When IDF lone soldier Ehud Levy was sentenced to 11 days in military lockup for bringing and sharing a ham sandwich on a military base, it elicited the ire of many including Israel Radio military correspondent Carmela Menashe. As a result of her intervention the soldier’s punishment was reduced to 11 days on base, not imprisonment and then the soldier was released without punishment.

The media frenzy created by Menashe joined by the outcry among many led IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkott to order to curtail the authority of the Military Rabbinate.

Minister of Culture and a former IDF Spokesman (Likud) Miri Regev however is not counted among the critics of the punishment meted out to the soldier. Speaking to radio host Yeshurun Turgeman of Kol Berama Radio, Regev said “I believe one should not eat pork – it is as simple as that. I will not tell a non-religious person what to eat. Speaking personally, I of course do not eat pork. I am a person who has emunah. Certainly it should be prohibited to bring pork into an IDF facility!”

“Yes he should be punished and the punishment should not be cancelled towards sending a clear message that if one wishes to eat pork one may at home, but not in the IDF and not while wearing the uniform since doing so makes it increasingly difficult for the other soldiers serving alongside who are kosher and Shomron Mitzvos” she added.

Regev stressed she would not have eliminated the punishment, concluding “Plain and simple, I think the army we need to be sharp, clear and determined, as serving in the IDF are chareidim, dati leumi, persons who are traditional, secular residents of kibbutzim and moshavim, periphery neighborhoods and from the center of the country. Our job is to respect the procedures and the status quo when it comes to kashrus and Shabbos”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)