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U.S. Army soldier discharged over beating of Jewish trainee
By The Associated Press
Tags: Jewish World, Israel news 

The Army has kicked out a soldier for beating a Jewish trainee who complained about religious harassment in their basic training unit, a spokesman said Monday.

Citing federal privacy laws, the Army had previously refused to discuss how it punished the attacker of Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, other than to say the case had been handled as an administrative matter rather than as a crime.

That changed after the southeast director of the Anti-Defamation League met officials Friday. Col. Charles Durr, chief of staff at Georgia's Fort Benning, told the ADL's Bill Nigut the assailant had been discharged.
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The soldier that was punished for the assault on Pvt. Handman has been processed for discharge from the Army, Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman confirmed Monday.

The Army says Handman was beaten Sept. 24 by a fellow trainee in a laundry room near his barracks. Handman was treated at an Army hospital for a concussion and bruising to his face. He has since been transferred, but he has refused to say what prompted the attack. He also would not release the name of Handman's attacker, citing the federal Privacy Act.

Handman wrote to his parents before the attack that he was being discriminated against. He said one sergeant used an anti-Semitic slur and another ordered him to remove his yarmulke in a dining hall.

Jonathan Handman, the Jewish soldier's father, said Monday the Army should have court-martialed the trainee who attacked his son.

"If this was civilian life, he would've been arrested under a hate crime," he said. "Why should it be any different under the military?"

Military law gives commanders the option of pursuing criminal charges in a court-martial or handling accusations of misconduct administratively, basically treating them as personnel matters.

Purtiman said Army lawyers told Fort Benning commanders they could announce that Handman's attacker had been discharged once the accused soldier had left the Army post. He said the soldier's last day at Fort Benning was Friday, when Nigut met with officials there.

Nigut said he still believes Handman's harassment by drill sergeants likely singled him out as a target for further abuse by fellow trainees. But he said he's pleased overall with the Army's resolution of the case.

"After listening to the Army's investigators and hearing what they learned, the fact that this trainee is no longer in the Army is a good thing," Nigut said. "I think the Army took ADL's concerns seriously."

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