An appalling army experience
The humiliation of Palestinian detainees must not be remembered as the 'best time' of any soldier's army experience.
Haaretz EditorialEden Aberjil doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. The former soldier sees nothing wrong with posting photos on her Facebook profile showing her posing, grinning and amused, alongside blindfolded Palestinian detainees. "The pictures reflect the military experience," she told Army Radio this week of her online photo album, entitled "The army: the best time of my life."
Even more disturbing than the images - which depict the detainees as house pets - is Aberjil's failure to understand the uproar they have caused. Whoever photographed her (other troops were likely there - it's doubtful one soldier would be tasked with guarding all of the detainees ) also presumably saw their performance art as no more than a lark.
But Aberjil's "experience" is reflective of a culture that has taken root over the course of decades of occupation, one which perceives Palestinian prisoners as subhuman - objects of amusement at best and at worst, abuse. It is a culture that gives rise to appalling conduct like forcing inmates to dance, sing Israeli patriotic and military songs, or photographing them as a hunter would his conquered beast. These "experiences" are no different than those of American soldiers abusing Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison, pictures that shocked the world when exposed in 2004.
Aberjil's photographs are troubling not only because they wreak untold damage on Israel's image abroad, one already eroded by the long years of occupation. Focusing solely on the soldier's behavior, including her decision to post the images online, is a mistake. Instead, we should look at the intolerable norm represented by her photos, and others released yesterday by the advocacy group Breaking the Silence. Taken together, they underscore commanders' failure to inculcate their soldiers with the humane values the IDF touts, and the difference between Israel's military and those of other countries.
It is imperative that explicit, unambiguous rules for what soldiers are and are not permitted to do to detainees are set, and to impress upon troops an ethical code that makes clear such behavior will not be tolerated. The humiliation of Palestinian detainees must not be remembered as the "best time" of any soldier's army experience.
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These pictures have nothing to do with ethics all they show is a bunch of young reservists posing for idiotic pictures. We have all done stupid things before. I remember when I was in the army one time a bunch of political activists I think they were pro settler or something I dont remeber but they were giving out drinks to soldiers manning the checkpoints. I got a drink and spur of the moment I picked up a flag and walked up and down the line of palestinians cuing up waving the flag and showing them my drink thats just been given to me as a gift. I am not proud of what I did, I don't though consider myself unethical what I did was something stupid and unprofessional on the spur of the moment. The people who take pictures like that they are just not thinking and these pictures were originally not taken to be plastered all over Facebook they were taken for her own personal collection. Then she posted them on Facebok not smart but its not unethical. If your looking for unethical then pick on the British & American soldiers at Abu Ghreib who took pictures of themselves abusing prisoners not just making silly faces next to prisoners.
.... nothing can be done about it.... C'est pour long temps.......
There is no ethical vacuum in the IDF, in the contrary. Evidently, this ex-soldier is a person with a very small brain.
are your 'concerns' about ethics within the israeli offensive force legitimate?? would this be the same army that systematically justifies killings of Palestinians as sound jewish practice based on decrees by its rabbis?? what planet are you living on?
It will tarnish the "image" and hurt the "illusion" and just might work on the minds that ignore all the "complexities " of the occupation. The only reason most in Israel are up in arms over the pictures is because of dirty laundry being hung out and seen by the wrong eyes. PEACE EVER?
I remember a picture showing two Israeli soldiers, equipped with guns, posing in front of the photographer, cheering and laughing about the corps of a Palestinian, lying to their feet, shot to death. It looked like a picture of big game hunting when the hunters enjoy the moment of having successfully targeted a wild beast, just for fun. Then, that picture was edited at the frontpage of a most widespread European newspaper. It wasn t about anti-semitism, it was about a society lacking humanitiy and morals, about absence of human values and mercy. Maybe its not only me who remembers that picture of incredible behaviour of Israeli soldiers. (BTW: There had been more pictures of some more incidents in the news…) Without facts like that the movement »Breaking the silence« wouldn t have inaugurated.
but there are circumstances where this is a necessary evil.it is never "good" or "fun,a good time".when there is no choice,there is some consolation.in israel presently,the no choice party holds sway.we are led to think,that israel's constant military engagement is inevitable,with all the inescapable results.who knows?they may be right.
