- 26 oct 2010
'Bound Palestinians' interrupt Barkat speech
(5:58) Jerusalem Mayor Protest
Leftists from Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement heckle mayor during art gallery opening, call out 'expulsion of Arabs from east Jerusalem homes'
Left-wing activists dressed as bound Palestinians interrupted on Tuesday the opening of a gallery displaying the work of students enrolled at Jerusalem's Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
As soon as Mayor Nir Barkat began to speak, he was heckled by about 20 members of Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement, who called out against the municipality's policy in east Jerusalem.
'Extreme rightist.' Barkat
The movement protests against the presence of Jewish "settlers" in mostly Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.
The bound and blindfolded activists yelled at Barkat, "You support the settlers; you refuse to give Arabs building permits and expel them from their homes."
One of the activists, Michael Salsbury, told Ynet, "We reminded (Barkat) that before the mayoral elections he pretended to be centrist, when in fact he is an extreme rightist."
Leftists protest during gallery opening
According to him, the activists were protesting against the municipality's plan to demolish Arab homes in east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood. "Most of the young people at the event applauded us; of course there were others who were against us. We came to show that art is also political."
Barkat ignored the hecklers and delivered his speech in its entirety. His office said, "We regret the fact that a number of provocateurs resorted to violence and interrupted a cultural event attended by hundreds of students. Their claims, which border on incitement, are not worthy of a response."
A source close to Barkat called the act of protest "embarrassing," because according to him the mayor "has nothing to do with the court's decisions regarding Sheikh Jarrah."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975514,00.html 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 27 oct 2010
Knesset bill proposes punishing IDF soldiers photographed humiliating Palestinians
Proposal follows a string of pictures and videos that have surfaced on the Internet in recent months' Hanegbi defends bill as method of deterring soldiers from behavior that damages the army and the country.
MK Tzachi Hanegbi proposed Wednesday a bill to punish Israel Defense Forces soldiers photographed mistreating Palestinians - even if their crimes are discovered years later.
Hanegbi defended the proposal as a method of deterring soldiers from behavior that damages the army and the country.
His proposal follows a string of pictures and videos that have surfaced on the Internet in recent months, showing soldiers humiliating Palestinians. The latest photo, released this week, shows a soldier pointing a rifle at the face of a bound
and blindfolded Palestinian man.
Most of the offending soldiers have not been reprimanded because they had already been discharged when the photos were published.
According to the current law, soldiers discharged more than six months ago cannot be prosecuted. The new bill would allow prosecution for up to five years after discharge.
A former soldier raised a storm on the internet this summer after posting photographs of herself posing next to blindfold Palestinian prisoners on Facebook.
Photographs uploaded by Eden Abergil from Ashdod and labeled "IDF the best time of my life" show her smiling next to Palestinian prisoners with their hands bound and their eyes covered. She defended her actions as having been "taken in good faith, there was no statement in them."
Breaking the Silence, a rights group comprising IDF veterans, said following that incident that the norms the photos allegedly expose were the "necessary result of a long-term military control of a civilian population."
http://bit.ly/aq8zqL 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 27 oct 2010
New photographs reveal IDF's "purity of arms" claim to be a sick joke
By Omar Radwan
A new set of photographs taken by Israeli soldiers has appeared on the Facebook page of the Israeli human rights group "Breaking the Silence".
These photos show Israeli soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinians during "Operation Cast Lead" - the 2008-2009 assault on Gaza.
One photograph shows Israeli soldiers grabbing a man by the throat and the neck while pointing a rifle at his head, another shows an Israeli soldier dancing in a kitchen while a Palestinian woman washes dishes.
There is also a photograph of an Israeli soldier sitting on top of a child's toy car and another of an Israeli soldier spray-painting a Star of David and the words "We will return soon" in Hebrew.
These photographs are the latest in a dismal series of degrading images and videos of Palestinians taken by Israeli soldiers as mementos of their time in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Only three weeks ago a video surfaced of a male Israeli soldier belly-dancing next to a Palestinian woman he had bound and blind-folded.
In August, an Israeli soldier, Eden Abergil, posted photos of herself on Facebook smiling next to Palestinian prisoners who were also bound and blindfolded.
The photos were headed, "IDF... The Best Time of My Life".
