‘Israeli’ soldiers who walked out of military base to be jailed

Fourteen soldiers from the ‘Israeli’ military's Givati Brigade Tzabar Battalion who led a mass walkout at the Sde Teiman base were sentenced Friday to 30 days in military prison and removed from service, the military said.

Roughly 80 other participants returned to the base and will remain over the weekend for an “educational process to strengthen the discipline, values, and norms expected of IDF combat soldiers,” according to the statement.

The walkout occurred Thursday afternoon when around 100 infantry soldiers from the battalion abandoned their posts, left weapons in piles, and walked out while chanting against officers.

Footage circulated online showed troops carrying bags and damaged signs, including one reading “Kingdom of Devils.”

The walkout followed a dispute with the battalion commander, who ordered the removal and destruction of decorative signs and insignias displayed by the companies.

Soldiers described the items as memorials to “fallen comrades” and longstanding traditions.

One soldier told Hebrew news outlet Walla that a commander used a five-kilogram hammer to smash one of the insignias.

The commander, in a message to parents, said the signs depicted Satan, the Angel of Death and similar figures that represented seniority-based hazing involving violence and humiliation of newer recruits.

He stated he had removed most of them while retaining a few out of recognition of their sentimental value.

“What pushed the soldiers over the edge were the videos. Seeing how their insignias were being destroyed with a hammer. It was humiliating. Damage to everything they have been through in recent years,” one soldier told parents, according to reports.

In a video from the incident, another soldier said: “If they interfere with a company that has been here for 40 years… with fallen soldiers in the company, and spit in our faces, then we don’t care about anything.”

The ‘Israeli’ military described the episode as a “serious disciplinary incident” inconsistent with its values and expectations of soldiers.

Most troops returned after commanders contacted them via a WhatsApp group that included parents, setting a 4 PM deadline and warning that those remaining absent would be classified as AWOL and face Military Police action.

Security officials noted that veterans had influenced younger soldiers. “There is a kind of veterans-versus-young soldiers dynamic there,” one official said.

“The veterans influenced the younger soldiers and they all decided to leave.” Givati Brigade commander Col. Netanel Shamaka and 162nd Division commander Brig. Gen. Sagiv Dahan arrived at the base to address the troops.

In a message to the soldiers, Shamaka wrote: “During the war, you proved your commitment to the mission. You fought bravely… Precisely out of this deep appreciation… the disciplinary incident… is a grave event that has no place in the IDF… The incident will be handled with utmost seriousness… out of a commitment to set a clear, uncompromising standard.”