2 IDF officers jailed for allowing abuse of rookies
Company commander, deputy suspended from combat posts, sent to military prison for 21 days for abuse of rookie soldiers 'in order to make them stronger'
The senior officers were court marshaled following a series of complaints by new recruits, reporting that they have been subjected to beatings. The company commander and his deputy were both sentenced to 21 days in military prison and suspended from their combat posts.
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The rookies claim that they were woken up in the middle of the night during training. They were then blindfolded and beaten by their commanders with wooden sticks "in order to make them stronger."
The rookie abuse case was recently revealed after several soldiers told their friend, who then called the company commander, demanding an explanation.
This recent case comes after a long line of rookie abuse cases in the IDF. Just several months ago, it was revealed that eight soldiers with the Kfir Brigade's Nahshon Battalion were suspended from their combat posts for beating a younger soldier from their company. The victim, a rookie soldier, was attacked for daring to touch the "seniority stick" – a bar with special markings which indicates the seniority of combatants who are soon to be discharged.
In another case, two soldiers from Givati Brigade's Tzabar Battalion were arrested on suspicion of physically and verbally abusing their comrades.
In response to the recent complaints made by rookies, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said: "After hearing the rookies' troubling testimonies, the IDF launched an investigation and found some abnormalities in training methods. The investigation's findings were brought before a military court which then sentenced the officers in charge to 21 days in jail."
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