JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Fifteen soldiers from the IDF’s Rotem Battalion of the Givati Brigade have been sentenced to military jail terms after refusing to enter an armored personnel carrier carrying a female paramedic, in the latest escalation of a dispute between religious soldiers and their commanders. Some of the soldiers were sentenced to 10 days in military jail, while others received five-day sentences.

The soldiers, members of the battalion’s hesder platoon, say their refusal was rooted in their commitment to Jewish religious law and that they were unwilling to compromise their religious standards even when doing so meant facing imprisonment. Their fellow soldiers now say the incident was not an isolated confrontation, but part of a series of disputes between the platoon and its commanders that have intensified in recent weeks.

According to soldiers who spoke with Arutz Sheva, the latest incident should be viewed against the backdrop of growing tensions over the accommodation of religious observance within the battalion.

The soldiers maintain that the incident involving the Namer armored personnel carrier was presented to the brigade rabbi as an operational activity. In their account, however, there was no actual combat mission involved and the activity was routine. They argue that alternative arrangements could have been found without forcing them to violate their religious standards.

Their supporters stress that the soldiers are not refusing military service. They are serving in combat units, remain committed to the IDF and say they are prepared to risk their lives for Israel. Their objection, they say, is to being forced to choose between their military duties and religious obligations when they believe a practical alternative exists.

The soldiers say the current confrontation follows another dispute approximately a week and a half earlier. According to their account, the company commander ordered a training exercise on Shabbat involving casualty evacuation and the insertion of an IV line, despite what they say was no urgent operational requirement for holding the exercise that day.

Members of the hesder platoon approached their commanders and asked for the exercise to be postponed. “We asked why such an exercise had to be conducted on Shabbat when there was no professional or operational necessity for it,” the soldiers said. “We did not receive a substantive answer.”

After Shabbat, they approached the brigade rabbi and presented him with the details of the incident. According to the soldiers, the rabbi determined that there was no justification for conducting such an exercise on Shabbat when it did not arise from an operational need.

The soldiers’ friends say the repeated disputes have created a sense among members of the platoon that their religious commitments are being treated as an obstacle rather than accommodated as part of their identity.

“The feeling among us is that there is a deliberate attempt to clash with religious soldiers and members of the hesder yeshiva program,” they said. “Instead of finding solutions and allowing people to serve together with mutual respect, they repeatedly choose confrontation.”

The soldiers emphasize that they have no intention of abandoning their military responsibilities. They say they are willing to fight, serve in difficult conditions and put their lives at risk for the country, but they are equally determined not to abandon the religious principles they have followed throughout their lives.

The dispute also has an operational dimension, according to the soldiers. “The battalion commander has now lost 15 soldiers who were sent to five or 10 days of military detention,” one soldier said. “In the end, you have to ask who will go into battle with him.”

“At a time when the IDF needs every soldier, it is a shame that so much energy is being invested in internal confrontations instead of strengthening cohesion.”

The soldiers say they remain fully committed to the IDF and to Israel’s security. What they are asking for, they say, is mutual respect: the army should accommodate their religious way of life and their halachic obligations whenever there is no genuine operational necessity preventing it.