UPDATE: Now we know the identity of not only the Palestinian woman degraded in the IDF YouTube video which I’ve been posting about for the past few days. We also know the name of the abuser. He is Avi Yakobov. More about this lug later.**
French-speaking Tikun Olam reader, Deir Yassin, brings news that Agence France Press has identified the Palestinian abuse victim in the IDF Youtube video first brought to light by Israel’s Channel 10. She is Ihsan Dababseh, 35, who was arrested, accused and convicted of belong to Islamic Jihad, and served 22 months in an Israel prison:
A Palestinian woman told AFP on Wednesday at his “humiliation” after being recognized on a video showing an Israeli soldier dancing around a veiled detained, blindfolded figure with hands tied.
“I saw the video on Al-Jazeera. I did not sleep last night so I felt humiliated and frustrated “, said Ihsan Dababseh, after the international television retransmission of these images broadcast from YouTube Monday by an Israeli channel.
“The sound of laughter of the soldiers and the music echoed in my ears,” said the young woman from the village of Nuba, near Hebron in the south of the occupied West Bank.
She said he contacted the Prisoners’ Club, a Palestinian NGO, and is considering legal action against the Israeli army.
“When they arrested me, they took me to the detention center, Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem and put me in a hallway, hands bound and blindfolded,” she added, placing the date incident in December 2007.
“I heard the laughter of the soldiers, their voices and music. I saw what was happening because the band was not very tight and I begged them not to film me, “said the former detainee, stating she was arrested for alleged membership in the radical movement Islamic Jihad and sentenced to 22 months in prison.
In this video, an Israeli soldier mockingly wearing sunglasses performs a parody of oriental dance around a young veiled woman, who is motionless against a wall, handcuffed and blindfolded. Background music and the laughing of fellow soldiers are heard in the background.
The viral spread of the clip occurred seven weeks after the outcry over the discovery on the Facebook page of a former Israeli soldier of pictures from military service in which she posed smiling alongside Palestinian prisoners, blindfolded and hands tied. The pictures were accompanied by sexually abusive comments.
…”These videos are isolated cases that do not represent the Israeli army as a whole,” she said, a line of defense undermined by the multiplication of such incidents in recent months.
Palestinian officials and Israeli organizations of human rights argue instead that these behaviors are indicative of the mood prevailing in the army vis-à-vis the Palestinians.
“This is a disgusting picture of the diseased mentality of the occupier. This is not an isolated incident, “said the Palestinian Authority, noting that new media can” reveal the open culture of humiliation of the Palestinians. ”
Considering “the film deeply offensive to the dignity of women,” it considers that such attacks “will not cease until the end of the occupation…”
Now, we need to identify the abusive soldier. Anyone serving in Gush Etzion in December, 2007 who may know this guy is invited to communicate with me. Let’s not give the IDF an excuse to sweep this monstrousness under the carpet. We all know that the IDF is the Most Moral Army in the World. The nation’s defense minister told us so, ferchrissakes. So let’s see what the most moral army in the world does with this mini-mess.
**Eagle-eyed reader, Dena Shunra, has unmasked our proud IDF abuser via Twitter. He is Avi Yakobov. An Israeli reader tells me this is likely a name of Bukharan origin (Lev Leviev is also a former Bukharan Jew).
Last night, Dena discovered the Twitter profile of an Israel journalist who was suffering a sleepless night as she contemplated whether to violate her sister’s wishes and “out” the IDF soldier featured in the belly-dance video.
Ultimately, she decided to file a story for Maariv. That piece of shmate has some explaining to do because instead of doing what a newspaper should do, which is publish the truth without fear or favor, it published an item that censored his name. For shame.
I don’t want to name the reporter till I know she’s ready to be named. But she is one brave woman and journalist. I hope her sister will forgive her for doing such an important and courageous thing.
I continue being amazed by the power of social networks in that regard. Eden Abergil’s taunting of Palestinians was featured on her Facebook page and outed there. Avi Yakobov’s sins are bared for all to see on his Facebook page. And an Israeli journalist describes in Twitter how she broke her heart and that of her sister in deciding to publish the details. All I can say is that social networks are beacons of liberty in portraying the Occupation in all its horror and the means to redeem it as well.
