Gen. Yair Golan
Gen. Yair GolanFlash 90

General Yair Golan of the IDF Northern Command decided to dismiss Lt. Colonel Muli Cohen of the 74th Armored Brigade on Monday.

Last Friday, Cohen left a soldier from his command element standing alone at the gates of Burdus village near Ramallah when he ordered the unit to pull out after conducting operations there.

The IDF said initial reports that local Arabs had led the soldier to safety were patently false.

Instead, half an hour after the unit's departure, local Arabs observed a soldier who stood alone and tried to talk to him but he refused. Meanwhile, IDF forces returned to the area and collected the soldier.

When commanders interviewed the soldier he indicated Cohen had not conducted a head-count or radioed the unit were pulling out.

Cohen was suspended after consultations between the Northern Command and Central Command, but now the decision is now final and he will leave his position as a field commander.

However, an IDF source told Arutz Sheva that Cohen will continue to serve by filling positions with the general staff because he had a ‘flawless’ record prior to this "operational failure."

Channel 2 reported that Cohen did not intend to fight the decision and apparently had a close relationship with the soldier, who was frequently chosen to drive his command vehicle.