These pictures should not have been taken and most certainly should not have been posted on Facebook, even on a former soldier’s personal Facebook page. However, the Israeli army has blown this out of proportion. I would like to call everyone’s attention to a Youtube video called "Dance Party in Iraq." In this otherwise cute video of American soldiers dancing to "Electric Avenue," there are a few scenes showing Iraqis sitting blindfolded with their hands tied up. This begins at 3:07 into the video. At 3:15, blindfolded Iraqis are tied up and forced to stand in a line, and it looks like they are attached to each other, followed again by American soldiers dancing. The video is published for the public and not just on someone’s personal Facebook page. The video has been there for 3 years. Obviously the U.S. Army is unconcerned.
are idf soldiers,jews included,made from some differnt material?in occupation,by definition,the job is to repress local population and any sign of opposition.so even if the occupation is god-ordained,or historically mandated,it will still entail horror.always.the idf is no different because editorial hearkens back to days of such propaganda taken seriously.the choice is clear-occupation and its inevitable results-or not to occupy,that is the question.nb.in judaism,with all modesty,i am as a 1000 witnesses.
has left the moral vaccum by stripping the society of any Jewish Moral values and assuming a Western secular mode. Lack of Torah if I may say.
For your information the Right is Secular too. I apologize. I should have included all completely secular politicians.
How many times have we been told the IDF is the most moral army in the world? As has been demonstrated thoughout history, armies of occupation always suffer moral decline.
That has swung so much to the extreme, engendered by a more than 40 yr occupation, a significant portion of your population driven by nationalist extremism that inclcates contempt for Arabs specifically and non-Jews in general, then this kind of behaviour is a natural outcome. It goes along with the rest of the picture: fanatic youth throwing wine on Purim into the face of an elderly Arab woman in Hebron, screaming bearded men and snooded women throwing people out of their homes on dubious legal grounds, groups plotting meyhem and murder and justifying it by divine right. Well, Israel is reaping what it has sown. There should be no surprise here. All of this pathological behaviour, more typical of a balkan state in the process of breakdown, has not only been tolerated, but it has been carefully cultivated over the decades. Chickens coming home to roost and millions egging them on and gloating in their arrogance and hubris.
I wish Palestinians will finally recognize Jews have also the right to life, and stop trying to kill us. Then finally we will be free of the need to enforce the occupation, which harms Israeli society. I am even willing to forgive Palestinians, for all those years they wasted to both people in the road to peace. Wake up Palestinians, there are two people here and both can live side by side. Ban the Hamas charter now! and lets make peace.
Until you realize that Israel also shares the blame for the lack of peace, you will, like Israel as a whole, have your head in the sand...cousin. Hamas is only your latest excuse in a long litany of excuses for refusing to end the settlement enterprise and wage peace instead of war.
If the Israelis go back to the 1967 borders, remove all settlements, share the water, don't violate our airspace, don't interfere with our daily life, let us teach our children the true history of Palestine (not in compliance with the zionist doctrine) and leave us alone in the true sense; then I'll guarantee you a real deal. Fatah already recognized Israel's right to exist. Hamas is actually in favor of the two state solution, but too cacious and wants assurances because Israel never implemented any UN resolution.
Until you realize that Israel also shares the blame for the lack of peace, you will, like Israel as a whole, have your head in the sand...cousin. Hamas is only your latest excuse in a long litany of excuses for refusing to end the settlement enterprise and wage peace instead of war.
between 49-67 there were plenty opportunities to establish the 2000 years dream of the palestinian state with jerusalem as its capital.
