Itongadol.- Brig.-Gen. Moti Almoz says disciplinary measures against reservists from elite intelligence unit 8200 who published letter against IDF conduct in West Bank will be "loud and clear."
The chief IDF spokesman said Sunday that a group of reservists who said they would refuse orders because of their disagreement with the army\’s conduct in the West Bank were "using their military service to express political opinions."
The group of 43 reservists serving in Military Intelligence’s Unit 8200 published a letter declaring their refusal to serve due to what they said were a series of breaches of proper conduct in the unit’s activities in the West Bank and Gaza.
The letter, addressed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, and the head of the IDF’s intelligence branch, Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, decried “the main function of 8200 in the territories, which is to control another nation.”
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Moti Almoz addressed the soldiers Sunday via his Facebook page. "8200. There is no place for refusal of service in the IDF. There are disagreements and there are political views. The celebration of democracy. We in the IDF constitute one common camp – perhaps the widest in all of Israeli society – and we think seven-fold before we express political stances in forums not meant for such expression."
Almoz said that the IDF views "severely," the use of service in the military as a stage to express political opinions and the "disciplinary measures will be loud and clear."