Two Israeli soldiers based near Hebron were demoted and sentenced to prison for protesting the evacuation of Jewish settlers in violation of army protocol.
The soldiers, from the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, unfurled a banner Monday reading “Nachshon doesn’t evict Jews either” on the roof of a building on their West Bank military base. The soldiers were sentenced to 30 days in jail, demoted and were barred from serving as combat soldiers in the future, according to Ha’aretz. The banner incident took place just hours after members of the soldiers’ battalion guarded the perimeter of a settlement near Hebron while two illegal homes at the settlement were razed, according to reports.
The action was similar to an incident last month in which two members of the Shimshon Battalion unfurled a sign at their swearing-in ceremony that read “Shimshon will not evacuate Homesh”—a West Bank settlement evacuated in 2005. The IDF sentenced the Shimshon soldiers to 20 days in a military prison and barred them from serving as combat soldiers.
