The IDF on Wednesday published the results of its probe into wider problems of military discipline following the deaths of civilian Ze’ev “Jabo” Hanoch Erlich and a soldier in hostile Lebanese territory on November 30, but withheld details relating to civilians who have illegally snuck into battlefield areas.
Despite strong pressure from the media and no specific legal provision preventing providing the names of those civilians, the IDF not only refused to name any violators who the media itself had not already identified but also refused to name IDF officers who have facilitated such violations and declined to list the punishments handed out to those officers.
Initially, the most that the IDF was ready to reveal was that it only found around half a dozen cases of civilians illegally sneaking into battlefield areas in Lebanon or Gaza without authorization. After severe criticism from the media, it revealed that it has only identified one case which the media had not yet known about.
Other cases reported by the media include Daniella Weiss, Rabbi Kastiner, and Rami Ben Yehuda. After extensive media questioning, the IDF said that there was at least one other case of an IDF donor entering enemy territory illegally, but did not provide further details. No details were provided about punishing officers involved.
Bizarrely, Weiss has not been questioned about how she entered Gaza in order to identify which soldiers assisted her, and the IDF said it still cannot confirm that she did, in fact, enter Gaza, though there have been media reports relating to the issue, and she has publicly admitted to entering.
Next, the IDF said that hundreds of civilians are regularly entering battlefield areas with proper authorization, and in order to provide essential services, such as construction workers and engineers to maintain IDF forward bases.
Broader discipline issues
The IDF said hundreds of such workers regularly work in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors to maintain IDF forward bases and to build up defenses to protect the soldiers from Hamas attacks.
In addition, the IDF said it had found there were some broader discipline issues in areas such as weapons readiness, cellphone usage in hostile territory, and proper dress. It also said discipline issues were worse in Southern Command in Gaza, where intense aspects of the war have lasted for much longer, than in the North in Lebanon and Syria, where the intense part of the war was much shorter.
Broadly speaking, the IDF seemed to want to clear its name and said even the discipline problems it had found were not too far beyond normal parameters.
Erlich, 70, from Ofra, and soldier Gur Kahati were killed in Lebanon. Kahati’s commander, Lt.-Col. (res.) Yaniv Yarom, and another officer were wounded during the same incident on November 20 in which Erlich wanted to perform certain unauthorized archaeological examinations.
He was a known tour guide and an archaeological expert of the Land of Israel.
Shortly after the incident, Yarom resigned from the IDF due to his role in approving Erlich’s entering hostile territory even though he was not authorized to do so.
“I share in the families’ grief, embrace them, and wish the wounded a swift recovery,” Yarom wrote in his letter to Golani Brigade commander Col. Adi Ganon.
“Given the values I was taught and my belief that ‘pride comes with responsibility,’ I believe I must take command responsibility for the incident,” he wrote. “Therefore, I request to end my position as Support Company commander.”
Besides the current wider probe by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Moti Baruch, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Uri Gordon is carrying out a more specific probe of the Erlich incident, including reportedly that Erlich had entered enemy territory many times in the past with authorization.
Also, the Military Police is probing whether Yarom or others had committed any criminal violation relating to any of Erlich’s incidents.
The results of those probes might come out next week or an undetermined time in the near future, the IDF said.
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