A change of Israel Defense Forces protocol on the placement of the chief of staff's flag on the graves of fallen soldiers perpetuates the discriminatory notion that one soldier's blood is not equal to another's, Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev said Sunday. Bar-Lev, a former commander of the IDF's elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit and son of former IDF Chief of General Staff Haim Bar-Lev, wrote to Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz that the new protocol, which states that the chief of staff will now place two flags if the last soldier to fall in a given year is not Jewish, is a blatant statement against entire sectors of Israeli society. Bar-Lev called the amendment to the protocol "a severe ethical failure that adds insult to injury." He also said the fact that the flag is placed only on a grave at the Mount Herzl national military cemetery and not at other military cemeteries is also a "problematic statement." Every year before Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, the IDF chief places a flag on the grave of the most recently fallen IDF soldier buried at Mount Herzl. However, on Wednesday he placed a flag on the grave of Col. (res.) Shlomo Nitzani, who died half a year ago, and not on the grave of Yevgeny Tolochko, who died two months ago and was buried in a section of the cemetery for soldiers whose Jewish identity is not certain. The move sparked a wave of criticism. MK Elazar Stern (Hatnuah), the former head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, called on Gantz to rectify the embarrassing mistake before Memorial Day begins Sunday evening. MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) said, "The fact that he [Tolochko] was not Jewish did not stop the country from calling on him to sacrifice his life for it. But with his death it [the state] tosses him aside and refuses to give him a final honor." Following the media exposure, Gantz voiced regret and the IDF announced the change in protocol. "From now on the chief of general staff's flag will also be placed on the last military grave added to the military section at Mount Herzl, alongside the flag that is placed in the central plot, to continue the tradition carried until today with the bereaved families," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated on Thursday. "In the eyes of the chief of the general staff there is no distinction to be made between the fallen's identity, cause of death, religion or gender. The chief of the general staff extends his apology to anyone who was offended by the event." On Friday, Stern praised Gantz for his "quick handling" of the thorny issue.
