This 2008 YouTube video documenting a deranged IDF soldier belly-dancing in front of a blind-folded, bound Palestinian woman shows that the Israeli army definitely needs to exploit such branding opportunities and create a YouTube channel featuring more of such distinctive aberrant behavior. Though I err is saying the behavior is aberrant. The more of these Facebook pictures and YouTube videos we find the more we realize this behavior is almost normative.
You can be damned sure this video is already making its way across the Islamist world and that scores of new adherents have been recruited as a result. Who says that the lack of a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict doesn’t fuel radical Islam and terror? Of course it does. This video is a perfect example. Imagine yourself a member of a society in which such sexual insult is considered a killing offense, in which it induces crazed hatred for the perpetrator. That’s what you have here. It’s as bad or worse than Abu Graibh because here a devout Mulism woman is sexually degraded before the camera. And some idiot IDF soldier thought this was humorous and should show the world. Excuse me while I am sick. And this isn’t just a physical sickness, it’s a soul sickness as well. I am disgusted and sickened by this.
This being said, I don’t blame the slimy soldier who did this so much as the system itself. Given the Occupation and its norms, these acts are to be expected. Even the finest Israeli soldier might fall prey to such power-mad abuse in the right circumstances. The key thing to remember is that Occupation corrupts and absolute Occupation corrupts absolutely.
As I wrote in an earlier post about a similar incident, I ask anyone watching this who supports the Occupation or current Israeli policy: how can you do so?
Dimi Reider [correction: my apologies Dimi for getting your first name wrong…again!] has written about this the most eloquently:
One thing you can’t say about our army is that it ever rests on its laurels. Having first rattled its fans with the Hebron dancing video, and then rocked them with a soldier girl’s posing with Palestinian prisoners bound to accompany her on “the best time of her life,” the boys in green now introduce an integrated product. Yes, it has a woman. Yes, it has soldiers. But now the woman is Palestinian, tied up, and the soldiers are dancing a belly dance in front of her, rubbing their superior force and, according to “friends” of Israel, superior morals, in her face. Pretty literally.
…The woman is religious, which makes the humiliation all the worse; forget also the obvious point about these soldiers being powerdrunk kids with guns raised in a violent conflict.
Two points: First, this video finally debunks one of the most persistent Israeli myths – that ours is the only occupying army in history that does not sexually abuse the women of the occupied nation. Second, its about as stark proof as it gets that the IDF cannot…monitor itself (if it could, the soldiers would be in prison, de-ranked and de-mobbed before the video even hit the web). We need international law tribunals to rout out the cancer of impunity – and at least so long as we don’t have truth and reconciliation committees, this applies to everyone, from corporal to chief of staff and defense ministers. To borrow from said boys in green, deterrence must become a top priority.
Id court-martial soldiers that abuse people…IDF Has NO right to do that any more than our soldiers would…and for rape, id shoot the soldier for it.
First I find yr fraudulent nickname offensive. You are clearly not Arab or Muslim & you are either Israeli or a pro-Israelist.
That’s my name and I don’t need to clear my name with you or be granted your approval for my name. Who and what do you think you are? my g-d the arrogance is astounding!!@ And then you threaten me on top of it what a thug!
And it’s pro Israeli not “Israelist”… and again the presumptions in that last statement are mind boggling.
And my point stands –
You quibbled over whether or not an IDF kid shot and murdered was an inch over the green line yet a jackass who dances around a woman you bellow from the rooftops sexual abuse!@
And you further clarify in the comments sections “someone who is clearly Muslim”…… indicating that presumes an extra special sense of crime and thus “he should be thrown in the gallows”…..
As if Muslim women are annointed more protections than a Christian or Jewish or Buddhist woman.
Again you are a hypocrite and an arrogant bully – at least on your own blog where you can get away with it.
By the way the same goes for you – refer to me as anything other than my name and we’ll have a problem….
And if you don’t like my name bcs it doesn’t fit into your teeny tiny purview of what someone what my name is (religion wise) and opinions should be than you’re just proving even further what a to quote how you referred to me, “a jackasss” you are….
Now publish that tough guy!
What do you take us for, fools? An Orthodox Jewish supporter of settlers with the name “Faisal??!!!” You’re even more than a jerk & fool than I thought. And a liar. I did a Google search & your name comes up in NO Google searches so clearly this is a nickname you made up for just such slummin’ through the left wing blogosphere.
BIG comment rule violation—& you’re gone, just like that. It was nice knowin’ ya. On yr way out could you let Hasbara central know they need to get another one in line for landing at Ben Gurion (inside joke).
I like pro-Israelist better than pro-Israel because it connotes being “pro-Israel” as a right wing ideological, even theological approach to Israel.
Such hyperbole, when simplicity would do yr cause much more justice.
