In the aftermath of the revelation by Israel’s Channel 10 that an IDF soldier sexually abused a bound and blindfolded Palestinian woman (see video) by belly-dancing and rubbing his body against her in a suggestive manner, the IDF has reacted in a classical fashion. No, it hasn’t scheduled any sensitivity training for its troops, nor has it scheduled any classes teaching the proper means of detaining suspects and treating them with a modicum of respect. It won’t be warning its troops that such bad behavior will not be tolerated in future. How could it when so many units behave in precisely the same fashion?
IDF behavior won’t change because Israelis fundamentally don’t see anything especially wrong with it. Abuse only ends in such circumstances when commanders and their political bosses develop a will to change the culture. There is no such will anywhere in the IDF or Israeli society at large.
So how is the IDF responding? It’s going to train soldiers how NOT to embarrass the IDF when they use social media:
The video clip, which has aroused many reactions in the wider world, brought the IDF to the conclusion that it must explain better to soldiers the dangers of uploading video and images embroiled in controversy.
Lovely. Don’t stop behaving in the abusive manner that got you into trouble to begin with–just be more careful in not allowing the world to see you doing it.
Even Ethan Bronner has now gotten in on the act, though he neglected to credit Channel 10 with first alerting Israelis to the video. I suppose we should be grateful he wrote about the incident at all, since it pains him to write anything that might be construed as critical of the IDF unless he can balance it with something positive.
H/t Ofer.
We need the soldier’s name, or at least the unit. Humiliating him/them somehow might leave a small impression. As someone whose tax money is spent buying weapons for this “force” let me say that I’m sick and tired of their incompetence, stupidity, racism, belligerence, and general dysfunction. If they want a sugar daddy, maybe they should learn Chinese; the US is getting too broke to back that failed excuse of a state.
Please correct me if I am mistaken, but should that belly-dancing soldier be identified and punished, it will be mostly because he treated a prisoner in a manner not proscribed by the IDF. In other words, there are already rules in place in the IDF regarding proper conduct towards prisoners. The video is just evidence of the offense.
You stated “It won’t be warning its troops that such bad behavior will not be tolerated in future. How could it when so many units behave in precisely the same fashion?”
It already warns the troops. And what citation do you have for the assertion that “so many units” behave this way? How many? Which ones? The Nana article cites only 3 cases.
Only three cases? What planet are you living on? Look back through my blog & you’ll see scores of posts about the IDF violating, abusing, degrading & torturing, if not outright killing Palestinians. This goes on every day in virtually every unit enforcing the Occupation. And when the IDF itself isn’t doing the abuse the settlers themselves do it for ’em. Where’ve you been? In a cocoon?
BTW, could you let us know what the most moral army in the world actually does ID and prosecute the soldier. I’d be happy to make such welcome news public. And if they don’t, what will you say then?
Also interesting is the fact that a Hebrew language source only quotes the IDF wanting to teach soldiers how not to embarras the army by uploading this material. But the Eng. lang. source (N.Y. Times) has a statement by the IDF affirming it’s valiant efforts to get its soldiers to behave properly. Isn’t this an example of saying one thing for the world audience & something totally diff. for the domestic audience. I believe that’s what the pro Israel right accuses Palestinian leaders of doing.
Any reaction to that discrepancy??
The Palestinian woman has been identified.
Ihsan Dababseh, 35 years, from Nouba, close to Hebron:
I saw the video on al-Jazira, and I didn’t sleep all night, feeling so humiliated and frustrated. The sound of the soldier’s laughter and the music rang in my ear.
Ihsan Dababseh indicates that she has contacted the “Club of Prisoners”, a Palestinian NGO and consider taking legal actions against the Israeli army.
“I heard the laughter of the soldiers, their voices and the music. I saw what happened as the blindfold wasn’t very tight. I BEGGED THEM NOT TO FILM ME.”
I didn’t find any Englisg translation on the web, so here, just to confirm my commentary, an article in French:
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/moyen-orient/201010/06/01-4330111-une-palestinienne-se-reconnait-sur-le-film-humiliant-dun-soldat-israelien.php
Have you seen it in Arabic? I can get it translated fr Arabic to English if you have the original.
No, sorry, Richard. I’ve only seen it in French. It’s from Agence France Press. I guess it will be translated in the days to come.
The sentence starting with “I saw it on al-Jazira, and I didn’t sleep all night . . ” is NOT me, but Ihsan Dababseh talking. Sorry, that wasn’t very clear.
An interview by “Europe1.fr” with Ihsan Dababseh in Arabic translated into French has been put on the net.
She says among other things: “I was afraid . . . .the soldiers pissed next to me, they were drinking alkohol, and tried to make me drink too. I refused and one of the soldiers hit me with the cross of his gun. It was like a party going on . . ”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf3l42_quot-les-soldats-pissaient-a-cote_news
Just a note here, I posted the video in June. It’s two years old or so. For the life of me I can’t remember how I got it but I do believe it was off another blog. Now I am feeling awful that I didn’t send it to every media outlet I could in June. Bang bang, how has it taken so long to be made wide spread? June was on the heels of the Mavi when it started floating around more.
# Robin]
I saw it month ago too. I’m pretty sure it was on ‘Mondoweiss’ which is the only other English -speaking blog that I read regularly
what a stupid soldier … and what a racist environment that gives rise to such behavior … i saw a video once where a german nazi SS officer stops a berliner haredi jew and his little 6 year old son on the street, positions the child a foot away from the father, slaps the father on the face, and proceeds to cut the lock of hair on the side of his ear … the goal of such behavior was to degrade and demean the child’s role model (his father) and instill fear in the child’s heart so as to turn him into a coward … we all know how he turned out to be in reality … the little german haredi child grew up to be one of those “never again” generation of jews who fought german oppression, took over palestine but whose sons now act like that german nazi SS officer acted towards their father … by pissing, assaulting, belly-dancing, and rubbing against their victimized captive palestinian woman … my sister. … what a stupid soldier … and what a racist IDF environment that gives rise to such behavior … “never again” says I … “never again” …
Freud tells a famous story about how his own ambivalent feelings about his own Jewishness were formed when, as a young boy, he was walking in the street with his father, who was accosted by a policeman & called a “dirty Jew” or some such anti-Semitic outburst. The father’s resignation in the face of such abuse left an indelible mark on the young Freud & colored his entire relationship with his father.
Actually, the IDF’s reaction to this is not at all dissimilar to the U.S. military’s reaction to the revelations about their treatment of Iraqi detainees as exemplified by the Abu Ghraib photos. They responded first of all by banning cameras in the facilities. Then they created one and only one “model prison” to which they brought the press, resulting in a stream of articles and reports which largely calmed down the concern – “see? Everything is wonderful now. The prisoners and detainees are having a wonderful time as guests of the Americans. It’s practically a picnic.” And in the mean time business continued as usual without anyone noticing.