These images speak volumes about the prevalent culture in the Israeli army. It is quite obvious that the Israeli soldiers in the photographs do not appear to regard their Palestinian victims as human beings. They see nothing wrong with what they are doing to the Palestinians; their suffering is something to be savoured; just check the title of Abergil's Facebook page and the grinning faces of the soldiers.
The Israelis have always claimed that their army is the most moral in the world; "Purity of arms" is a treasured part of Israeli Defence Forces culture. But the reality is far from that; the IDF is characterised by an attitude of sadistic racism. The Palestinians have been completely dehumanised and harming them is seen as a commendable act.
Early in 2009, a similar event revealed the depths to which the soldiers of "the most moral army in the world" could plumb, although it attracted less media coverage. This was a set of T-shirts printed and worn by Israeli soldiers; one showed a pregnant Palestinian woman in the crosshairs of a gun-sight with the caption "One Shot, Two Kills".
Others displayed the same murderous sentiment in more obscene ways, such as the T-shirt showing a Palestinian woman weeping at the grave of her dead son. Once again, the figure was in the crosshairs of a gun-sight and this time the caption read, "Better use Durex".
It is difficult to think of any other society, except perhaps 1930s Nazi Germany, where opinions like this are condoned and spoken of openly.
Israel would like the world to believe that it is only a wayward minority of its soldiers who post such pictures on Facebook and create such disgusting T-shirts. However, the Zionist state's brutality in the past - its intentional targeting of schools and hospitals during the Gaza war, its massacres of civilians during the war in Lebanon, and its crimes during the Palestinian intifada, for example suggest that these expressions of murderous racism against Palestinians are simply manifestations of a deeply ingrained hatred and contempt in Israeli society.
This racism, far from being condemned by the Israeli elite, has in fact been encouraged.
During the war on Gaza, Israel's religious establishment sent rabbis to encourage Israeli soldiers to show no mercy to the Palestinians. It has surfaced once more in the official reaction to the new photos on Facebook. The IDF focussed on criticising the human rights group that published the photos rather than condemning the soldiers who took them. According to an Israeli army spokesman,
"The IDF finds it unfortunate that Breaking the Silence chooses to continue to present testimony to the media and not directly to the IDF. As has been done in the past, any unusual cases are investigated by the Military Police, and given to the Military Prosecutor's Office, where they will decide whether to indict [the soldiers] in a military court."
The chances of any soldier being brought before a military court are next to zero. A culture of impunity exists among Israeli soldiers alongside the culture of racism and they know they can get away with their actions. If there had been even the slightest possibility that they would face legal action, they wouldn't have posted their pictures on the Internet.
Israeli soldiers have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians since the beginning of the intifada in 2000. The net result of investigations conducted by the Israeli military into these killings is precisely four criminal convictions. Instead of holding its soldiers to account, Israel simply demands that they keep their abuses quiet.
The Israeli army has now banned its soldiers from using Facebook and other social networking sites while on duty and this illustrates the kind of society the Israeli leadership wishes to create. It's a society where racist attitudes reaching genocidal levels are not only tolerated but also encouraged, hidden behind a façade of morality and civilisation. "Purity of arms" is a sick joke, yet another Zionist myth to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
http://bit.ly/9wH4jr 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 31 oct 2010
Soldier jailed for posing with bound Palestinian
Military court sentences Nahal Haredi fighter to five months in prison for photos showing him pointing loaded and cocked weapon at blindfolded, handcuffed detainee. Legal proceedings against soldier's friends ongoing.
The Central Command's military court has sentenced an Israel Defense Forces soldiers to five months in prison for posing next to a bound Palestinian. The photos were found in the soldier's cell phone after he was arrested on suspicion of committing drug offenses.
Corporal S., a former fighter in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, was photographed with the detainee during his military service in the Jenin area in January. He also used his cell phone to take pictures of two of his friends committing similar acts.
The affair was exposed last summer when the soldier was arrested in a separate affair. Military Police investigators found the photos and arrested the other two soldiers.
Legal proceedings against the other two soldiers are ongoing.
The soldiers were indicted for abuse, illegal use of weapons and improper behavior. According to the indictment, one of the soldiers held a blindfolded and bound Palestinian together with other troops.
"He posed for a picture with him while pointing a loaded and cocked weapon at the upper part of his body. There was no point in directing the weapon at the detainee during the shot," the indictment said.
The Palestinian seen in the pictures was located, and claimed in his testimony that he was not offended by the soldiers' behavior.
