Following the 20-day jail sentence given two Shimshon battalion soldiers on Sunday for waiving an anti-eviction banner last week, the headquarters of Homesh First, the organization advocating the return of Jews to Homesh and other communities uprooted in the Disengagement of 2005, issued a statement Sunday evening which said, "Even if they throw these brave soldiers into jail for a year, it won't change the fact that they returned honor to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and marked a clear line between the IDF and political evacuations for the first time since the [2005]expulsion."
The statement continued, "IDF commanders must ask themselves 'What in the function of the battalion during the evictions brought about this level of frustration?'"