Soldier jailed, commanders penalized after IDF chief calls out ‘Messiah’ patch

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 days in military jail for wearing an unauthorized patch, reading “Messiah,” on his uniform.

The discipline came after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir paid a visit to an army post in the West Bank, where he was displeased to find that his recent warning about eroding discipline appeared to have gone unheeded.

After being called out by the chief of staff, the offending Nahal Brigade soldier was sentenced to 30 days in military jail by his brigade commander, Col. Arik Moyal.

Additionally, the soldier’s platoon commander was handed a suspended two-week sentence, and the battalion commander was also censured by the Nahal commander.

The soldiers had been warned earlier Tuesday that Zamir would be visiting the military outpost and doing the rounds, making the transgression all the more blatant.

The Kan public broadcaster quoted Zamir as telling commanders after the incident: “It is incumbent on us to see that we, as commanders, live out the norms that we expect and demand from our soldiers; they look to us and they expect us to guide their path.”

“The righteousness of our way is based on the IDF Code of Ethics and its values, and they are an inseparable part of victory,” he said, according to the report.

Zamir told senior officers last month that the military has seen discipline erode in Israel’s multi-front war over recent years, citing the trend of unauthorized badges and patches as one such “rebellion” against the army’s values, alongside reported looting and the destruction of a statue of Jesus in Lebanon.

In a message sent to other commanders in the brigade after the patch incident was made public, Col. Moyal wrote: “It is important you know that, as I said in conversation with you, the full responsibility is on me, and I acted the way I acted because discipline is a basic value. The way of all our soldiers begins with us commanders.”

“I’m sorry to say, a lack of discipline in operational incidents and in routine brings us loss of human life. The story is not the patch, the story is the values on which we educate. The Nahal Brigade will be an example and a role model in this area, too — it’s our duty,” he said.

The incident drew responses from several right-wing politicians, with Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli lashing out at Zamir and accusing him of a double standard for not also disciplining soldiers who participated in anti-government protests in 2023.

In a lengthy post to X, Chikli decried what he called a “wretched decision, lacking any proportionality, and — in my opinion — the straw that broke the camel’s back regarding his conduct,” referring to the IDF chief of staff.

“The IDF has authority to enforce a uniform dress code, and to establish order, including on the matter of patches, even though I don’t understand who, exactly, is hurt by a ‘Messiah’ patch. But the selective and distorted enforcement we see here is unacceptable,” he wrote.

By contrast, “those who led processes of grave revolt and refusal [to serve] on the eve of the war, people who, according to the [former] Air Force commander, were ‘a step away’ from undermining the foundations of the force,” are still welcome at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, Chikli wrote.

He went to denounce the “raft of officers” who associated themselves with the Brothers in Arms group that opposed the government’s judicial overhaul effort, including sometimes through threats to refrain from volunteer reserve duty.

“Just a year ago, Zamir himself asked to promote German Giltman, among the leaders of ‘Brothers in Arms,'” Chikli said.

Giltman, whose promotion was blocked, has repeatedly said he was never part of Brothers in Arms, let alone one of its leaders, and that he has never advocated refusal.

He was photographed at a 2023 press conference wearing a Brothers in Arms shirt, but has said he was there as part of a different reservists movement at a joint event. Since the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, he has served more than 700 days in reserve duty.

Chikli also took aim at former military prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, noting that she has not been stripped of her rank. The major-general, who leaked surveillance footage of alleged abuse of a security prisoner, is facing criminal proceedings.

“But a combat soldier from Nahal who wore a ‘Messiah’ patch is sent to 30 days in military jail?!” he wrote. “We cannot accept an order of priorities regarding discipline and enforcement that is so twisted, and sending such a distorted message to the IDF as a whole.”

Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who chairs the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, wrote on X: “The decision to punish a soldier who wore a ‘Messiah’ patch is grave and scandalous. Just a year ago, IDF Chief of Staff Zamir expressed something entirely different.”

He shared a screenshot of a Ynet article from last year, in which Zamir was quoted telling commanders: “I don’t intend to tear off patches, that’s your job. I don’t intend to deal with that, and you don’t want me to deal with that, either — it’s the job of the chain of command.”

Bismuth said it was incumbent on Zamir “to explain what has changed since then, and whether media and external pressures were placed on the senior command of the IDF that it hasn’t managed to withstand. The IDF must preserve discipline, but also fairness. Release the soldier now!”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, by contrast, said the patch was “really provocative,” and called on politicians to “take their hands off the army.”

The phenomenon of soldiers displaying controversial phrases or imagery on their uniforms predates the recent wars, but has gained popularity among religious soldiers after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught.

Last year, the IDF announced a series of dramatic changes to its dress code for soldiers, including the banning of non-military patches, and stipulating that troops may only display insignia such as the Israeli flag, their name and their unit’s emblem.

Despite this measure, the IDF has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months over soldiers wearing unauthorized badges bearing religious, messianic and political messages — particularly in the West Bank — where unprecedented levels of attacks on Palestinians by settlers have drawn allegations that some troops have failed to intervene or, in certain cases, even assisted in attacks.