Corporal S. told the court that he did not intend to hurt the detainee's feelings and did not take the photos in a bid to distribute them. He said he realized, after the event, that his actions were inappropriate.
The soldier was convicted of abuse and improper behavior. The prosecution demanded that he be sentenced to six months in prison in order to stress the severity of his actions. The judges ruled that he would be jailed for five months, but have yet to explain the decision.
Ynet reported recently that the military advocate general said during the suspects' remand hearing that in weighing in on the arrest one should take into account the "moral blockade" Israel is under, and noted that "the severity of acts is tested within the context of our reality."
The military defender's office was outraged at the suggestions claiming that the soldiers do no belong in jail and that there are no grounds for an indictment.
Photos of ex-soldier Eden Abergil posing next to Palestinian detainees and the international response to the publication have caused the Israel Defense Forces to be extra-sensitive in handling acts which may prompt angry international response.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3977613,00.html 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 1 nov 2010
Israeli Soldier Sentenced to Prison For Photos
Corporal Yehuda Battalion posing with a prisoner
Jerusalem PNN A military court has sentenced an Israeli Solider to five months in prison for posing in a picture next to a Palestinian prisoner. Corporal Yehuda Battalion was photographed posing with a prisoner in the Jenin area in January. His cell phone was used to take the pictures; they were discovered after the soldier was arrested on suspicion of committing drug offenses.
Battalion was photographed, along with two friends, posing with his weapon pointed toward a blindfolded and bound Palestinian. He posed for a picture with him while pointing a loaded and cocked weapon at the upper part of his body. There was no point in directing the weapon at the detainee during the shot, the indictment reported.
The soldiers have been indicted for abuse, illegal use of weapons and improper behavior. Batttalion was convicted of abuse and improper behavior and sentenced to five months in prison.
In August, former soldier Eden Abergil was arrested for posting pictures of herself on Facebook, next to Palestinian prisoners. The international condemnation has caused the Israeli military to be extra-sensitive in dealing with acts that may prompt international outrage.
http://bit.ly/9Iu2NA
9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 6 nov 2010
Israel is paying internet workers to manipulate online content
(2:04) Israel is paying internet workers to manipulate online content
READ FULL DESCRIPTION: As many of you may have suspected, Israel is paying and training internet bloggers to delete, rewrite, and revise internet content to shape public opinion to Israel's benefit. Video of the Israeli-sponsored training programs have been leaked to the web (like the video here).
Additionally, investigative reporters that infiltrated these groups have reported that Israelis are being trained to spread disinformation and to try to create conflicts among different religious, racial, and ethnic groups if it would benefit Israel. Some of the seminars also encouraged the workers to spread disinformation on the internet and to attempt to recruit free (unpaid) labor. For example, many of these bloggers have been trained to attempt to make friends with you by pretending that they share an interest in your favorite sports team or movie, or that they went to the same school, but they will ultimately try to recruit you to attack other groups or individuals that Israel thinks is against its national interests (e.g., 'Muslims,' 'Russians,' 'Germans,' 'Latinos,' 'United Nations representatives' and 'human rights groups'). Others have been trained to personally attack, stalk, and harass anyone personally that does not agree with Israel. Not only is this type of behavior a terrible injustice to the accuracy of content (it's actually state-sponsored propaganda), it is also damaging to the public trust because people are being misguided into working as unpaid servants of a government through false pretenses. People really should speak out about this 9 jan 2012, 13:24 , Respect -
Maria 9 nov 2010
PA detains controversial blogger
QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Residents of a conservative northern West Bank city were surprised when security forces detained a controversial blogger whose postings on Facebook had infuriated Muslims.
A high-ranking source in the general Palestinian intelligence services told Ma'an that the detainee, who was not identified, was arrested in Qalqiliya. He refused to give specific details and would not identify the detainee. However, Ma'an has learned from other security sources that the man who claimed divinity is a 25-year-old university student.
The sources say security services have pursued the man for more than two months until they finally caught him at an internet café in Qalqiliya while updating his Facebook profile on which he claimed he was God and that he was angry with his subjects.
Conservative Muslims had been angrily following the blogger's postings, many of them altered verses from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, as well as caricatures of the prophet Muhammad that had been published in Danish newspapers. Hundreds of Facebook groups had asked that the man's account be deleted. After Facebook closed his group, the young man started a blog, Enlightenment of Reason.
