West Bank Incident

Commander Removed Over Kusra Prayer Incident

Military investigation found officer allowed troops to pray with settlers during siege operation, causing reputational damage to Israel

Eliana Fleming

SEP 1, 2026 22:54

2 min read

From the footage of the prayer with the soldiers

The Israel Defense Forces has dismissed a reserve commander following an incident in which his soldiers participated in a prayer service alongside settlers in the West Bank village of Kusra, according to a report Tuesday evening by Kan News.

The military completed an investigation into footage showing Home Front Command reservists praying together with settlers in Kusra, located in the northern West Bank region of Samaria. The incident occurred while a Palestinian family was under siege in the area.

The settlers who laid siege to the village (Social media post)

According to the investigation's findings, the force commander had received explicit instructions to avoid any actions that could be interpreted as support for illegal activity and to maintain distance between his troops and the settlers. Despite these directives, when asked to complete a prayer quorum, the minimum number of ten men required for certain Jewish prayers, he authorized his soldiers to join the service.

Military officials determined that the documented incident caused significant reputational harm to Israel and was interpreted internationally as army endorsement of rioters. Based on these conclusions, the IDF decided to remove the force commander from his command position. No disciplinary action will be taken against the other soldiers involved, as investigators found they had acted in accordance with their commander's orders.