You want to forget that those who according to you want to kill you are the occupied and you the occupier, you are the invader and the abbuser, not them. They are oppresed and fitting back the way they found possible after your military supperioriy supply by other big bullier (USA). If you and your people want peace, don't wait for the humiliated to be grateful to you, make the peace and give the occipied a place under the sun without humiliation.
Here in the USA we have just had Nineteen-year-old Rachel Stieringer arrested for possessing drug paraphernalia. She thought it would be fun to post a picture of her baby with it's face on her bong. . . There is a lack of sense common amongst certain age groups which do not understand the true nature of a new toy. There also seems to be a lack of comprehension by their elders as to the nature of the toy and it's reckless use.
to suggest that the officers over this female soldier would be able to exert a bit more influence that a 19yr old addict or their equally addictive or absent parent? Armies are really meant to have betteer oversight and when the girls and their macho mates do something like this, then they will be held to account more than a crack mom abusing facebook.
Hate, discord, superiority complex, denial of existnce and incitement are embedded in the Israeli culture towards the Palestinian people. We all remember the former prime minister of Israel wondering; " Where are the Palestinians? They don't exist "
Look, if you follow events in Israel and the territories somewhat you know a little about the opus operandi of the IDF. Blindfolding and handcuffing detainees is standard-procedure! Just try a google search! I really don't understand what all the fuzz is about.
this is about fighting terrorist activity
Ethical values are for policticians. Soldiers are there for one purpose only: to defend a nation and wage war when necessary. Their behaviour is supposedly controlled by convention This photo lacked taste and possibly was in contravention but as far as it goes In the scheme of a soldiers duty it is not as bad as the atrocities carried out by Arab soldiers against Israeli soldiers bodies during the 1973 war .I was there but it is too horrible to repeat what the Arab done.. It goes far beyond the ethics of a tasteless snapshot, as far as i know not one of the Arab soldiers who committed these crimes were ever brought to book.
so, is OK to humiliate another because in 1973 the arabs did this or that, and also because 1000 years ago arabs kill jews and 1500 before jews killed arabs...you, and many like you like to live in past dreams, arabs are no different in that sense neither. But what about humanity? How long can you and the rest of you live in this dream of power and divine right? If the rest of the world don't agree with you perhaps is because you are wrong. Think a little with some brain and not with biblical tales.
This girl and other ex or present IDF soldiers lost dicipline and start to get sick in mind. What Israel didn't understand is those people return to civilian life with those sick minds. They will also ruin civilian life in Israeli cities. Would you like this girl to be your child's teacher at primary school? Can you imagine what she may do to your child if your kid forgets a homework. IDF is an army without dicipline and it's ruinin Israeli social life.
Do a search on "Beasts in Blue Berets" and you will find: "Three members of a now-disbanded elite Canadian paratroop regiment were tried and convicted of criminal charges in the beating death of a 16-year-old Somali boy named Shidane Arone; the three "peacekeepers" had been photographed smiling beside the bloody corpse of the boy, whose hands had been bound. . . . Italian military officials admitted that Italian soldiers assigned to UN duty in Somalia had also tortured and otherwise abused Somali civilians. According to the Washington Post, 'Two generals who led the Italian forces to Somalia resigned in June following publication of graphic reports of sexual violence against a Somali woman, electric torture of a young man and allegations that an officer had murdered a young boy.' " What was that again about Israel not understanding and the IDF being an army without discipline?
... for this true image of Israel.
...that the IDF employs hate preaching Rabbi's, considers it to be OK to treat Israeli Arabs as second-tier inferior people etc. etc. So what to expect from a ordinary Israeli girl that was raised in a Israel full of hatred against a part of its own population? The dumb girl is obviously lacking the moral standards in order to witness her own disgraceful acts. But for that the entire Israeli society is to blame.
Their moral behaviour has been below anty standards already for years but Haaretz keeps on praising them. Haaretz could and should demand high standards of our institutions but it should think well if it also demands the same standards from others like Israeli Arabs.
