Spotlight on the News: Frisking Soldiers

Kfir is once again in the news. In the last month the regiment has been struck by a wave of sign waving incidents. Soldiers from both Shimshon and Nachshon have been court martialed for raising up signs with political messages, and just recently a third sign was found before it could be displayed.

In response the army has resorted to somewhat drastic measures. A recent ceremony involving the Nachal Charedi (which also belongs to Kfir) was closed to the press, and prior to the ceremony the participating soldiers were searched to ensure that they didn't have any signs on them.

I was intrigued by the coverage of the incident. Most of the posts that I saw on the Internet played it straight regarding the involvement of the charedi unit - the soldiers were quoted complaining about the humiliation of being treated as if they were at a machsom, but hardly anyone played up the angle that they were davka charedi soldiers. For reasons I find hard to express, I found it encouraging that a story could be about charedim without the fact that they were charedim being a central part of the story. BTW, the sole exception to this approach was a post on a charedi portal (http://www.ladaat.net/) that interpreted it as a sign of continuing harassment of the charedi soldiers.

I do admit to being a bit nonplussed by the official statement by the Dover Tsahal. As reported by YNet, the official explanation was: " ... the commanders checked the soldiers in order to prevent unpleasantries or the possibility that certain factors would try to use the soldiers to create a provocation (my apologies for the poor translation)."

Regardless of whether or not I agree with the soldiers' actions/motives in raising the signs, I would hope that the reasons for the search would have been a bit more straightforward. Soldiers are supposed to conduct themselves in a certain manner, wherein discipline plays a rather large part. I would have been quite happy if the reason given for the search was that the officers wished to make sure that the soldiers were following orders and that the ceremony would go as planned. Nothing more, and nothing less.

I would also have preferred to see a bit more follow up by the reporters. Is this now SOP for all ceremonies, or just those involving Kfir? And while I was impressed to see the low key treatment of charedi involvement, I do wonder if the religious orientation of the soldiers played a factor in the officers' decisions. Perhaps they thought that religious soldiers would be more likely to make trouble (of this sort) than others? I don't know the answers - that's why I have to ask the questions.

One final thought: Is it just me, or does anyone else find that the most provocative word in the Israeli lexicon is provocation?