Israeli Army Suicide Rate Put at 35 a Year
JERUSALEM — About 35 soldiers in the Israeli army commit suicide each year, the head of the army’s personnel department said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.
Thirty-two soldiers committed suicide from April, 1988, to April, 1989, Maj. Gen. Matan Vilnai told the daily Haaretz. The military command confirmed the figures.
Vilnai’s interview was a departure from the military’s customary reluctance to provide such data, which could have a negative effect on soldiers’ morale.
Neither Vilnai nor the military command knew if any of the suicides were related to the 18-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Vilnai said 30% of those who killed themselves were reservists troubled by family and financial problems. They are pushed into the act by the availability of weapons and the hope that relatives will get financial compensation from the army, he said.
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