Dena happens to ply the internet for just such nuggest and thank God for that.
Our friend, Yakobov is now enjoying Oktoberfest at a bartender’s convention in Berlin where he’s writing barely sober notes about his exploits. Apparently, he is blissfully unaware of the furor surrounding his belly-dancing skills. Neither is he aware that Hamas, according to Yediot, has announced that it would like to offer him deluxe accomodation in the same bunker with Gilad Shalit.
I’m guessing right about now the Israeli embassy in Berlin is hustling this guy onto a plane bound straight for Ben Gurion. From there he’s liable to be whisked straight to the Kirya for testing to determine how someone with his IQ was actually accepted into the IDF. This guy is gonna cause of world of pain to the IDF when this gets out.
Note in the accompanying picture above he’s photographed embracing a huge promotional display of Jagermeister. How appropriate. And in the other Facebook image, entitled Avi & Shuki’s Spread, subtitled “Thanks for a wonderful time,” he features this montage of images in the center of which Avi smiles as he accompanies what appears to be yet another handcuffed, blindfolded Palestinian. UPDATE: This party occurred on Purim and the scene is a sort of Purim shpiel re-enacting some of Avi’s “heroic exploits.”
On a serious note, one wonder whether all the drinking may be a residual hangover from some of the guilty memories he may have of some of the more disgusting things he did. Many Israelis, when they complete army service travel to India, do lots of drugs and try to forget. It strikes me that Avi, though he professes to love his military service, may be suffering the same sets of personal stresses. I’ve looked at his Facebook photos and he strikes me as a perfectly ordinary Israeli young man. So how does this young man with the smile on his face, happy among comrades turn into a monster?
Dena has quoted some of the more redolent comments on Yakobov’s Facebook Wall. Among the comments published on his Twitter account is this one from a friend, Yaniv Tayar, which the latter later deleted, revealing that he saw Yakobov on the Channel 10 segment:
“Bro, you’re a celeb! An appearance on the news, ha, ha, ha…”
Here are more general comments about his alcoholic binge in Berlin and his, and his friends general attitudes toward Arabs, drinking, prostitutes, etc.:
Sept. 10 8 pm: “Berlin? I killed a prostitute in Berlin! In short, what do we do tonight?”
Sept. 9th 7:45 pm mentions that his penis points at MILFs [mothers I’d like to fuck]
Sept. 10 at 3:04 pm “she’s maybe a MILF in Beit Jallah”
August 30th 1:07 am “What can we do, what can we do, that my generation is kind of crooked”
Orian Menahemov: “we like you complacent”
Yakobov Leonard: “whaddaya mean, camplacent”
Avi Yakobov: “whatdaayamean compalcent, the one you sat with in Austria and tossed Faisals into the sky”
August 17th 4:03 am “Alcohol poisonning is baddddddddd”
May 31st 6:05pm “Destroy Turkey and all the Arabs from the world”
Mordechai Maxim Vinogradov: “I’m with you, bro’, and with God’s help I’ll start it :)”
Avi Yakobov: “haha and you are capable of it, with no intervention from the evil eye.”
December 29 2009 4:01 pm: “I started working at Liquor Market, yes-yes, they’ve let the cat guard the cream!”
Avi Yakobov: “Sometime in 2006 or 2007. There were good tiems [sic] in the past in Central Division Etzion” Length 0:47
Tomer Elimelech: “what nostalgia, huh?”
Avi Yakobov: “That was when the dinosaurs were still in their eggs”
Yael Zabi Nov 4 2008 2:27 pm “Wow, that’s really old! Avi, I miss you. Maybe you’ll ask for a career military placement?”
Tomre Elimelech: “I see that I’m starring [in your videos]… hahaha we miss you, brother-of-ours”.
Now that we’ve IDed the guy, what heinous punishment do you think the IDF has in store?
