Givati Brigade soldiers stationed at the Sde Teiman base reportedly walked off the base on Thursday after their battalion commander ordered them to dismantle the unit's memorial site.
The soldiers had recently returned from operations in Lebanon. According to the report, when they were instructed to remove the memorial, which included flags and tributes to fallen comrades, they laid down their weapons in protest and left the base.
In a message sent to the soldiers' parents, the Commander of the Tzabar Battalion wrote that he decided to break wooden signs portraying the Devil, the Angel of Death, and other characters, which, according to him, represent seniority-based bullying through which soldiers are harmed by violence and humiliation. He also stated that he decided to remove, except for a few, of which he understood their sentimental value.
The commander stressed: "There is no connection between the signs and the battalion's fallen soldiers or a memorial site, despite what was claimed in the media." He added that many of the soldiers who left the base and abandoned their weapons did so "out of negative peer pressure and not out of careful consideration."
According to the commander, to allow the soldiers to return to their duties, they would be permitted to return to the base by 4:00 p.m. "Anyone who returns, we will tolerate them. Anyone who doesn't come will have to answer for it," the commander wrote, asking the parents to convince their sons.
The IDF later updated that at the pinnacle of the walkout protest, 100 soldiers left the base. Except for one platoon, all the soldiers have returned to the base.
The military stressed that the instigators will stand trial before the commander of the Givati Brigade and will face appropriate punishment.
A senior military official addressed the incident, saying: “All the soldiers in the battalion, from the battalion commander to the last soldier, fought in the war and risked their lives in all combat arenas."
According to the official, “At the same time, this is a serious disciplinary incident that has no place in the IDF. Just as in combat incidents, so too in this incident, it will be handled by the commanders with love and respect for the soldiers, while at the same time setting high and uncompromising standards."
The IDF said the soldiers left the base without authorization after their commander instructed them to remove signs "related to non-normative events."
The military added that the incident is under investigation and being addressed, stating that the soldiers' actions "do not align with IDF values or the conduct expected of its personnel."