2 soldiers in custody on suspicion of passing sensitive info to activists

Two IDF soldiers were in Military Police custody on Wednesday for allegedly passing sensitive information to right-wing settler activists on military movements in the West Bank and plans to evacuate illegal outposts.

On Wednesday morning, the IDF confirmed that it had arrested a soldier from the Paratrooper’s Brigade on suspicion that he passed information to a group of rightwing activists who were charged on Sunday with orchestrating a series of so-called “price-tag” attacks against Palestinians and IDF soldiers.

On Wednesday afternoon, military policemen arrested a second soldier from the Golani Brigade who also allegedly passed on information regarding military movements to activists by text messages from his cellular phone.

According to the indictment filed on Sunday, the activists had set up a “war room” in an apartment they shared, which had classified aerial maps and information about deployments and movements of troops, as well as other classified information.

The men also allegedly operated a hotline for concerned activists to call whenever they saw troop movements consistent with outpost evacuations.

The group is believed to have been behind the attack against the Efraim Brigade base last month during which 50 activists stormed the base, attacked the deputy brigade commander, burned tires, spread nails on a road and threw stones and paint bottles at vehicles.

IDF sources said that the investigation was ongoing and that the Military Police was searching for additional soldiers who might have also supplied the group with information.

“It is intolerable that soldiers leak classified information to people who are behind the price-tag attacks,” one officer said.