First time an anti-disengagement stunt has led to IDF discharge.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFfake bomb 298.88(photo credit: Channel 1)
The two Nahal haredi unit soldiers found guilty of placing a dummy bomb in Jerusalem's central bus station as part of anti-disengagement protests will be ousted from the army and denied all privileges granted to discharged soldiers.
Having completed serving their sentences, a special panel that examined the actions of Pvt. Arieh Katz and Pvt. Meir Bratler deemed the two unsuitable for military service and not worthy of serving in the army.
Head of the induction center Col. Amir Rogovsky upheld the panel's findings and ordered that the two be released from compulsory military service next Sunday. Katz and Bratler will also be exempt from reserve duty in the future.
Sunday's decision marks the first time that soldiers have been ousted from the army because of anti-disengagement activities.
The IDF Spokesman said Katz and Bratler had completed their punishment and a special panel convened to examine the incident ruled they should be ousted.
The two 20-year-olds were apprehended after they were identified on a closed circuit security TV at the bus station. On July 11, the bus station was evacuated after officials found the 12 kilogram dummy bomb that consisted of a gas canister, alarm clock and electric wires placed in a bag with a note saying "the disengagement will explode in our face."
Bratler, as a soldier, was able to enter the bus station without undergoing inspection and therefore succeeded in smuggling in the gas canister in his army bag. The two went into the men's room located on the third floor and left the bag there.
Bratler was later arrested in his Jerusalem apartment and the Military Police arrested Katz at his army base in the Jordan Valley.