No, not what I said. I said she was clearly an religious Muslim. I didn’t say he should be thrown fr. the gallows. That’s actually your own aimless bellowing…
“As if” means, “these are the lying words I’m going to put into his mouth which he neither said nor meant.” The offense in abusing a religious woman is even greater than normal since religious women have very strict codes of modesty, so the shame of such contact would be even greater. To be clear in case Shirin wishes to pounce on me, any such contact with ANY woman is sexual abuse & should be rooted out mercilessly & punished. But the offense against a religious woman of any religion is even greater.
I never used any name to refer to you at all, but how’s this: “Lyin’ Sack O’ Shite?” Your real name is Faisal like my name is “Mohammed.”
@ Marry
i don’t care if you were the pope, you have no right insulting people that state their opinion in a respectful way.
Imagine the kids from Jersey Shore, indoctrinated in fascist philosophy and then given semi-automatic weapons and told to guard Pashtun prisoners in Afghanistan. This is the kind of stunt they would come up with.
There is a kind of nihilism and depravity that seems to arise in highly consumerist societies. Those who have the capability of being honorable, decent people find themselves encouraged to be vulgar and abusive.
One thing you can say about (most) Haredis — they would never condone such actions.
Well, maybe. I just wrote a post about a Haredi Jew & member of Unit 8200 accused of sexual abuse. Let’s just say Haredi Jews SHOULD never condone such actions. BTW, a huge percentage of the IDF officer core is composed of Orthodox Jews who grew up in settlements. So this kid is very possibly Orthodox.
AriJay, FYI
The core of the Israeli sexual harassment law is Article 3, which enumerates eight different kinds of conduct that the law regards as sexual harassment, as well as defining conduct that constitutes “prejudicial treatment” under the law. Due to its importance, I quote it in full:
Sexual Harassment and Prejudicial Treatment:
(a) a minor or helpless person,26 where a relationship of authority, dependence, education or treatment is being exploited;
AriJay wrote:
“the issue here is not what she felt the issue here is how you see it.”
Au contrair, more from Israeli law:
(2)) and sexual intimidation or humiliation (3(a)(5)); (prejudicial treatment is similarly prohibited under all circumstances);
The victimizer doesn’t “see” humiliation, the victim FEELS it
(3) Harassing conduct which involves extreme power relations and explicit abuse of authority (3(a)(6)).
(that one is a no-brainer)
Impudent sexist remarks or behaviour addressed to a woman may degrade her as a woman and constitute sexual harassment;
(definition of impudent: : marked by contemptuous or cocky boldness or disregard of others)
I could go on and on, but I advise you to read your own law,
@ Robin
23 pages is a bit too much for me to read now (i am at work) but i will read it later.
as for your question. the women was arrested, since that happened we are required to treat her as a prisoner and that includes approaching her in a respectful manner. he’s clearly not doing so and that’s enough to smack him down. as we say in Yiddish with a good shmire.
but, i don’t see any sexually related behavior, and that’s why i think that adding the sexuality to the equation is taking things a bit out of context.
don’t get me wrong, he’s a pig ( i can think of worse words) but i refuse to kick him while he’s on the ground and accuse him for something he didn’t do.
Let me ask you this then. If you were handcuffed and blindfolded as a man in a similar situation where your people were occupied and a female soldier did this to you, belly danced around you and rubbed against you, would you say that was sexual in any way? Would you think she was in any way sexual in her behavior?
No, of COURSE there is nothing sexual in dancing around her in a suggestive manner and rubbing his body against hers. How SILLY of us to think so.
Wow. You really are an idiot. How could I have had any doubt?
You can bet your Israeli ass that if the woman were Israeli Jew, and the man an Arab, you’d see it as sexual, and God help the Arab.
Yes, IDF general Amos Horev made his initial stab at military glory when he personally supervised the castration of an Israeli Palestinian who was suspected of attempting to rape several Jewish women in the late 1940s. Israel’s most famous lyricist of the 1950s, Haim Heffer, wrote a popular tune praising Horev for his “bravery.”
Now Horev sits on the Mavi Marmara board of inquiry!
English Law would define this as “indecent assault”.
Further up the batting order are “gross indecency” and “rape”, there being no crime of “sexual assault” as such, although police occasionally describe incidents as “a serious sexual assault” when describing an unsolved incident to the press or seeking witnesses, this is not an actual charge.
Any of these can also be described as “racially aggravated” on the charge sheet, which is usually worth another two years.
Unless there was a legally valid reason for the woman being bound and blindfolded in the first place, even soldiers or police would have faced a charge of false imprisonment before the “belly dancing” was even contemplated.
Arijay, try reading the link I posted, it is Israeli law in pretty simple to understand language concerning sexual harassment which IS punishable as a crime in Israel.
Certainly you can see this woman who is bound and blindfolded with this soldier brushing up against her dancing. Is she dancing with him? Has she invited this? Clearly not. Would you have just “knocked him down” and then done nothing more? I’m actually glad I posted my story prior to what you wrote here because you can see that (in 1994) when this happened to me, a pat on my rear I didn’t think to say WHOAH “sexual harassment”. I was at least free to address the student’s behavior while this woman is totally at his mercy. Yes it’s sexual harassment at the very least, otherwise why would you knock him down? What’s wrong with his behavior? Or is it just something you would want to shove under the rug with a good ass-kicking? Why? Why would you have “knocked him down”? I’d really like to understand your thinking on this and I would also like you to TRY to put yourself in that woman’s shoes if you possibly could.
