Commander orders disbanding of Kfir Brigade battalion after hazing

The commander of the IDF’s Kfir Brigade on Sunday ordered the disbandment of the Nahshon Battalion after one of its soldiers, Corporal Sa’ar Mizrahi, was hospitalized following a hazing accident.

Col. Udi Ben Moha gave the order as 11 soldiers were remanded at the Jaffa military court on Sunday. Court president Colonel Orly Yaron extended the remand of seven of the soldiers by two days and three other soldiers by three days. One of the suspects, whose participation was deemed as minimal, was released from custody on Sunday and will later face a disciplinary hearing.

The incident took place last Thursday, when the suspects “tried and convicted” Mizrahi for touching a so-called “seniority stick” — a stick reserved for brigade soldiers with greater seniority. Mizrahi was “sentenced” to a beating by his fellow soldiers, and on Friday morning he collapsed and was rushed to HaEmek Hospital in Afula with a ruptured spleen and bruises all over his body.

According to Ynet, an initial investigation revealed that such hazing incidents were a recurring practice. Maariv reported that the investigation is now focusing on the possibility that battalion commanders were aware of the practice involving the “seniority stick” but did not report it to more senior officers. The soldiers involved in the case related an incident in which one of the commanders laughed when he received a beating for a similar offense.

Mizrahi described the incident to Maariv. He said the older soldiers “were punching and kicking me while I was lying on the floor. I covered my face with my hands and begged them to stop, but nothing worked. I thought I was going to die.”

The soldiers have all confessed to taking part in the incident, but one of them was quoted in Maariv as saying that the entire thing was “supposed to be a joke. We didn’t mean to hurt him. This is just what we do.”