Israel moves to conceal soldiers’ identities after allegations

By Lauren Izso and Hira Humayun | CNN

(CNN) — Israel’s military has announced new media engagement rules for its members after a Brazilian court ordered an investigation into war crime allegations against a soldier visiting the country.

The guidelines, announced Wednesday, require the names and faces of most of its soldiers – both active duty and reserve – to be obscured.

The decision comes after a former Israeli soldier fled Brazil last week after a court in the South American country ordered an investigation into allegations by a pro-Palestinian NGO that the soldier was involved in war crimes in Gaza.

The soldier arrived back in Israel on Wednesday, according to CNN affiliate Kan. The Israeli outlet published an audio interview with him in which he said he had been accused of murdering “thousands of children” in a 500-page document that contained a picture of him in uniform.

Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani referenced the case in a briefing on the measures, which he said were to make sure Israeli personnel were “safe from these types of incidents” involving “anti-Israel activists around the world.”

Those at the rank of colonel and below can be filmed only from behind, with their face obscured, and only the first initial of their name can be used, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Military personnel with foreign citizenships – in combat and non-combat roles – need to have their faces obscured and cannot disclose their full names in interviews.

The new protocols apply to all combat zones, and soldiers being interviewed cannot be linked to a specific combat operation, the IDF said.

A former senior officer in Israel’s Judge Advocate General’s department told CNN last week that there was a growing number of attempts overseas to bring charges against Israelis who had served in the war, but none had resulted in arrest or trial so far.

He said activists were now going after ordinary soldiers, not just high-ranking officers and politicians.

‘Something unusual’

The new rules were announced shortly after CNN affiliate Kan aired a radio interview with the soldier who fled Brazil, in which he recounted the moment he first learned of the accusations against him.

“I got up in the morning, opened the phone and suddenly saw eight calls – the ministry of foreign affairs, my brothers, my mother, consuls,” he said in the interview, adding that it was during the call with the ministry that “we began to understand that there was a situation and something unusual.”

“They wrote that I murdered thousands of children and turned it into a 500-page document,” the soldier said of the case against him. “All that was there was a picture of me in uniform in Gaza.”

He also said that following the attention his case had gained he now hoped to “get off the radar and continue my life.”

The case against him followed a complaint brought by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) – a group that has tracked the activities of Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza and has brought a series of other lawsuits.

A Brazilian judge then ordered police to investigate the soldier based on HRF’s complaint, which accused him of taking part in “demolitions of civilian homes in Gaza during a systematic campaign of destruction.”

The group, named after a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza last year, is a pro-Palestinian NGO that says it is dedicated “to breaking the cycle of Israeli impunity and honoring the memory of Hind Rajab and all those who have perished in the Gaza genocide.”

A group of Israeli soldiers’ mothers wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli’s military leadership saying they would hold them to account for any legal risks their children faced from “malicious actors worldwide.”

HRF has also sought the apprehension of Israeli soldiers visiting Thailand, Sri Lanka, Chile and other countries, according to its website.

Dana Karni and Tim Lister contributed to this report.