IDF dismisses officers after two elite soldiers injured

The IDF has dismissed two officers in the elite Maglan unit following training accidents in which soldiers were seriously injured.

Following an investigation conducted on Monday by Brig.-Gen. Yaron Finkelman, the two team commanders were dismissed and the commander of the platoon where the officers served was reprimanded.

In one incident, a soldier was moderately wounded during a Krav Maga exercise conducted without proper authorization and performed without protective equipment.

According to reports he was punched in the stomach during the exercise and, while he complained of pain after being hit, was not taken immediately to hospital. Only after complaining of the pain worsening did the unit officer allow for him to be evacuated to hospital.

The findings of the investigation led to the decision to dismiss the soldier’s commander, First Lieutenant G. “acting erroneously during the [Krav Maga] training and acted negligently by not sending the soldier for treatment” right after his injury.

Krav Maga exercises have also been been suspended until commanders and instructors undergo a “refresher” of the training commands, and new mechanisms for oversight and approval of Krav Maga training in the brigade will also be introduced, read a statement released by the IDF.

In the second incident an elite IDF soldier was severely injured after he was ordered to jump from a moving Hummer during a training exercise into into a thatch of thorns without wearing a helmet and fell onto a rock.

According to a report in Ynet news, jumping into a thatch of thorns is a tradition in the Maglan unit — which is tasked with carrying out operations far behind enemy lines — for new recruits to “face their fear” of prolonged camouflage in rocky grounds during special ambush missions.

The army determined that “action was improper, unprofessional, immoral, dangerous and unnecessary,” and the team commander of the injured soldier, Lieutenant Y., was dismissed.

The parents of the soldier who remains in critical condition in the neurosurgical intensive care unit at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer where he is anesthetized and ventilated, told Ynet that the tradition is “a stupid and dangerous tradition, everyone in the unit is aware of it, and no one forbids it… they tell the fighters that the bushes are their mattress.”

The army said the findings of the investigation would be given to the Military Advocate General to decide whether to open a Military Police investigation.

“The IDF takes risks in the face of the enemy as required to fulfill its operational duties. It is neither acceptable nor professional to unnecessarily endanger soldiers during training and routine activities,” read a statement by the IDF adding that commanders were in touch with the families of the injured soldiers.

According to Ynet the soldier’s parents plan to contest the army’s decision to dismiss lower rank officers, while ignoring the responsibility of senior officers.

“It’s inconceivable that the IDF is dismissing junior officers while keeping senior commanders in their positions,” the report quoted a relative of one of the soldiers as saying. “Everyone knew about this jumping tradition, and no one stopped it.”