JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli military admitted its error in punishing a soldier from the United States who brought non-kosher sandwiches on his base.
The punishment, missing a weekend furlough, also was lifted.
“Bottom line, we were wrong,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Moti Almoz wrote Tuesday afternoon in a Facebook post.
“The IDF will continue to remain kosher, while not snooping in the sandwiches of its soldiers,” Almoz wrote. “There are tensions in Israeli society, and there are different positions and opinions. In the IDF there is a place for everyone.”
It is against IDF rules to bring non-kosher food on its bases, which are kosher. The soldier, who said he was given the pork sandwiches by his grandmother, who lives on a kibbutz, reportedly told the army he was not aware of the rule.
The soldier, who is participating in a commander’s course, originally was sentenced to 11 days in military jail for the infraction. The sentence was reduced after an Israel Radio reporter contacted the IDF about the case.
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