One other interesting sidelight. Yesterday, I posted an Israeli Hebrew language report in which the IDF said its chief concern was teaching soldiers how to avoid embarrassing themselves and the army by uploading such troublesome material. While in the English language N.Y. Times, the IDF was quoted saying it thoroughly disapproved of such behavior and would attempt to root it out. Why the difference in approach? One message for foreign consumption while a message closer to the truth (as the IDF sees it) for the domestic audience? Don’t I remember a similar accusation of dissembling and hypocrisy flung at the PLO by the pro-Israelist right that it spoke out of both sides of its mouth depending on the audience? There couldn’t be a chance the IDF practiced this too, could there?
I’m waiting to see how many flights into Tel Aviv airport will be carrying the “she had it coming, she’s a terrorist” crowd.
Yaniv Tayar actually says “bro you’re a celeb”
The “I liked that show” comment refers to the posted video, taken in an international bartender competition in Berlin.
The “party” comments refers to an actual party. Therefore “I’m dead tired”. And it’s more like “What a partyyyy”.
And here’s a link to the alleged Facebook account http://www.facebook.com/avi.yakobov
Did you mean to say “Facebook” instead of “Twitter”?
Thanks for those corrections. I saw the Hebrew word “s-l-b” & thought it must be a transliteration of “slob” when it was really “celeb!!”
As for the others you noted, I saw my mistake after I published, that some of the comments were about the bartender competition & I’ve reworked that portion of the post w. some of Dena’s translations of other comments from his Wall.
Always glad to help. Maybe someday his officers will be tried in Nuremberg! Or at the Hague! Or wherever we’re going after war criminals and other people who don’t get it (yet) about all humans being equal.
this website is the crudest, most ignorant trash I have ever read. You should apply to Guinness for the record.
Thank for yr endorsement.
“While in the English language N.Y. Times, the IDF was quoted saying it thoroughly disapproved of such behavior and would attempt to root it out. Why the difference in approach? ”
You think it’s the IDF being two-faced, which is probably true, but I suspect it’s also the NYT acting as a willing stenographer.
Wow, once again, great investigative reporting. Excellent work!
Regarding the contents of the video: Isn’t the humiliation of this female prisoner a violation of the Third Geneva Convention which prohibits the humiliating or degrading treatment of a prisoner?
Actually since when has Israel taken International Law into consideration on any level?
Thanks for this. Small correction. You write: “And in the other Facebook image, entitled Avi & Shuki’s Deployment, subtitled “Thanks for a wonderful time,”…
Prissa doesn;t actually mean deployment in this context. A prissa is an IDFname for a short gathering with food. It looks like a going away gathering, in this case.
I was debating with myself & Dena about this. I noted that it can mean “spread” & I thought it might mean that in terms of a spread of food as in a party. One of his friends says he regrets that he missed the prissa, which got me to thinking it might mean that. Thanks for the correction.
3/4 of a million views on youtube.
im an american millenial, and we are sick of getting punked by Israel with this bullshit, and getting punked at the peace table. I have a cousin and two friends in afghanistan right now and their jobs just got more dangerous.
Israel is pretty cocky now……but when the demographic timer goes off we are going to kick J-Street to the kerb.
Blacks, Browns and Millenials dont care about Israel.
Only the greys care…..and they are dying off.
Separately from the Israeli occupation of Palestine: you guys should maybe also just get the f… out of Afghanistan too. It sounds like you’re more worried about your friends and family who after all went there volontarily to do “their jobs” than you are about the Afghani population who surely doesn’t want your presence, with ot without the Israeli belly dancer.
I agree. People who join the US military should take it as a given that they’re going to be sent to some poor beleaguered Muslim country as cannon fodder. If this isn’t your idea of a military career, don’t join.
And put the shoe on the other foot – how would you like to be someone living in Iraq or Afghanistan, who has no choice but to live in a US-made war zone?
If you don’t believe in the war machine, don’t be part of it.
we are trying to GTFO.
you do understand that the mini-surge in Afghanistan is the exact mirror of the surge in Iraq– a way to withdraw without admitting that Terrorism (aka Islam) Kicked America’s Fat White Judeoxian Ass.
You’ll be “grey” soon enough & some young asshole will come along & treat you like dirt. Then you’ll know how it feels.
–signed, “Grey”
nah.
my point is the holocaust guilt account is overdrawn with younger people. we dont remember. we see Israel abuse palestinians and stupid IDF bullshit like Yakobov daily.
we see America get punked by Israel at peace negotiations.