Richard i am not trying to defend the idiot.
and if i was there i would have probably knocked him down. however the idiot was trying to imitated a belly dancing, to me it seems that there nothing sexually about the way he behaved. humiliating sure, sexually abusing ? come on.
Are you blind, or simply dense?
A. you’re not a woman. B. you’re not a devout Muslim woman C. Since you’re a male you simply have no right to decide for yrself whether this is sexual abuse or not.
I AM a man and that’s sexual abuse to me. If I were a D.A. or military prosecutor that guy would be in the stockade or on his way there. But unfortunately, the IDF uses diff. standards (or no standards) for such things & he’s probably been promoted since 2008.
“Humiliation” when done in a sexual context IS sexual abuse.
Here you go
link to sitemaker.umich.edu
Sexual abuse is defined differently than sexual harassment. I am not an attorney nor am I Israeli. However, I would definitely venture to say that at the very least this soldier’s actions are within the Israeli definition of sexual harassment as stated in the document linked.
When I was teaching high school a male student patted me on the rear end as I was standing to help the student in front of him as they were engaged in group discussion. I sternly admonished him and quite frankly thought I had handled the situation appropriately (little did I know-was I naive-it turned out yes), Shortly thereafter, this student had some language problems in my class. I want to note that this student was friendly and not being disruptive in a mean way, more a clownish way, but still, his clownish behavior was escalating so I asked to meet with him with this counselor. My main concern was his clownishness because it was disrupting others. Lo and behold during the meeting I found out the student who I knew was on probation (criminal probation) was also diagnosed in special ed for inability to self-control. Then I muttered the words which I had not initially gone to the counselor to report, that he had patted me on my rear end. IMMEDIATELY the counselor said to me to repeat what I had said and then said, “Stop, don’t say anymore” And took the student out of the room, Next thing I knew the campus cops were there. I was asked to make a sexual harassment report on what had occurred. I was stunned. The student had violated his parole and was removed from the school. Since he was 18 by California law, he did not graduate with his classmates. I don’t know what ever happened to him, but I do know this, unless he got his high school diploma he was further doomed.
This just over what I honestly deemed inappropriate behavior. Now that sexual harassment laws are in place it is punishable by law. The soldier in this video did much more than what occurred to me. Israel has laws on their books, and bottom line, the behavior exhibited rises to the level of criminal behavior. As a woman, as a human being, for someone not to be able to see what was done to the woman who was bound is criminal is BEYOND my imagination. It’s not ok to sexually, either by actual assault OR intimidation to frighten women! It’s not funny, it’s not cute, it is a pure SICK power trip. (sorry I don’t know more about this subject as a layman, but I can share my own experience and I can also observe the GROTESQUE behavior in this video) I cannot imagine the fear and utter humiliation this woman felt, Muslim or not, she is a woman bound not knowing what can possibly come next.
Khaled, thanks for pointing out the date on the video. Will correct on my blog as well.
@ Mary,
from Wikipedia the definition for sexual abuse is :
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another
i don’t think that’s the case here, and the fact that the women is a Muslim, as you stated, is irrelevant. as sexual abuse is something that when directed towards any women will be considered such.
regardless this soldier is an idiot.
‘”Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another”
i don’t think that’s the case here, and the fact that the women is a Muslim, as you stated, is irrelevant. as sexual abuse is something that when directed towards any women will be considered such.”
Notice that “undesired” word in the very definition you cite. If a man rubs against his wife or girlfriend as this soldier did to that woman that’s not abuse (assuming the wife or girlfriend doesn’t mind ). If this is done to an unwilling woman who is a prisoner it’s abuse. You really can’t understand this?
Whoa, you’re unbelievable. This is a woman bound and blindfolded & clearly in or close to terror. And this goon brushes his tush against her in a suggestive and degrading way and that is not “undesired sexual behavior?” I gotta tell you guy, I find what you wrote above repulsive. If you don’t have eyes in yr head to be able to call that what it clearly was, then you’re not terribly much better than the idiot in the video.
# AriJay)
If this is not sexual abuse and you’re representing anything close to an average attitude on that topic in Israel (I guess you are the latest flight in from Ben Gourion), then I start to understand why the Orthodox community claims a separate bus system for the women in Jerusalem !
No, YOU are an idiot if you don’t understand that the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour is exactly what you are seeing in that video.
I do agree with you, though, that the woman’s religion is irrelevant. The behaviour in the video would be sexual abuse whether the woman were a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, or an atheist.
I suggest an experiment:
A/ try doing this to a female stranger on the streets of London and see what the Met charge you with.
B/ try doing it to a female stranger in North Shields, say, and see what happens.
It wouldn’t be acceptable if the (bound) prisoner was a male atheist, either.
In the case of POWs, it is illegal to publish photographs of them, whether abusive or demeaning or not.