Although he had not been identified by the PA, supporters of the blogger have indicated that he is 26 years old. He has identified himself as Waleed Al-Husseini and, in an August blog post, defended his beliefs.
"Muslims often ask me why I left Islam," he wrote. "What strikes me is that Muslims can't seem to understand that renouncing Islam is a choice offered to everyone and that anyone has the right to do so. They believe anyone who leaves Islam is an agent or a spy for a Western State, namely the Jewish State, and that they get paid bundles of money by the governments of these countries and their secret services. They actually don't get that people are free to think and believe in whatever suits them."
He added: "I would like to emphasize that by writing this article, I did not mean to imply that Christianity or Judaism were better than Islam, and the reader should not fool himself into thinking that I only reject Islam among religions, all of which are to me a bunch of mind-blowing legends and a pile of nonsense that compete with each other in terms of stupidity."
Although secular political beliefs are not uncommon in the occupied Palestinian territories, the expression of views seen as hostile to the dominant religion is viewed by many as incitement rather than free speech.
The positions taken by the blogger were so out of the mainstream that many in Qalqiliya were surprised to learn that he was Palestinian. Even members of his family said the student, who worked as a barber, ought be prosecuted and sentenced, although it was not clear if he had been charged with a crime. It was also not clear if he had a lawyer.
The blogger has received some support online since his arrest.
A Facebook group, "In Solidarity With Waleed Al-Husseini," responded, "Criticizing religions is pretty much allowed in countries with Muslim majority; people publically criticize Christianity and Judaism in mosques, published books, national and pan-Arab TV stations, and even in public schools. It's criticizing of Islam that is only not allowed."
The post added: "Allowing such action is not only double standard, but a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also could make a dangerous precedent that may open the door for further persecution, than already is, for irreligious and other religious minorities in societies with major Muslim population."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331563
9 jan 2012, 13:24 , Respect -
Maria 13 nov 2010
PA urged to free West Bank blogger
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Supporters of a Palestinian blogger detained this month over his opinions on religion have launched a petition calling for the young man's release from a Palestinian Authority prison.
Walid Husseini, 25, was detained two weeks ago without charge in the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, security officials said and family members confirmed. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
"Nobody knows anything," said Guss Yonis, the founder of the Arabic-speaking Irreligious Coalition, which is based in Jordan. "They're refusing to release any information about him."
Yonis told Ma'an that his petition, which had been signed by some 200 people by Friday, was intended to draw attention from the media and human rights groups which have remained silent since the arrest.
Security sources have said that the PA launched an investigation over reports that Husseini was behind Facebook and blog posts that had infuriated conservative Muslims in recent months. Some of the posts altered verses from the Koran, the Muslim holy book; others included caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.
The arrest was viewed by many in Qalqiliya as a necessary action on the part of the PA. Questioning religion is considered taboo in Palestinian society, much of which has abandoned a history of popular secularism amid a growing trend toward fundamentalism across the Arab and Muslim world since the 1980s.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has banned Facebook, The Associated Press reported Saturday. The authorities reportedly deemed the popular social networking site as in conflict with their strictures.
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332453
9 jan 2012, 13:24 , Respect -
Maria 10 dec 2010
Former WikiLeaks worker: Rival site under way
Wikileaks soon won't be the only secret-spilling game in town. A former co-worker of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to launch a rival website Monday called Openleaks that will help anonymous sources deliver sensitive material to public attention.
In a documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT, due to be aired Sunday and obtained in advance by The Associated Press, former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg said the new website will work as an outlet for anonymous sources.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3997283,00.html
- 5 oct 2010
Abu Zuhri: Youtube clip reveals racism, immorality of Israeli army
GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, commenting on Israeli soldiers who taped themselves dancing next to a bound Palestinian woman, that the act confirms the racism and immorality of the Israeli army.
A Youtube clip showed a group of Israeli soldiers dancing to western music around a bound and blindfolded Palestinian woman and forcing her to face the wall.
Abu Zuhri on Tuesday said the continued policy of security cooperation between the Ramallah authority and Israel has encouraged the Israeli army, its soldiers, and Israeli settlers to step up racist crimes against Palestinians.
For her part, Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Samira Halayiqa denounced the act by Israeli soldiers saying: If an occupation soldier has gained the audacity to dance shamelessly next to a bound and blindfolded prisoner, and the Arab and Islamic people watch and do nothing, that is a disgrace to the history of mankind.
