IDF highlights soldier who killed 3 terrorists, sparking controversy

In an article on its website, the IDF Spokesman’s Office published the photograph and details of a soldier who it said had foiled two terror attacks in little more than a week, killing three terrorists in the process. The short Thursday article, headlined “On guard: Kfir Brigade fighter tonight thwarted second attack in a week,” prompted controversy and some Palestinian calls for revenge.

In an unusual move, the IDF spokesperson’s unit on Thursday published the picture of the soldier who it said shot and killed a terrorist who was trying to stab his colleague, and who also killed two other terrorists a week earlier. He was identified as First Private T., a 19-year-old who was drafted to the IDF eighth months ago.

Palestinian media outlets intimated that Israel was boasting of the soldier’s prowess; the Ma’an News Agency noted that one US Jewish website (the Jewish Press) celebrated him as “the Terminator” for his success in intercepting terrorists.

Commenters on a Facebook page of the non-official Shehab News, where the picture of the soldier was also posted, called for revenge against him, the Haaretz daily noted. His picture on Shehab News, with the caption “The occupation boasts of a soldier who killed three Palestinians near the Gush Etzion junction south of Bethlehem,” was “liked” 4,000 times and shared 400 times, Haaretz reported.

Many of the comments called for revenge and for Palestinian “heroes” to “deal with him.”

The military often blurs the faces of soldiers from sensitive units when it distributes photos. IAF pilots or commandos in elite units are never shown openly. On other occasions soldiers are photographed from the back or wearing sunglasses.

The soldier in question is an infantryman with a lower security classification. In a decision which Haaretz called “puzzling,” the soldier’s name was contracted to a first letter only but his face was clearly shown. (His unpixelated photograph remained on the IDF Spokesman’s website at the time of writing.)

Kfir Brigade officials said the IDF never blurred the faces of its infantrymen. In addition, an officer in the brigade told the Hebrew-language website Walla that the Judea and Samaria Division commander, Col. Lior Carmeli, recently prohibited soldiers from going on operations while wearing ski masks.

But other infantry officers said that since Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza last year, the military has decided on a few occasions to avoid exposing soldiers for fear that they may face legal processes aboard, including at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

In the Border Police, a paramilitary force often deployed in the West Bank and Jerusalem, officers’ identities are seldom revealed and many officers go out to the field wearing ski masks.

A query by Walla asking the IDF Spokesperson’s unit why the decision was made to reveal First Private T.’s face was not immediately answered.