Israeli Soldier Perspectives

An Israeli soldier talks about one of his army experiences: My Army Service in the West Bank.

At other times, we would be told to search for wanted Palestinians. We were never told what they were accused of, and I suspect most of them knew even less. We were just given maps of the city and told to arrest individuals in specific addresses, usually about twenty a day. We blindfolded them, put them in handcuffs, and pushed them into a waiting van, where we would kick them in the stomach.

We were told this was nothing compared to the good old days, before the world media started covering the Intifada. In the good old days soldiers used to make Palestinians sing “My Golani,” the army brigade’s anthem. Soldiers used to paint Palestinians’ donkeys in green and yellow, the brigade’s colors. The good old days were a free-for-all of torture, theft, and humiliation.

There’s another perspective by Oren Eini, who speaks about some of his experiences serving in the Israel Defence Forces for four years:

I have served exclusively in military prisons, starting as a warder in Prison 6, which is a prison for holding IDF soldiers. The work load was crazy (19 hours a day was the norm) and the work wasn’t fun. I met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise, I got to help to some of them, had two separate attempts by drug dealers (two different ones)  to have a contract (the fatal kind) on me. I got a lot of people skill (mostly by necessity) and an aversion to Noblesse, which is the cigarette that the prisoners smoke.

It’s hard not to hate the Israeli Army for the things they are doing, some of which are against international law (like using human shields), but reading these kind of accounts throws some light on what’s going on.

In some ways, these soldiers are not to solely to blame; they have to serve in the army and their stories simply show that they are carrying out orders from people higher up, who are the real cause of the problems going on.

Have to agree with Sebastien, and also blame the politicians for much of the mess, though I also blame the US for unilaterally supporting Israel and unwilling to condemn it for any of its wrongdoings, even when in breach of international law – not to mention the $2-$3bn it sends there each year in aid.