PLC Change and Reform Bloc member Jamila al-Shanti said in a statement on Tuesday: This aggression against prisoners affects human honor and faith and represents an attack on the honor of every Muslim woman in every place.
Disclosure of such acts comes under the framework of a series of ongoing suffering females prisoners live in during crackdowns and search operations inside prisons and the denial of the most basic human rights stipulated by international laws and conventions, she added.
Palestinian human rights centers strongly denounced the crime whic they said is aimed at demeaning the dignity of detainees.
The crime reflects the prevalent and popular culture of the Israeli army, which has been brought up on such inhumane culture and hatred for Palestinians, the centers said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Wa'ed association for prisoners expressed deep concern over the use of new technology to psychologically torture and humiliate war prisoners.
The POW association said that an Israeli woman conscript previously sparked outrage when she posted pictures of herself on Facebook laughing next to Palestinian detainees, yet no international or Arab rights organizations moved a muscle to counter the act but remained quiet.
Director of the Ahrar center for the study of POWs and human rights commented on the clip saying the army's claims that it will open investigation into the case were made in order to absorb resentment from rights organizations.
How will courts that fine Israelis less than a shekel (quarter of a dollar) for killing a Palestinian sentence a soldier who dances in front of a prisoner?!
He said the tape should be broadcasted to expose Israel's dirty face, and the case should be brought to international courts to impose a strict punishment on Israel.
http://bit.ly/9TyAQj
PA: Latest Israeli soldier video 'deeply offensive'
(1:15) Isaraeli soldier humiliating a palestinian detainee
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A personal film showing an Israeli soldier dancing around a Palestinian woman uploaded to YouTube on Monday "is a disgusting illustration of the sick mentality of the occupier," a Palestinian Authority statement said.
The video, showing an Israeli soldier belly-dancing next to a woman who is a blindfolded and handcuffed, head leaning against a concrete wall, sparked outrage for Palestinians and embarrassment for the Israeli military, as Tel Aviv papers branded the incident "Another YouTube embarrassment for IDF."
At the start of the clip a red speech bubble appears next to the bound woman, saying in Hebrew "Allahu Akbarrrrrrrrrrr."
A government statement slammed the video, saying "This is not an isolated incident," and crediting easy technology with the revelation of "a wider Israeli policy that behaves above the law and the human rights values."
The film, moreover, "is deeply offensive to the dignity of women," the statement said.
It was the third time online social media sites had brought to light video and images of Israeli soldiers posing with or abusing Palestinians in their custody.
In August, an Israeli soldier uploaded pictures to her Facebook account, showing her during military service in the West Bank, posing with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners. Comments exchanged on the album were labeled offensive.
A video of soldiers performing a dance routine in the middle of occupied Hebron, in the southern West Bank, also raised concerns over the unprofessional behavior of troops, with analysts calling the move more of a summer camp prank than conduct befitting officers.
In March, Israeli forces called off a raid into the West Bank after a soldier posted details on Facebook. The soldier was relieved of combat duty shortly after he described in a status update how his unit planned a "clean-up" arrest raid, including its time and place.
The PA called for Israel to adhere to the International Law and respect human rights, calling the violations "part of the occupier culture and will not end unless occupation is ended."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321042
Another YouTube embarrassment for IDF
Clip uploaded to YouTube shows IDF soldier belly dancing around handcuffed Palestinian.
Another embarrassment for IDF: A YouTube clip aired by Channel 10 Monday evening shows an IDF soldier belly dancing around a bound Palestinian woman, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.
The handcuffed, blindfold woman is leaning on a wall, while a soldier wearing eyeglasses performs belly dancing moves around her, with his comrades cheering him on and videotaping the "show."
The latest video marks yet another embarrassment for the army, about a month and a half after images of former soldier Eden Abergil posing for photographs alongside bound Palestinian detainees provoked local and global outrage.
Following the publication of the images, it turned out that dozens of IDF soldiers have posted similar photographs on the Internet during their military service. The army is now forced to regularly contend with problematic images that tainted the IDF's and Israel's global image.
The IDF's Spokesman's Office issued the following response: "Following your inquiry and a review of the video clips, the Military Prosecutor's Office ordered a Military Police investigation to be launched, and this will be done in any case that raises suspicions of similar conduct in the future."
