Rabbi Re’em Cohen, the head of the Otniel yeshiva and the rabbi of the community, expressed his sorrow on Tuesday over the fact that his students who had been dismissed from the IDF did not receive backup from the military rabbinate.
“There’s a systemic failure rather than a halakhic failure,” Rabbi Cohen told Arutz Sheva. “A good commander should be considerate of every soldier’s beliefs. What happened here with these cadets is a collapse of leadership. These guys would not refuse an order, but there was a failed commander who defined this is as refusal to obey orders.”