The War Department is apparently reprimanding American soldiers in the Middle East for uttering disparaging remarks about Israel or Benjamin Netanyahu, Real Raw News has learned.
Although the Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids armed forces members from openly upbraiding certain elected or appointed officials—the president, vice president, and the secretary of war, for example—it contains no clause, paragraph, or article restricting speech about foreign powers or heads of state. Yet someone in the military’s nebulous stratum aims to stifle discourse concerning a contentious conflict and a controversial country.
The information in this article is based on RRN’s communications with US Armed Forces personnel currently stationed at US military installations in the Middle East.
After Iran retaliated against cruise missiles and airstrikes by drone striking a US tactical command outpost (we now know with certainty it was a US UAV ground control station), an airman stationed in Qatar emailed his parents to say Iran was fighting back. He had also written a paragraph gently criticizing the administration for fighting Benjamin Netanyahu’s wars. The next morning, while eating morning chow, he was abruptly summoned to the squadron commander’s office. There, the CO gave him an earful, chewing him out for judging Netanyahu and the US’s role in Operation Epic Fury.
“I was caught off guard; I felt ambushed. All I said was ‘I really don’t think we need to be here to solve Israel’s conflicts. Didn’t say Fuck Trump, Fuck Netanyahu. I’m proud to serve, but that doesn’t mean I have to love Israel or fighting for them. Only way he [the squadron commander] could’ve known is if someone’s reading emails or an algorithm is flagging certain words to get reviewed,” the airman said.
The squadron commander, he added, verbally ordered him not to speak pejoratively about Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, or Epic Fury—because it was “bad for morale.”
“He refused to put the order in writing,” the airman said. “I wasn’t threatened with a court-martial or anything like that, but in the military, I mean, they can make your life miserable a million different ways. I said ‘yes, Sir, I understand, and that was it. It ain’t right.”
Elsewhere, a US Army E-5 (sergeant) was lambasted by his platoon leader after he and a subordinate were overheard cussing “warmonger Netanyahu.” Per the sergeant, he said, “Yeah, I pretty much think Israel sucks, too, but it’s part of our mission.” An hour afterward, he was standing at attention before his CO, described as a baby-face, incompetent 2nd lieutenant, less than a year out of Officer Candidate School.
“It’s retarded,” the sergeant told RRN. “If I’d said Putin sucks, no one would bat an eyelash, but because it’s Israel and Netanyahu, well, can’t say nothing bad about them. I got told, abrasively, to focus on my men and my mission, and not share my thoughts or my feelings about Israel or Benny boy. I did ask to see something, anything in writing telling me that as a United States soldier, I can’t discuss political viewpoints. I know the Spec-4 I was with didn’t rat me out, but someone heard us and did, that’s for damn sure. He had nothing in writing to show. I asked, politely, if that order came from the top, from Pete Hegseth. CO told me I didn’t need to know; I just had to follow his order.”
These are two of four instances we’ve heard of. We have reached out to the White House and the Pentagon and will update if/when we receive a reply. We provided a copy of this article to the two service men mentioned ahead of publication, to ensure they were comfortable with it.