IDF closes Military Police high-profile probe into hawkish reserve officer

The Military Police says it has closed a high-profile investigation into a senior reserves officer who was booted from the military earlier this year, after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Solomon was suspected of “severe operational security violations” after an initial probe by the Information Security Department found that non-military hard drives were plugged into an army computer with classified files, while the officer’s user was logged in.

The probe found that on several occasions, while Solomon’s user was logged in on the “top secret” military computer, two hard drives were connected and disconnected in “an unusual manner.” On one occasion, while the hard drive was plugged in, the probe found that “a very large number of classified documents were open on the computer, raising concerns that these documents had been removed from the computer.”

Despite these findings, the Military Police investigation found no evidence that Solomon was the one operating the computer during the connection of the hard drives. The investigation has raised the possibility that the computer was being used by others with Solomon’s login information.

As a result, the Military Police has closed its investigation, the IDF says.

Solomon, a member of the hawkish HaBithonistim group, had been involved in the Gaza Division’s probe into its failures related to Hamas’s October 7, 2023.

He has said that he believes he was removed from reserve duty because he found fault in the IDF’s top command.

According to the IDF, Solomon was dismissed by his commander, Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, because of various disagreements between the pair unrelated to the October 7 investigation and the allegations of security violations.

The dismissal and Military Police investigation led to a public clash between Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in March.