Israel needs to evolve or go extinct.
When America cuts Israel off it will be better for Israel– continued building of suicide settlements and ghetto-izing the Palestinians can only have one outcome.
Did you look at the youtube thread on Yakobov?
In one hour it went from lol to fuck Israel.
Most of the comments are very negative at over 3/4 of a million views.
few people that watch youtube remember the holocaust.
its human nature.
people that don’t hate jews are learning to hate Israelis.
i meant to say …..Stupid IDF Tricks.
The holocaust has nothing to do with Palestine. The two shouldn’t be mentioned in relation to each other. Of course, the holocaust does not justify the Israeli abuse of the Palestinians, nor does it justify the theft of Palestinian land. Bear in mind that Theodore Herzl had his zionist vision many years before the holocaust happened.
The US will not “cut off” Israel in the foreseeable future, so how do we protect the Palestinians from the ethnic cleansing and land theft being committed daily?
yes we will.
when the demographic timer goes off.
Like I explained to richard, millenials, black americans, and brown americans don’t care at all about Israel. Only the “greys” older white christians, that are declining demographically.
In 2008 non-hispanic cauc became a minority in american children under five.
you are being sillie– Israel owes its very existance to western holocaust guilt.
Millenials and minorities-soon-to-be-majorities in America dont care.
YOu’ve said this already. Please don’t repeat yrself.
the best way for the Israelis to stop ghetto-izing palestinians and building suicide settlements and come back to the peace talks, is for them to understand my generation will not support them when the demographic timer goes off.
Our soldiers (who are millenials) bleeding and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan are harmed by Israels actions.
And we are broke.
We aren’t going to pay for Israel or bleed for Israel when we become the majority.
Again, repeating yrself. It’s getting old fast.
i dont mean to treat anyone like dirt. im just speaking truth, like about the Horah. Young people in America, black americans, brown american dont care at all about Israel and the holocaust.
the past is dust.
and i have a minor in dance.
its not bellydancing– its the Horah.
see how he holds up his arms snapping his fingers, and stepping across? he just shamed a magnificent cultural tradition…it is the jewish dance of celebration, like for weddings.
I find it fascinating to discover that there is a generation of Israeli soldier who seeks his soulmates in a German Bierkellar.
When Israelis go to India after serving in the IDF, they take their imperial attitudes with them and play the Sahib to the natives. In Goa and other Israeli hotspots it is common to see signs that say NO ISRAELIS. I gather this is now seen in Thailand as well. many European travellers avoid anywhere with too many Israelis. Ambassadors indeed.
“When Israelis go to India after serving in the IDF, they take their imperial attitudes with them and play the Sahib to the natives. In Goa and other Israeli hotspots it is common to see signs that say NO ISRAELIS. I gather this is now seen in Thailand as well. many European travellers avoid anywhere with too many Israelis. Ambassadors indeed.”
Yes, and in Germany in 1938, there were many places that had signs “No Jews” and in America in the sixties “No Coloreds”.
But I suppose you think with your racist outlook that this was because the Jews and the Coloreds were in someway not treating the Germans or Americans with the respect they should have done.
You say “when Israelis go…” – that means in English “all of them”, of course. You couldn’t even suggest that it might be only some of them that make a bad name for themselves by their behaviour. Actually I was once at a football match where a few Brits got a “little” drunk. I didn’t in any way assume all Brits are louts as a result.
Frankly your racist moral superiority disgusts me.
I see, you’re claiming that all those drug-addled, liquor swilling Israelis should be welcomed w. open arms no matter what kind of misbehavior they engage in? And a refusal to accept such acts constitutes racism? Really, is that yr position??
Tell me how often you’ve been abroad in tourist haunts frequented by former IDF soldiers after the end of their service? Ever seen what they’re capable of in India & such places? I have a suggestion: invite Avi to take you w. him on his next trip to Oktoberfest and there you’ll see the unruliness of which these specimens are capable. Did you even bother to read the quotations from his Facebook Wall about killing prostitutes, etc.?? Even if half of it was bombast, didn’t you find it in the least troubling??
Frankly, I find yr moral blindness troubling though it doesn’t disgust me because it doesn’t surprise me.
