The Ministry of Defense released Wednesday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 2019 Comptroller report, in which the number of violent and racist complaints has increased.
The report was presented to Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and to the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as well as senior officers in the Israel Defense Forces.
“Over the past year, the alarming trend of commanders using excessive force toward soldiers has intensified to the point of physical violence,” read the report.
“These are aggressive acts that have no place at all in Israeli society, and certainly not in the IDF,” said Ombudsman Eitan Dahan who authored the report.
Racist incidents directed toward Israeli Ethiopian soldiers have increased according to the report which cited extreme and threatening slurs.
The report showed that 6,114 complaints were filed by soldiers last year and more than half of them were seen as legitimate.
Thirty-one percent of complaints were centered around commander-subordinate relations and 13% concerned medical issues.
However, the overall amount of complaints has decreased in recent years.
In response to the report, the IDF spokesperson stated that the military is committed to studying the findings, and will draw the necessary conclusions in order to address the problem.