The commander of the Egoz unit, A., conveyed a message to his fighters following the incident during which a soldier was attacked during a navigation operation in the area of Shefar’am and his weapon was snatched from him. In a message, A. announced that the incident would be investigated in depth in the commando-counting house, but nevertheless “a walnut fighter who does not know how to defeat two people in a contact battle and snatch the weapon from him, cannot be a walnut fighter.”
A. continued in his statement and said that “even in combat, I will not receive a prisoner unless he is, God forbid, a body, I am sorry but this is a minimum standard in the unit. There are no prisoners, no kidnapping, striving for contact until victory.”
The message conveyed by the commander of the Egoz unit to his subordinates (Photo: Private)The IDF spokesman said in response: “Preliminary investigation shows that a fighter in the commando brigade was attacked by suspects and fought with all his might. “The incident is still being investigated, so any such reference does not match what is expected of IDF commanders.” The officer erred in sending the message in question. “
The announcement comes after during a lone navigation training of a fighter in the commando brigade that took place on the night between Wednesday and Thursday, the soldier’s personal weapon was hijacked by a number of suspects, after a physical confrontation between the parties in the riots. The soldier was slightly injured during the incident, which is being investigated by the commanders, and at the same time another investigation was opened by the IDF together with the Israel Police.
Preliminary investigation reveals that around 3:00, the soldier noticed a suspicious vehicle with figures, which came behind him through the dirt road he was walking on. The vehicle stopped next to the soldier and asked if he needed a ride, but the soldier ignored and later, the vehicle made a half turn in front of the soldier and stopped. The suspects got out of the vehicle and a confrontation ensued that lasted several minutes, in which the two tried to snatch the weapon from him in a fight.
The soldier called his commanders when he pressed the distress button and the company commander and the team commander joined him, but the suspects fled. The company commander continued to do a scan with his vehicle in an attempt to locate the suspects, but without success. Afterwards, the police arrived at the scene. Also, the whole incident took place hundreds of meters from the end point that the soldier had to reach.