Mutiny in Givati: 14 soldiers get 30 days in prison, punishment eased for 80

The commander of the Givati Brigade concluded the investigation into the incident of unauthorized departure of soldiers from the Tzabar battalion from the Sde Teiman base. 14 soldiers received 30 days in prison and will be removed from combat units, two more will appear before the command, one did not show up. About 80 returnees will undergo an educational process. The incident occurred due to the removal by commanders of signs and symbols that soldiers consider a tradition, while the command associates them with hazing.

The commander of the Givati Brigade, Colonel Netanel Simcha, concluded on Friday, July 31, the investigation into the soldiers of the Tzabar battalion who had left the Sde Teiman base without authorization the day before. Fourteen soldiers, identified as organizers, received 30 days in military prison and will be removed from combat units. Two more organizers, who returned to the unit at night, will appear before the command later, and one soldier has not yet returned. About 80 soldiers who returned to the base will undergo a 'command-educational process' on Saturday along with their commanders. The incident began on Thursday afternoon when a group of senior conscripts left the base in protest against the actions of commanders who ordered the removal of signs and symbols they had put up. Video recordings gained wide resonance on social network X, some were spread in Arabic-language accounts as a 'mutiny in the Israeli army'. The battalion commander explained that he broke the signs with images of the devil and the angel of death because they symbolized hazing and humiliation, and emphasized that they are not related to the memory of the fallen. The soldiers claim that the symbols are part of the battalion tradition and accompanied them in battles in Gaza and Lebanon, and their destruction was perceived as a personal insult. A senior military source noted that the soldiers' merits do not justify violating rules and called the incident the most serious disciplinary violation.