"The IDF condemns this kind of activity, as shown in the video clips, and has worked and is working to eradicate it via briefings to soldiers, instructions to commanders, military orders, and punishment where necessary. The clips do not depict the norm, but rather, are anomalies," the army said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3964268,00.html 9 jan 2012, 13:21 , Respect -
Maria 6 oct 2010
Woman humiliated in video to sue Israeli army
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The victim in the latest scandal of an Israeli soldier filmed dancing around a bound Palestinian woman said she will sue the Israeli army over the humiliation she underwent.
Israeli channel 10 broadcasted on Tuesday a Youtube clip showing an Israeli soldier dancing around a blindfolded and cuffed Palestinian woman who was forced to face a wall.
The woman, Ihsan Dababisa, 35, from the Al-Khalil village of Nuba said: I saw the tape on the Jazeerah channel and I couldn't sleep all night. I was deeply humiliated. The sound of the soldiers laughing and the music was roaring in my ears.
I called the Palestinian Prisoners Society, and we will file a case against the soldier and the Israeli army, Dababisa went on to say.
She said she was arrested on October 11, 2007 on charges of affiliation with the Islamic Jihad movement and was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
The day I was arrested they took me and cuffed and blindfolded me, and took me to the Etzion detention center near the city of Bethlehem. After they questioned me and placed me in a corridor, they blindfolded and handcuffed me.
I heard the laughter and voices of soldiers and music. I was able to see them during the filming because the blindfold was not tied very tight, and I begged them to not tape me.
But they continued to tape me and were drinking alcohol and dancing. It was not one soldier. They were a group of soldiers.
The channel 10 presentation of the video came weeks after a former Israeli soldier triggered controversy after she posted on Facebook racial and questionable comments over photos of herself smiling next to blindfolded and bound Palestinian detainees during her military service.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs in Palestine said the despicable act against war prisoners in general and the Palestinian captive in the video in particular should prompt a real stance in the face of the Israeli occupation by every person in the world with a conscience.
http://bit.ly/9VPYSm
Palestinian woman featured in soldier's video to sue
Ekhsan Debabseh says she filed a complaint with Israel human rights group against soldier seen dancing around her as she stands handcuffed, blindfolded; adds she plans to seek damages.
The Palestinian women depicted in a YouTube video posted by an IDF solider plans to sue him for damages, Ynet learned Wednesday.
The video, which has caused a media storm in the Arab world and Israel alike, featured he soldier featured dancing around a handcuffed and blindfolded female prisoner, while his comrades encourage him.
"I could feel that they were making fun of me despite being blindfolded. They humiliated me," 25-year-old Ekhsan Debabseh told Ynet.
Debabseh was detained on December 2007, and after her interrogation at the Gush Etzion detention center, she was taken out into the hallway, handcuffed and blindfolded.
"I heard music and soldiers laughing. I felt like I was being photographed and tried, with mu hand tied, to life the blindfold and I caught a glimpse of them. Once of the soldiers came over, smacked me over the head and tied the blindfold tighter, so I won't be able to lift it."
She said she begged the soldiers to stop but they ignored her. "It was extremely humiliating. I felt helpless."
Debabseh added that since her release and until the clip hit the televised airwaves, she was unaware of it being on YouTube. The video has received over 500,000 hits so far.
"I don't have internet access and I had no idea it existed until it was on al-Jazeera yesterday. That's when I saw it for the first time. I was shocked and even more humiliated. I couldn't sleep all night. The pictures kept flashing in my head."
Debabseh said she filed a complaint against the soldier dancing around her with one of the Israeli human rights groups, and added she intended to seek damages.
"I don't know if justice will be served but this soldier has to be punished for what he dud to me."
The IDF Spokesman's Unit condemned the video, saying a Military Police investigation has been launched.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3965425,00.html
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged the family of the woman filmed blindfolded and handcuffed by an Israeli soldier as his colleague danced around her to file suit against the Israeli army.
The PFLP said in a statement Wednesday that a legal suit was necessary to prosecute the Israeli soldiers involved in the filming and to "expose these disgraceful practices."
The video surfaced on YouTube on Monday, after controversy following the release of pictures by a former Israeli soldier on a social networking site showing her near blindfolded Palestinians. The photos prompted Israeli rights groups to release similar pictures showing soldiers humiliating Palestinians.
