Army boots trainee for beating Jewish comrade

The U.S. Army discharged a soldier for beating a Jewish trainee.

Col. Charles Durr, chief of staff at Fort Benning in Georgia, informed the Southeast director of the Anti-Defamation League, Bill Nigut, of the punishment in an Oct. 31 meeting, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Army previously had cited federal privacy laws in refusing to say how it punished the attacker of Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, other than to say the case had been handled as an administrative matter rather than as a crime.

"The soldier that was punished for the assault on Pvt. Handman has been processed for discharge from the army," Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman confirmed Monday, according to the Post.

Handman before the attack had complained about religious harassment in his basic training unit, which included the attacker, an Army spokesman said Monday.

According to the Army, Handman was beaten Sept. 24 by a fellow trainee in a laundry room near his barracks. Handman was treated at a military hospital for a concussion and bruises to his face. He is now in another basic training unit at Fort Benning.

Purtiman said investigators concluded that the assault on Handman was not motivated by bigotry but would not say what prompted it. He also would not release the name of Handman’s attacker, citing the federal Privacy Act.