The Givati Brigade announced at the end of the Sabbath that it decided to suspend two fighters and commanders due to the incident that occurred yesterday in Hebron, during which fighters and commanders of the Givati Brigade were recorded attacking left-wing activists in Hebron.
Givati fighters who were recorded attacking left-wing activists in Hebron yesterday and were suspended claim that in the moments leading up to the filmed confrontation they were asked to leave the place several times.
According to IDF sources, the fighters in the force explained in the initial investigation that was conducted for them, that a bus arrived at the scene with ultra-Orthodox people who asked to take pictures with them – then the left-wing activists arrived and provoked them and even attacked them.
The incident took place on the road that leads from Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Machpelah, in the area of Beit HaShalom.
Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi issued a message of condemnation to the soldiers, after the Sabbath – in which it was stated: “Any incident of physical or verbal violence on the part of IDF soldiers is contrary to the values of the IDF and its orders.
“Earlier today, friction developed between IDF soldiers and civilians in the area of the city of Hebron. The conduct of the soldiers is serious and the violence used is not consistent with the values of the IDF, including the value of statehood.
“The events will be investigated by the commander of the Central Command, General Yehuda Fox. The incident of violence will be investigated by the military police, upon completion the findings will be forwarded to the military attorney’s office for examination.
“The fighters involved have been suspended from operational activity until the end of the investigation.”
The IDF spokesman’s statement further stated: “The Chief of Staff, Major General Aviv Kochavi strongly condemns any use of violence, physical or verbal, and views with severity any display of violence by IDF soldiers.
The Chief of Staff concluded: ‘The incidents are extremely serious and contrary to the values of the IDF and its orders. The commanders of the IDF and their soldiers are required to carry out their tasks with determination and in the best way while maintaining the value of human dignity and statehood.
“The procedures and instructions allow the soldiers freedom of action to carry out their mission, but they are not allowed to use force unnecessarily and they are not allowed to act violently. The source of the IDF’s strength is that it is a professional and mission-oriented, moral and state-based army.”
The Movement for a Jewish and Democratic State attacked the Chief of Staff for the condemnation of the fighters that he published after the Sabbath: “This is not the first time that the Chief of the General Staff chooses to send – through the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit – non-operational messages on the Sabbath, desecrating the Sabbath.
“He did this at the press conference in the Ofer camp that took place on Saturday and on several different occasions. Lance Corporal Kochavi apologized ‘to those who were hurt’, but the IDF did not conduct an investigation following the violation of the orders and once again we received a Shabbat desecration for no operational purpose.
“Ral Kochavi would do well, if we accept what he wrote in the condemnation notice he sent – ‘The source of the IDF’s strength is its being an army…a value and a state’. There is no value and no statecraft in desecrating the national day of the people of Israel, and the Chief of Staff had to wait for the Sabbath to come out.”
The chairman of Otzma Yehudit MK Itamar Ben Gabir said: “I know the people of the extreme left who come to Hebron, they abuse the soldiers, humiliate them, curse them, and many times attack them. I call on the police to check whether in this case the members of the extreme left did not provoke the soldiers and hurt them.”
Ben Gvir added: “There is no room for harming extreme leftist people based on their opinions, that’s clear, but on the other hand, too many times leftist people photograph only one part of the confrontation. I call on the police to exhaust the investigation and investigate, and as soon as it turns out that leftists have harmed and attacked soldiers, they should be arrested immediately.”