The party called on the media to shed more light on Israeli soldiers' conduct.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321372 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 6 oct 2010
Netanyahu denounces 'dancing soldier' video
(0:45) Backstreet IDF Boys: Israeli soldiers dancing video controversy
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the YouTube video depicted a soldier dancing around a bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner, saying such conduct "shame the IDF and the State of Israel and cause us grave international damage.
"The IDF is one of the most ethical militaries in the world and it treats detainees with respect. Debasing prisoners is not something Israel and the Jewish people do."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3965494,00.html 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 7 oct 2010
Police arrest settler teen for exposing top Shin Bet agent on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAsm_d9F2YY
Hebron resident, 17, allegedly uploaded a video of A., the head of service's Jewish Division, exposing his face and indicating his full name.
Israel Police placed a teenage settler on Thursday over suspicions he had uploaded a YouTube video exposing the identity of the head of the Shin Bet's Jewish Division.
The Shin Bet official, known only as A., is the head of the service's Makhlaka Hayehudit ("The Jewish Division"), which is tasked with monitoring the activities of the extreme right wing in the West Bank.
A. resides in a tiny settlement in the West Bank. Military censorship laws do not permit media outlets to publish A.'s full name and place of residence, though this information is common knowledge among wide swaths of the settler population in the territories.
The video allegedly uploaded by the 17-year-old Hebron resident, and which has been available online in recent months, clearly exposed the face of the top Shin Bet commander as he was patrolling the West Bank city, and included a caption indicating his full name.
Shockwaves were sent far and wide within the security organization, with officials saying that besides being a criminal offence, exposing A.'s identify risked his life since he had also acted to prevent potential terror activities originating from the West Bank's Palestinian population.
The teenager was charged with exposing a Shin Bet official as well as with threatening the security official, and was released from police custody after being arrested earlier Thursday. He denied all charges levied against him.
http://bit.ly/aTm9Hw 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 7 oct 2010
Israelis 'humiliated' Palestinian woman
Palestinian Ihsan al-Dababsi from the southern West Bank village of Nuba
Israeli troops have 'humiliated' a blindfolded Palestinian woman by filming her while one of the soldiers was belly dancing close to her in a detention center.
The video clip that shows the Israeli soldier dancing next to the handcuffed woman sparked outrage after it was circulated on YouTube.
"I saw the video on Al-Jazeera. I didn't sleep all night because I felt humiliated and frustrated," Ihsan al-Dababsi, 35, told AFP on Wednesday.
"The sound of the soldiers' laughter and the music were ringing in my ears," she said of the video.
Dababsi says she plans to launch a legal action against the Israeli military.
She noted that the Israeli troops filmed her when she was arrested in December 2007 on charge of being a member of the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad.
"When they arrested me, they took me to the Etzion detention centre near Bethlehem. After they questioned me, they put me in a corridor and put on a blindfold and handcuffs," she said.
"I could hear the laughter of the soldiers, their voices and the music. I could see what was happening because the blindfold was not tight, and I begged them not to film me."
"But they continued to videotape me, and they were drinking alcohol and dancing," the Palestinian woman said.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas resistance movement have also condemned the move, saying the clip was "deeply offensive to the dignity of women".
"This is a disgusting illustration of the sick mentality of the occupier. This is not an isolated incident," said a statement from the office of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the soldier's behavior "reflects the racism and the absence of morals among the occupation soldiers."
The Israeli military claims that it has launched an investigation into the incident.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/145574.html
Woman filmed by soldiers tells of torture and humiliation
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian woman who was filmed, handcuffed and blindfolded, as an Israeli soldier danced around her said Thursday that the video only showed the beginning of "a journey of torture and humiliation."
A video of 24-year-old Ihsan Dababisa surfaced on YouTube on Monday, and was aired on Israel's Channel 10 News. Dababisa spoke to Ma'an's correspondent in her home in Nuba village, west of Hebron, and described the ordeal which followed her detention.
Dababisa said she was detained at Atzion checkpoint at 8 a.m. on 11 December 2007, and thrown into a military jeep, handcuffed and blindfolded. She was taken to the yard of Atzion detention center in front of a group of soldiers.
Moments later, she said, she heard loud music and one of the soldiers tried to touch her. She tried to stay close to the wall, and another soldier arrived with a bottle of wine, and offered her a drink. When she refused, he continued to harass her, she said.
The soldiers then attacked her "like vicious dogs."
