Israeli army dismisses officer for exposing commander’s call for genocide in Lebanon

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- The Israeli military has dismissed a psychological officer from the Alexandroni Brigade after she revealed that the brigade’s new commander encouraged his soldiers to commit genocide in Lebanon.

Adi Engert, the psychological officer in the Alexandroni Brigade, posted on the social media platform X that the brigade’s new commander had expressed a desire for his soldiers to carry out genocide in Lebanon. Engert’s post, which surfaced on Monday evening, has been widely circulated in Israeli media, even after it was removed from the platform, according to the Anadolu Agency.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that Engert’s post included a snippet from a file sent by the brigade’s commander to his soldiers, in which he stated, “Lebanese villages will become desolate, and its roads will be impassable.” This statement was interpreted as a call for extreme military action against Lebanon.

Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that since October 7, the soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade have served over 200 days in reserve duty along the Lebanese border and in the Gaza Strip. Following the appointment of the new commander, he sent a message to the brigade’s soldiers, saying, “A new commander has joined the brigade… First of all, I hope the fighters will commit genocide.”

In another post, Engert reportedly described soldiers from the far-right Religious Zionism Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as a “cult of death eaters.” This post further fueled the controversy surrounding her remarks.

In response to Engert’s revelations, Simcha Rothman, Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, sent a letter to the Defense Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, urging them to conduct a disciplinary investigation and take action against Engert. Smotrich also reacted on X, questioning, “Is there any reason we woke up this morning without the Israeli army announcing that this lady [Engert] has been fired from the army?”