One of the more routine–and dangerous–endeavors IDF battalions engage in is entering Palestinian villages to capture wanted terrorists. Soldiers do all they can to protect civilians–who are often used by the terror heads as human shields–while still nabbing the bad guys.
Imagine – soldiers in camouflage, sneaking stealthily through a village, bodies tense with readiness… when one whispers, “Wait! I gotta update my facebook status!”
Apparently, something not so far from this happened recently in the Binyamin region, which stretches north of Jerusalem and east toward the Dead Sea. After a soldier updated his facebook status that a force from his battalion was due to arrive in a Palestinian village, the commander aborted the mission, Yediot Aharonot reported:
The decision was made by Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon, who feared that the leaked information may put the force in danger.The soldier’s commanders were informed of the incident as well and decided to put him on trial. Military officials noted that this was a serious incident which may have put the troops in danger had it not been revealed on time.
The operation was held several days later and deemed successful, while the soldier was judged and incarcerated.
The affair began when a soldier wrote in his Facebook status that the force was slated to arrive in the village and leave a day later. The Judea and Samaria Division’s information security officer learned about the leak and informed the division’s commander, who decided – in an unusual manner – to cancel the operation so as not to put the force at risk.
Maybe facebook needs to add another privacy protection option for when one is posting classified information.

