Cpl. Elay Chayot, age 20, after winning a sports award
חשיפה: לוחם יחידת מגלן שהפך משותק בעקבות “מסורת” מסוכנת הנהוגה ביחידה הוא עילי חיות
An IDF soldier who was a star runner and joined an elite commando unit, was permanently paralyzed in a hazing incident during a training exercise. The unit, Maglan, apparently compelled new recruits to jump from the roof of a combat vehicle into a thorn-bush. The idea was that the pain of jumping into a plant full of thorns would somehow make a man (or a soldier) out of you. Unfortunately, Cpl. Elay Chayot, landed awkwardly and was severely injured. He was removed to hospital and found to have been permanently paralyzed.
Elay Chayot at Upper Nazareth marathon
Chayot hails from a village in Israel’s far north and is 20 years old.
Israelis only know a soldier was paralyzed. They don’t know his name because the army has placed his name under military censorship. No publication may report it. I just did. Apparently, the army believes that if the public knows the identity of the injured boy, it will be further embarrassed, as it should be.
Any army which permits such a hazing ritual at which a star athlete is paralyzed should immediately remove the commanding officer and review all its training guidelines. Someone should be accountable. Do you think this will happen? No, of course not. And one way to ensure it won’t is to maintain this entire incident under a shroud of opacity.
This tragic incident is reminiscent of another major accident in which a gifted Israeli athlete died due to negligent medical treatment while she was in an army brig. If you add to this the large number of such recruits who commit suicide, it would seem the IDF has a major problem in maintaining the physical and mental health of its recruits.
