Parents of soldiers serving in the Nahal Brigade responded to the sentence handed down to the soldier who was caught by the IDF Chief of Staff wearing a "Messiah" patch on his uniform.
In a strongly written letter addressed to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Nahal Brigade Commander Colonel Arik Moyal, the parents demanded that the 30-day jail sentence, which they referred to as "draconian," be overturned.
In their letter, the parents stress that the soldier is a hero who just returned from the battlefields in Lebanon, and that punishing him for a symbol of Jewish faith is a critical blow to the fighting spirit and the foundations of the Jewish people's tradition.
"To see that the Chief of Staff is the one who chooses to send a soldier to prison for expressing basic Jewish faith is a slap in the face to thousands of soldiers," the letter reads.
The parents criticized what they called a focus on a “patch police" during wartime and claimed double standards. “It is puzzling how the chief of staff is photographed alongside figures who led the refusal to serve, yet chooses to show a heavy hand toward a soldier who sought to connect with his people’s tradition."
The letter, a copy of which was forwarded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, ends with an unequivocal demand to overturn the sentences against the soldier and his commander.
As previously reported, the soldier's platoon commander was sentenced to 14 days' probation, the company commander received an official reprimand, and the battalion commander received a command citation.
The IDF claimed that the soldiers were briefed ahead of the Chief of Staff's expected visit, and despite this, "they behaved in a manner that was inconsistent with expectations and did not comply with rules of discipline."
The brigade commander who disciplined the soldier and his commanders wrote to his subordinates on Wednesday: “It is important that you know, as I told you in our conversation, that the full responsibility is mine, and I acted as I did because discipline is a fundamental value. It starts with us, the commanders, and extends through all our soldiers. Unfortunately, a lack of discipline confronts us both in operational incidents and in routine situations, sometimes resulting in loss of life. The issue is not the patch; the issue is the values by which we educate."
He added that the Nahal Brigade “will serve as an example and model in this field as well; this is our duty."
The commander continued: “Once, a senior commander told me he had left the home of a bereaved family, where the mother asked him: ‘Why did you let him go up to the roof... and because of that he was hurt.’ I will never forget that. Anything is preferable to a soldier being killed because of a lack of discipline. I believe in this path, and therefore, the background noise around it is part of the process. Do yourselves a favor, ignore it and keep hitting hard the way only you know how," he concluded.