While I am not defending heinous behavior regarding the “belly dancer” what draws my attention is how you focused on “Did you even bother to read the quotations from his Facebook Wall about killing prostitutes, etc.”
The only reason I even read this article was it mentions Mordechai Maxim Vinogradov. From what I can tell and correct me if I am wrong, these guys are very young and figures of speech used by younger generations may not mean the same thing as you and I would translate them.
I am not a complete youngster but what I took that to mean when he spoke of “killing prostitutes” was not literal. I may be mistaken but I think he meant it as “tapping” it hard. You may want to try googling slang translations but I am not sure how it applies to different languages. English slang may not be the same as Israeli slang. Just my .02 and no offense intended to anyone.
Read Haaretz on this topic, which precedes Mumbai attack. It would be hard to imagine that the corrosive nature of the occupation and the instilled attitudes towards Palestinians and Arabs, suddenly cease when they go to India. is this all Israelis, of course not: but enough to be noticed by the locals, some of whom would rather lose business than deal with them. As for racist moral superiority, this is projection on your part and can be seen in every utterance in defense of Israel.
I don’t know for sure how it is in South Asia, but when I traveled to South America, the locals AND the foreigners loved Israelis for the most part. Pretty much every foreigner I traveled with wished to go visit Israel at some point.
In any case, the “imperial attitudes” you speak of have nothing to do with military service. Do not try to paint a darker picture than it really is.
And I think in general that article is nitpicking on details that could have been found on pretty much anyone’s Facebook profile. To associate his abuse during military service with anything else found on his profile is misleading and plain wrong. The man is a douche, there is no need to make a story up to make it seem as if all the puzzle pieces fit together. Even a rapist could be a good father and generally a nice person.
# Shai)
This is simply not true. I’ve grew up partly in Argentina, have travelled throughout nearly all the South American countries, studied in Mexico and Peru, and if there are somebody that people don’t like, it’s Israeli tourists. The behavoiur of Israeli youngsters after IDF-service alongside with the Israeli military cooperation during the various military dictatorships have left very little sympathy for the State of Israel.
What people tell you and what they feel deep inside, is often different. Business is business. And it’s all over the same thing.
A Danish friend of mine once asked me: “Why are the Israelis so rude”. She knew absolutely nothing about the Middle East or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but after two summers of working at the tourist information in the Central Station of Copenhagen, you get to make some ‘anthropological’ studies on human behaviour. She’s got bias on Israelis ever since.
I’m not saying this is fair. It isn’t. And signs with ‘No Israelis’ is simply not tolerable in my opinion, but if you’ve seen hotel rooms being ‘demolished’ like a Palestinian house, the partying and drinking all night long, you get a little worried about your business.
I am well aware that some Israelis behave terribly with total disregard to the local population, customs, and culture; but I wouldn’t say this applies to most of us.
Perhaps we’ve had entirely different experiences, but many of those who’ve said they’d like to visit Israel have indeed done so. Besides, when Israelis get high and drunk in their travels, who do you think they do it with? That’s right – Americans, Europeans, Australians, et cetera.
Not that I think it matters. There are very few people I know who have traveled to South America and/or Asia and did NOT party and got high & drunk. Some of them are assholes regardless and end up destroying hotel rooms.
This may just be due to the perceived risk of a terrorist attack, especially after Mumbai, rather than any moral revulsion or racism.
That being said, the sort of British holidaymaker who would remain unoffended by this kind of carry-on usually goes to Ibiza rather than Goa.
There may be a purely legal reason why IDF veterans prefer to let their hair down in Germany rather than Spain or the UK.
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You know, this quote really stands out to me:
…”These videos are isolated cases that do not represent the Israeli army as a whole,” she said, a line of defense undermined by the multiplication of such incidents in recent months.”
Now, let’s change one quick thing. If one were to say instead:
“These suicide bombers are isolated cases that do not represent Muslims as a whole, she said, a line of defense undermined by the multiplication of such incidents in recent months.”
Well, now, that would clearly be denounced as hate, tarring the majority because of the behavior of a few bad apples, right?
So why does that standard apply to Muslims, but not Israelis?