At the end of six days of imprisonment instead of ten, and after he apologized and his sentence was reduced, the soldier who promised the left-wing demonstrators that Ben Gabir would put order here was released yesterday.
In the letter that the soldier sent to the brigade commander and the general of the Central Command, he wrote, among other things: "I understand that I spoke in a way that I should not have spoken, even if I did it unintentionally. I apologize, I realized my mistake."
On the assumption that the soldier did understand, it is not certain that the top of the IDF did. When the incident in Hebron happened, the spirits were stirred. It is impossible, the IDF said, for a soldier to express himself in a political way.
It is not possible that he violated the IDF's values. In a special letter published by the Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, he wrote: "IDF soldiers may use force according to defined principles and laws. However, they are absolutely prohibited from using force without the purpose of carrying out The mission... and certainly not due to losing one's temper or for revenge. Any incident of this type is serious, improper, unethical and illegal."
The Chief of Staff also wrote in clear words: "Such incidents tarnish the name of the unit in which the soldier serves, the IDF and the State of Israel... The vast majority of IDF soldiers do not behave this way, on the contrary, and abnormal behavior of this type requires condemnation and severe punishment".
And in a direct reference to the soldier, he wrote: "Last weekend we also witnessed an IDF soldier who not only did not behave according to the IDF's values and cursed civilians, but also expressed himself politically and damaged the value of statehood. The IDF is a state army, which does not have A place for expressing a political position or for actions arising from political considerations."
Indeed, girlish words.
And following that, the soldier was judged and sentenced to ten days in prison, in accordance with the chief of staff's words, that this behavior requires severe punishment. Nowhere, by the way, was it published that the sentence was accompanied by an asterisk: that if he apologized, something he did not do immediately after the incident but only after he was judged , his punishment will be softened.
When the sentence was announced, the left applauded - but the right was outraged and said that the punishment was political and stemmed from the left's pressure to impose a heavy sanction on the disobedient soldier.
The very delivery of the letter and the quick condemnation provoked criticism from the right that the Chief of Staff and the IDF spokesman are in a hurry to please the editorial columns in the leftist press.
Knesset members and right-wing representatives on their own behalf went on air and angrily attacked the decision, claiming that the punishment was political and disproportionate.
Some promised that they would pass laws that would protect the soldiers from their commanders.
The designated Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, met with the soldier's father and strengthened his hands and spirit.
The network celebrated.
Each side and its positions.
And here, the press did its job, and on Thursday it was announced that the soldier apologized and therefore it was decided to soften his punishment.
It is interesting that this time no one is shouting that the decision is political and that it resulted from the pressure exerted by the right.
It can only be assumed that the army commanders live among their people and simply aligned themselves to the right.
It's troubling to think that at the top of the army they may not have understood that the sweetening of the punishment was wrong;
That it is impossible for the Chief of Staff to talk about a severe punishment, and in practice a third of the punishment will be reduced. And this mainly conveys a problematic message to the soldiers, that even if they act inappropriately - it is enough for them to apologize, and no harm will really come to them.
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