A drill sergeant in a military base told soldiers that the pride flag they had hung in their room "is a disgrace to the state of Israel," Haaretz has learned.

The Nahal Brigade soldiers, who serve at the Southern Command in the Dimona area, had hung a pride flag in their room with a Star of David drawn on it. The sargent, who was inspecting the bases' rooms, found two problems with the state of the room: An power strip (which is forbidden in army residences) and the flag.

"He saw the flag, became upset and said, 'What's this flag with the Star of David, it disgraces the State of Israel,'" one soldier said. The sergeant ordered them to remove several other drawing which were hung up on nearby walls and then asked the soldier in charge of the room to put on his uniform so he could be court-marshalled for the power divider.

Following the incident, one of the soldiers wrote on Facebook that he had joined the IDF "with a sense of security in my sexual orientation and in being a homosexual, and until today I had never felt like there was no room for me and my orientation in the military system." Another soldier told Haaretz that "no one should keep silent after such a thing, because if you keep silent you let it go on."

IDF spokesman said in response that "the said incident has been taken out of context, as the order was given to soldiers with the purpose of maintaining the appearance of the base and not out of malice."

This article was amended on March 27 to correct the rank and position of the non-commissioned officer.