signal operator.
The Yehuda Brigade’s liaison officer called the 51st Battalion’s Sergeant Golanchik Arce, who responded by instructing the officer not to bring the officer to the battalion’s posts. When the officers arrived at the checkpoint near Kiryat Arba with the commandant, one of the fighters blocked their entry and a fight broke out@roysharon11 pic.twitter.com/t8UDTcquuI
– Kann News (@kann_news) January 30, 2023
The two argued over the phone before the senior officer again approached the constable posted at the entrance and asked him to be allowed inside along with the chief signal operator and other soldiers accompanying him.
The soldier refused and told the officer to back off, and in response, the officer pressed his head against the soldier in an apparently threatening manner, and the soldier responded in kind. In response, the senior officer’s entourage pushed the constable and spat in his face, the investigation said.
The constable posted at the entrance radioed his company to inform them of the incident. Several soldiers including the company commander and his deputy arrived at the scene and a physical and verbal altercation ensued.
Company soldiers and officers told the deputy commander of the Yehuda Brigade that they would not be allowed to enter the base because they had allegedly hit a soldier guarding the entrance.
Several minutes later, the deputy commander of the 51st Battalion arrived at the base’s entrance and let the senior officer and his chief signal operator in.
But once inside the base, the senior officer was blocked from accessing a part of the base used by the 51st by a warrant officer from the unit, who told the Yehuda Brigade’s deputy commander that he was denied access to the company area in the base. Not allowed to do. , the investigation said.
The investigation states that the senior officer was furious and grabbed the warrant officer’s hand, and twirled him before pushing him against the wall. After witnessing the altercation, soldiers of the 51st rushed and jumped on the deputy commander of the Yehuda Brigade, pinning him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
The chief signal operator and other soldiers in the officer’s entourage fled, leaving the deputy commander of the Yehuda Brigade to be beaten by the soldiers.
A soldier recalled the incident in an audio recording to his friends, “I’m not kidding, they choked him, kicked him, the warrant officer punched him… everyone was beating him.” “
The dispute was eventually broken up by the deputy commander of the 51st Battalion.
The extent of the officers’ injuries was not detailed by the military. he did not require hospitalization
“A serious violent incident took place in Yehuda today [Territorial] being investigated by the commander of the brigade, including the commander of the brigade [the] the con [Brigade]the IDF said in a statement.
