(JNi.media) 14 IDF soldiers from Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade on Tuesday abandoned their Golan Heights post and were declared absent without official leave.
An investigation into the incident revealed that the soldiers’ reason for leaving the post was to protests the ousting of one of their fellow servicemen for professional reasons. When their efforts to dissuade their commanders failed, they took their equipment and fled their post.
Military officials called this a most serious incident, but stressed that the soldiers fled the outpost while the battalion and their fellow fighters were not on operational duty.
Battalion commanders contacted the soldiers and asked them to reverse their decision to abandon the post and go back, but the soldiers said that they had been experiencing a series of personal problems with their commanding officers who were not treating them properly, and when they approached their battalion senior commanders they did not receive a satisfactory response.
The IDF spokesperson said in a statement: “Last night a soldier was dismissed from his position after a series of recurring disciplinary incidents. In response to his dismissal, 14 of his friends decided to abandon their base. This is a serious incident which is being handled by brigade commanders.”