Deputy defense minister snorts at IDF for lifting pork penalty

Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan on Thursday seethed at the IDF’s decision not to punish a soldier who ate a non-kosher sandwich on an army base.

The American-born soldier brought pork sandwiches given to him by his grandmother to his officers’ course last week, violating IDF regulations maintaining Jewish dietary laws on bases.

But the punishment meted out of 11 days in prison drew condemnation from some who said the sentence did not fit the crime.

After the press caught wind of the matter, the IDF on Tuesday canceled jail time for the soldier, and ordered him confined to base for a Shabbat instead. It later canceled that punishment too, and apologized for its ham-handed approach.

Ben Dahan, from the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party, told Army Radio Thursday that the IDF should have backed up the commander’s decision to punish the soldier rather than folding to external pressure.

Ben Dahan also took to social media to slam the decision.

“The issue here is a matter of identity,” Ben Dahan wrote on Twitter. “The IDF is the army of the state of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world.”

“IDF regulations are clear, and determine that in the army of the Jewish people they only eat kosher — secular, religious, traditional and Haredi soldiers,” he said, not mentioning non-Jewish members of the military.

“Violation of IDF regulations, like with any other matter, carries with it punishment. The punishment was given according to the consideration of the commander and superiors concerning it,” he added.

He warned that canceling the soldier’s punishment could prove a “slippery slope” which may lead to unchecked violations of other orders.

“We mustn’t allow any disregard of orders whatsoever,” he wrote.