Aug 27, 2007 22:25 | Updated Aug 27, 2007 22:25
Religious soldiers: Officer violated prayer rights
By MATTHEW WAGNER

Religious "hesder" soldiers on basic training in an IDF Intelligence platoon complained Sunday that a low-ranking officer abused them on religious grounds and violated their right to pray.

Religious soldiers praying.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

The officer, according to the soldiers, used coercive methods on Sunday to force them to finish their afternoon prayer quickly. They said he split the platoon into two groups. One group was permitted to pray; the other group was forced to do pushups while their comrades prayed.

The officer used this as a tactic for shortening the prayer time, since the soldiers who were allowed to pray did not want to prolong the period during which their comrades did pushups.

The platoon is made up of religious soldiers from two different hesder yeshivot: Har Bracha and Ra'anana.

Rabbi David Stav, spokesman for the Union of Hesder Yeshivot, said the incident was proof that there are elements in the IDF who are hostile to religious soldiers.

"Somebody has a load of antipathy that he has decided to bring down on the hesder soldiers," he said.

The IDF, in a statement, said that it has launched an initial investigation, which indicated that the officer had acted in violation of IDF rules. The statement said that those responsible for the incident would be punished.

It is hard enough for religious soldiers to stay religious as they watch other soldiers violate Shabbat and relax while they pray 3 times a day.