IDF suspends commander after soldier left behind in West Bank

The commander of the 74th Battalion of the Israel Defense Forces’s Armored Corps, Lt. Col. Muli Cohen, was suspended from his position over the weekend until the completion of an investigation into an incident that occurred last week when the battalion left a soldier behind in a West Bank village after a routine operation there.

The investigation is expected to be completed early this week.

According to initial details, the soldier became separated from his battalion for six to eight nerve-racking minutes after they completed a routine operation near the Palestinian village of Budrus, in the Ramallah area. In his debriefing, the forgotten soldier confirmed earlier reports that Palestinian residents in the village voluntarily helped him.

The soldier, who was in the battalion’s command squad and served as a radio operator, traveled with Cohen in his jeep, but the commander only noticed the soldier was missing after the battalion returned to Israeli territory and after Cohen spoke with the brigade commander.

The brigade received a report about the missing soldier after Palestinians informed the Coordination and Liaison offices of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria of the soldier’s presence in their territory.

On Thursday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz was considering whether to bring disciplinary proceedings against the battalion commander. He ordered GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi to open an investigation into the events leading to the mistake. Gantz asked to examine the command capabilities of and the values being instilled by Moly in his soldiers, as well as his actions leading to his soldier being left behind in hostile territory.

In consultations between Mizrahi and GOC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, to whose command the armored battalion is subject, the two commanders agreed to suspend Cohen from his position until Golan’s investigation into the incident is complete. The commander of the Ga’ash military formation (equivalent to the magnitude of a division) informed Cohen of his suspension on Friday. At this stage, it is unclear whether the colonel will return to his position.

A military source said Cohen should have acted differently and should have provided clearer information to his superiors after it became clear that one of his soldiers was left behind.

The IDF considers the incident to be very serious especially in light of increased concerns recently over soldier kidnappings. The concerns have grown substantially since the completion of the Shalit deal, which saw the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners - many convicted murderers - in exchange for Hamas’s release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.

The soldier who was left behind last week serves in the 188 Brigade of the Tank Corps, the same brigade (but different battalion) that Schalit served in at the time he was abducted by Hamas in a cross-border raid in 2006.

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