We need more like her and fewer of the anti IDF posters found here. I can understand those anti-semitic jew haters, and those snivelling pity seeking Arab propagandists appealing no body other than those who are already on their side and against the Jews being self reliant and self defending. What i cannot abide are the fearful trembling Yuden Zhids, Juifs and Kikes who must be purged from the very marrow of the Jewish society and culture. these vermin have yet to understand the total irrelevance of their genuflecting belly crawling sympathy seeking descent into the outhouse of the Jew-murdering Islamist. These Islamist and their willing and eager abettors in all of arabia and mohamedan lands east and west are doing the work that the western christian jew haters need done. It is simply a reversal of the roles from that in the the 20's 30's and 40's, when it was the europeans who did the killing cheered on by the Moslems. We need an army of girls like her and girls who will show no mercy to these murderous, rock throwing, rocket launching, holocaust denyoing Jew killers. May she and the IDF soldiers all live to 120 praise the good lord
Very brave of her to sit next to cuffed and blindfolded Palestinians whilst surrounded by chums all as armed to the teeth as she is. You must be SO proud of her incredible 'bravery'.
Pissedon and those like him are never content unless they can create the worst periods of the past. They need it, thrive on it, so that they can always justify their actions by calling up the victim card and the big bad anti-semite, that they must have to thrive. It is pathological and instead of trying to change the hatred and fanaticism of the past record, they try to recreate it since they thrive in that environment and can do whatever they do as a justification. They need to have enemies and therfore hate peace since it makes them no longer the victim and stops their ability to condemn the rest of the world as blood thirsty jew haters. Sick, really and doing nothing but help make the world a more fanatic place.
Your phraseology 'mohamedan lands' and 'Christian Jew-haters' really says it all about your mentality. There is no hope for rationality..
Would Israelis care to name which countries share their opinion that the israeli army is the most ethical in the world? It is the sort of crass assertion which tells the rest of the world - as it ignores hundreds of un and international demands - that it is the palestinians who ignore international law. Israel is unfortunatley a very sad and dangerous place where fantasty has replaced reality.
After World War II, the big question was - Where were all the good Germans ?. Today in Israeli/Palestinian conflict - the question is Where are all the good I******s ?
an acquaintance just returned from a trip to cyprus. he echoed the stories published in the press-the israeli kids act shamefully. if a kid is denied an education with ethics and morality,then what can be expected? as they say in hebrew "you can't pull the rope from both sides". send a kid to an education that is narcissitic and doesn't instill values particularly about family loyalty,purity and sanctity and respect for authority,then its no wonder he doesn't even understand what is wrong with his behavior. don't protest against the darkness but add light. give the youth torah guidelines. forgetting our past is detaching ourselves from the values that maintained the jewish people for millenium. we need to reconnect
This is such a classic example of the self-hating Israeli media and leftists, who live in constant fear of their own shadows and of what the anti-semites will say. The girl took a stupid picture. So what. It was poor taste. Were the prisoners abused in any way? Did she actually do anything wrong? What if her comment was, "this is the worse time of my life", what would Haaretz be saying? Suddenly she would become a hero. The Israeli media and the left are the true source of Israel's moral vacuum.
...to characterize Israel (see your last sentence) as having a "moral vacuum." Like any society it isn't without faults, but any reasonable person (in my opinion) would not deem it to be totally lacking in morals--which is what a "moral vacuum" describes.
The damage is huge. The Danish press have all day been running the story and it does not look good. And Denmark is one of Israel biggest supporter in EU. It is Israel shooting herself in the foot. I'm in contact with some of the travel agencies sending Danes to Israel and they hate stories like this, because it makes them impossible to advertise for their tours. It put Israel in a bad light, as a country who doesn't care about human rights. It costs Israel millions and millions of shekels. And the most disturbing thing is that the woman doesn't understand why she screwed up.
