It’s an odd story.
During one of the calls the IDF had with reporters during Operation Guardian of the Walls, the death of an IDF officer in military prison was surprisingly brought up.
But his death was not related to the fighting, and the story naturally dropped off the radar.
That is, until last week, when Yediot Aharonot and Haaretz petitioned the court to release information about the case.
The man, whose identity is under two gag orders, had been behind bars since September. He was found in serious condition in his cell at the newly-opened Neve Tzedek military prison on the night of May 16 and later pronounced dead.
His identity and a good amount of information about the case have been released by news websites overseas. But many aspects about the case remain under a tight gag order and are heavily censored by the military and the court.
“Officer X” served in a top IDF intelligence division. While the military won’t say which one, it has been announced he was not charged with espionage or contact with the enemy.
This leaves many important questions unanswered:
1. If it’s not espionage, why won’t the court or IDF release his name and say what he did? If he committed a crime, the military must say what it was.
2. Why is it taking so long to release the cause of his death? He did not commit suicide, the IDF said, adding that he was not killed. So what was it? Did he die of natural causes? The IDF must allow an independent investigation into his death, as his family has requested, and not by its internal investigations unit.
3. If he had been discharged by the IDF during his time in prison, why wasn’t he moved to a civilian prison?
The family of the officer is furious.
“The anger is at the attempt to make someone who died in military jail vanish,” one of his relatives told Haaretz. “We don’t know anything. No one has explained to us what happened. All the IDF’s conduct seems like an attempt to hide their own failures. How could they try to erase a person like this?”
And being erased he is, including on social media, where most of his posts have been deleted.
He is also not the first “Prisoner X” in Israeli history.
The case is reminiscent of Ben Zygier, reportedly a former Mossad agent, who was arrested in March 2010 and held under a false alias in Ayalon Prison’s secluded Wing 15.
According to reports, his identification was even hidden from the guards at the prison.
A dual Australian-Israeli citizen, Zygier hung himself in December and was laid to rest in a Melbourne Jewish cemetery. Zygier’s identity was not released by Israel until three years later.
There is also the case of Anat Kamm, who leaked thousands of classified military documents to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau. She leaked the documents after finishing her military service, during which she worked as an assistant in the office of Central Command’s commander.
Kamm was convicted of providing confidential information without authorization.
Officer X’s identity is known only by his friends and family. But they still do not know why he was arrested in the first place and, most importantly for them, why he died.
The military contends that releasing his name would harm national security. But if he wasn’t charged with treason or espionage, why is he being made to disappear?
The court and IDF need to release the charges and identify the fallen soldier. Today, it is Officer X. Tomorrow, who knows who might be next?