More than 75,000 people, as of Wednesday night, "liked" the Facebook page titled "I am also with David from Nahal." The numbers rose quickly, with soldiers comprising much of the on-line support. Some of them even posted pictures of themselves with concealed faces, posing with signs of support for the soldier. It is reasonable to assume the vast majority of supporters were not familiar with the details of the story, which lit up the Internet yesterday. From their perspective, what they saw in the videotaped footage of the incident is the truth: A soldier who felt threatened by Palestinians cocked his weapon (while cursing them), and was consequently sent to military prison. Ergo the supporters arrived at the conclusion that the Israel Defense Forces had hung a soldier out to dry. The details, however, are completely different. The soldier was court-martialed by his Nahal battalion commander and sentenced to a 20-day prison sentence for an incident in which he punched his own company and squad commanders. The video that was disseminated was from a different incident, which only coincidentally took place around the same time and, as stated, had nothing to do with his incarceration. The Facebook page and the subsequent comments posted to it made no mention of this; some of the commentators even used the stage to opine that he should have killed the Palestinians haranguing him. The digital storm spurred the IDF Spokesperson's Office into action to clarify the facts and put out the fire, but the events should sound two alarm bells for the army. The first pertains to the Facebook protest, primarily to the massive amounts of soldiers who took part. This type of protest runs counter to the army's command code, but it transpired spontaneously through the utilization of a social media platform that is readily accessible to every soldier with a smart phone and Facebook account. If you will, this was "the IDF's first Facebook protest." However, it diverged from previous Internet events -- for example, YouTube videos of soldiers dancing or photographs of female soldiers in racy poses -- because this time it was not whimsical or cute, rather it undermined the army's core principles. If the IDF does not learn to contend with this phenomenon, it will quickly spread and pose a tangible threat that could erode its foundations. The second point relates to the feelings and views expressed by the soldiers. Despite the inappropriate nature of the tool employed, voices and ears must not be muffled. Soldiers serving in Judea and Samaria feel the rules of engagement are not effective or a deterrent and that they occasionally find themselves in untenable situations in which they are forced to take extraneous action to defend themselves. Here, too, the solution is open dialogue between commanders and their soldiers and to examine the problems within the army. It is likely that in some cases the soldiers simply require further explanation, and in other cases specific solutions can be provided to alleviate their distress. As for "David from Nahal," he belongs in military prison. A soldier who physically assaults his commanders needs to be punished -- severely. All the rest, as shown in the video, will be clarified through a simple investigation, but it is completely unrelated to his prison sentence. Everyone who jumped on this bandwagon was duped by a spin that will do nothing to help the soldier -- it will only hurt the IDF.