Oh, please! When you talk to your Danish friends, ask them to do a web search on "Belgian soldiers roast somalian boy." They will find articles with a picture of a young Somalian boy being roasted (in 1995, I believe) by two Belgian soliders over a fire pit. In addition, they will read about a Somalian child being forced to eat his own vomit and worms, another Belgian soldier urinating on a dead somalian child, and child dying after soldiers locked him in a storage contain for 48 hours in the heat. Ask your Danish friends if the Danish press ran these stories. If you haven't heard about these and other atrocities by UN "Peacekeeping" soldiers, it's because no one cares.
is that what you mean? Is that your defence? someone does wrong and therefore I have no problem doing also wrong? Looks a very good place where you live. Is wonderland?
No, Edgar. My point is that soldiers from many countries commit horrible atrocities, but Israel gets singled out because a soldier post pictures of herself on her own Facebook page, doing nothing wrong. I don't approve of the pictures. But I strongly object to the fact that atrocities committed by non-Israelis go without notice. No, I don't live in Israel. I don't have to live in Israel to recognize this ridiculous hypocrisy and double standard against Israel. I'm an American. Some of our soldiers have done much worse, as all Americans should know. Still, I know that most American soldiers are good people, and for every picture of an American soldier doing wrong, there are many more pictures of American soldiers doing good. The same is true for Israeli soldiers.
Eden looks to me like nothing more than a Frecha from Ashdod, probably poorly educated with a limited knowledge of the world. She will never understand anything in a million years
Just why is it so appauling for a soldier to post photos of her service in the army and call it the best of times? Maybe she really learned a lot and enjoyed it? Maybe through her work with security prisoners she felt that she really made a difference, helping out people at a time which is most certainly stressful? I think its a crime to portray this as a crime. And its only being done for one purpose, to serve some twisted political agenda. The ONLY thing this girl did wrong was taking a photo and posting it. That doesn't make her a criminal, or Israel a rotting culture as Ha'aretz would like to portray it.
The norms of the army are only the tip of the iceberg; the real problem is that such behavior has become the norm of the society in which we live. One in which Haim Ramon's alleged comments to Erakat (which even if accurately reported express something that's perfectly obvious) cause an uproar, and Eden Abergil's display of crassness and insensitivity does not. BTW, she is not to blame, which falls on the society that surrounds her
Do us all a favor. Israeli soldiers arrest security suspects, blind them and handcuff them, just like American Soldiers, German soldiers and every other soldier in the world. Humiliation? Was she pointing to a prisoner's genitals and laughing? Was she making obscene gestures? No, she's stupid soldier girl that took a couple of photographs with blindfolded prisoners. She didn't steal thousands of top secret documents from the IDF and hand them to a journalist, an act which very much could cost the lives of any of ourselves or our children. But this woman in the eyes of Ha'aretz and its readers is ten times more a criminal than Anat Kam. And for what? Taking a photo next to a security prisoner and posting it on facebook. An event that takes place daily in the US Army, we just don't hear about it. Once again, you should be ashamed of yourselves Ha'aretz. You are the ethical vaccum in this country.
why comparing israel to america or germany? israel should have his own ethical standart. and why should the behavior of german and american soldiers be alright? i mean german soldiers...
Don't you mean Israel must be HELD to a different standard? You know, completely out of context? With no regard to Israel being in a state of war. Or to how the soldiers of other nations at war behave? No, Israel's actions must be viewed in context, taking into account circumstance, and intent, and in relation to other nations under similar circumstances. Anything else is hippocritical, hateful lies.
And she was prosecuted, convicted AND sent to jail. They didn't yet get all the higher ups, but they did start up the chain of command.
You might want to read the article again. One of the points is not the mere fact that a soldier has arrested someone, but "[...] photographing them as a hunter would his conquered beast". Of course, we all know that some people will never notice the ethical vacuum behind this behaviour.
