A soldier serving at Army Radio was dismissed from his post after publishing an op-ed in about the song "Zachreini Na" in the Haaretz daily, journalist Eran Suissa revealed on Twitter.
Army Radio commander Yaron Dekel made the decision to dismiss Nir Varubel after he was tried for misconduct. He will now be reassigned to a different military post.
In his article last week, Varubel claimed that "Zachreini Na" - which came under fire after Jewish extremists waved knives and guns while dancing to it at a recent wedding - is played often at celebrations in the religious Zionist community.
"'Zachreini Na' is not the national anthem of the hilltop youth, nor of the perpetrators of 'price-tag' attacks," Varubel asserted. "It is sung reverently by bourgeois religious Zionists, residents of Petah Tikva, Ra'anana and Givat Shmuel."
The graduate of the hesder Yeshiva in Tel Aviv further argued that the hilltop youth are a part of mainstream religious Zionism.
"You can call them the names we're already tired of hearing: 'Judeo-Nazis,' 'settlers,' 'lunatics,' and my personal favorite - 'a handful.' But to my shame and horror, they're not. No rabbi or public leader would admit it, but these boys are not wild weeds. Not only did they grow up in the elite beds of religious Zionism, but they are also the fine fruits of education received at yeshivas and pre-military academies."
An Army Radio spokesman said in response that "the soldier acted in violation of military orders and therefore will be removed from the unit."