The military police have exposed a string of abusive veteran commanders in the Israel Air Force, who maintained a "tradition" of violence against younger commanders, KAN reported on Thursday.
Investigators found that the older commanders were inflicting "initiation ceremonies" on younger commanders, in which they were beaten and degraded.
Four of those involved had indictments filed against them, all of whom received sentences ranging from 26 to 50 days of detention, between 45 days and three months of suspended sentence, and demotion to the rank of Private, KAN reported. In addition, three of them were fined between 500 and 1,500 shekels.
"The IDF views any act of violence seriously and has a zero-tolerance policy on the matter, through a thorough investigation of the suspicions and bringing those involved to justice, as necessary," an IDF spokesperson said in response.
IDF sergeants indicted for smuggling goods into Gaza
On Tuesday, the IDF's military prosecution filed two additional indictments against two suspects ranked Sergeant First Class for offenses linked with smuggling goods into Gaza, tax offenses, and other offenses.
The indictments followed joint investigations by Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Israel Police, the Military Police's Special Investigations Unit, and the Israel Tax Authority.
James Genn contributed to this report.