Photos of IDF being photographed next to detainees stripped to their underwear, photos of them grinning over dead bodies. These are published re this story in the NY Times, and soldiers are boasting on talkbacks on other news outlets of having much worse than this..
But isn't the IDF responsible for exactly such an expectation? Don't they routinely tout themselves as the Most Moral Army in the World? Well?
This core attitude towards non-Jews is prevalent amongst most Israeli Zionist. It's one of the reasons that those criticizing Israel feel justified in stating Israel is a fascist state. Wake up Israel and smell the roses. It's about time for a national dialog on this cancer. If you don't deal with this starting with your government, then Israel will just slide into being a two-bit mediocre State. They'll will be a time when the U.S. will cut loose it's ties.
A guy who can inflate a teenage soldier's mindless display of ego into a fascist state, a cancer, and the rupture of relations with the U.S. belongs at the very top and not in the morass of Haaretz comment boards. Do you bend spoons in your sleep, too?
"mindless display of ego into a fascist state, a cancer." Do you even think before you type? Or are you preprogrammed to spew vile, meaningless slogans.
"The humiliation of Palestinian detainees must not be remembered as the "best time" of any soldier's army experience." Has anyone asked Jeff Goldberg over at The Atlantic for his reaction? Asfter all, that's what he was doing before he decided that it would be fun to pretend to be a journalist.
with the racis, fascist Islamist incitement coming from the OFFICIAL media, OFFICIALLY published,in the Moslem world. When did you last write to the SMH expressing your outrage?
As you would be aware, there is no real urgency for Johnboy to express his outrage to the SMH when your friends at "The Australian" never let a day pass by without an anti-Muslim diatribe.
These soldiers taking pictures are certainly not the best citizens in daily life. The soldiers act are symptoms of total lack of respect toward all aspects of society in our youth. This is the direct outcome of the left control and transformation of Israel's educational system. We see disrespect toward teachers, state symbols, and parents. The left promoted for years the "total freedom and no punishments" attitude as promoted in the "bill of pupils rights". This created a generation of high-school students with out any self-moderation nor discipline. I don't know if the situation in Europe or the US is similar. This decadent approach to education also degrade the actual level of students under the umbrella of "individual research, no memorizing, and only learning concepts", which is a code name of "no discipline whatsoever, and learn by the trinity: google - copy - paste". Failure of educating a whole generation of youth is entirely the fault of left education programs being driven solely on the basis of fashionable slogans.
Is it the left youth that violently attacks Palestinians in the occupied territories? Is it the left youth that advocates the degradation of the Palestinians as a people? These are not leftists (or even centrist)values, sorry: right-wingers of the Kahana/Likud/Lieberman/Shas types are the ones who advocate this type of conduct.
the leftists are the first to undermine any institution that they oppose. they are the first to shout down their oponents in a debate. they are the ones who will not permit a rightist leaning speaker to utter a word. they lead campaigns to underrmine our industies, our culture and our exports by perpetually siding with our enemies. Thjey hate everything Israel stands for. they fear, therefore they hate our ability to defend ourselves, they are afraid to fight for their own rights. they only know how to olead and to crawl and desrve to be kicked like the worms that they are.
They are regularly present at demonstrations against the wall and all other de-humanising activities constantly perpetrated by the IDF and the right wing government.
not only is the comparison between the sexual degredation and inhumane treatment in Abu-ghraib and ths case bewond any proportion, but also the claim that IDF commanders are solely responsible for every case, remeber that soldiers are enlisted and serve having already 18 years of moral education. This soldier carries all the blame for her immoral behavoir
some may say that it was an isolated incident, then the same can be said about Abu Ghraib. It does not matter, the damage is done. This is yet another red mark on Israel's report card.
..."lack of sensitivity" --I am TOTALLY sincere (after reading the talk-backs on this issue on a variety of websites) in my belief that an enterprising TV producer could have a significant hit or his or her hands--by developing this into a "reality show" for Israeli TV. (Crass, arguably--commercially viable, I'd bet on it.)