"They began beating me with rifle butts and legs. One of the soldiers hit my head against the metal of the military jeep until I fainted. Then I found myself in front of a female doctor wearing military uniform. After examining me they moved me to the interrogation center where my journey of torture and humiliation started.
"The officer's name who began to interrogate me was Beran, he threatened to demolish my family home and arrest my siblings, the interrogation lasted for two hours. After that I was transferred with my eyes blindfolded to another interrogation center, I think it was the Russian compound, where there were three interrogators.
"Soon after I came in they began insulting and cursing using words I do not want to say. One of the interrogators was pulling me from my hair. I was handcuffed the whole time. The interrogation lasted until 11 at night, then they transferred me to Hasharon prison where they accused me of trying to stab someone, and of affiliation with the Islamic Jihad. Lawyers from the prisoners' society defended me and I was sentenced to 22 months in prison. I was released on 6 September 2009.
More than a year after she was released, Dababisa saw herself on the news. "They were talking about me, I could not believe what I was seeing with my eyes. I was about to faint, I began to cry, I could not sleep all night for one moment. All of the memories while I was among a group of criminal sadist corrupted soldiers who were without feelings and humanity came to my head."
Dababisa said she would not be relieved "until the soldiers are punished in court as an example to anyone who would dare to humiliate or insult any Palestinian prisoner."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=321957 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2010
Destroy Turkey and all the Arabs from the world
Twitter exclusive! Our dear belly-dancing, detainee-abusing IDF soldier posted a few wacky Facebook pics as well. Stay classy, IDF belly-dancer! http://twitpic.com/photos/georgehale
"Destroy Turkey and all the Arabs from the world".
May 31 6:05pm 4 people like this
Posted on October 8, 2010 by georgehale
http://twitpic.com/2vm160 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 12 oct 2010
Belly-dancing soldier identified
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The latest Israeli soldier to be caught on tape humiliating a Palestinian detainee has appeared in other questionable photographs during army service, and he posted some of those images online.
The soldier, Avi Yakobov, was filmed belly-dancing beside 24-year-old Ihsan Dababisa in a YouTube video that went viral last Monday and sparked strong condemnation from Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
Yakobov has locked down his Facebook page, but not before some of his pictures were posted by bloggers and on Twitter. On 1 October, he posted a photograph, apparently as a joke on Purim, of himself leading a blindfolded detainee. A mashup of photos pasted around Yakobov and the detainee with the caption, "Thank you for a wonderful time -- Avi and Shuki," sprawled across the center in Hebrew.
The image does not appear to depict an actual arrest -- both men are smiling, and the prisoner is tagged as Yoni Cohen -- but it raises concerns about how Yakobov and his fellow soldiers viewed their unit's detainees.
Entries appear to match behavior described by Dababisa, who said she was put through "a journey of torture and humiliation" when she was detained by Yakobov's unit at the Atzion checkpoint in December 2007. Dababisa told Ma'an that soldiers played loud music and offered her wine.
Yakobov's page shows an unusual affinity for alcohol.
"I started working at Liquor Market, yes-yes, they've let the cat guard the cream!" he wrote in December. In August: "Alcohol poisonning is baddddddddd."
He describes sexual fantasies about Palestinian women.
On 9 September, the soldier mentioned that his "penis points at MILFs," meaning older women, the next day adding that "she's maybe a MILF in Beit Jala," a Palestinian town near Bethlehem.
Posts also touch on dance parties and politics.
On 31 May, the day a Gaza-bound aid flotilla came under fire by Israeli commandos leaving nine Turkish nationals dead, Yakobov wrote, "Destroy Turkey and all the Arabs from the world."
A friend responded, "I'm with you, bro', and with God's help I'll start it : )", to which Yakobov replied: "haha and you are capable of it, with no intervention from the evil eye." Four of his friends clicked the "like" button.
Yakobov's original video continues to make waves.
(1:15) israeli soldier catch arab terrorist(he dance on haer)funny
The Palestinian Authority described it as a "disgusting illustration of the sick mentality of the occupier," and Israeli Prime Minister called the videotape "an embarrassment to Israel."
The video follows controversy sparked by the release of pictures by a former Israeli soldier showing her near blindfolded Palestinians. Israel's army called the photos an isolated incident, prompting Israeli rights groups to release dozens of similar pictures showing soldiers humiliating Palestinians and corpses of Palestinians.
Yakobov was first identified by Agence France-Presse and the Tikun Olam blog.
He did not respond to requests from Ma'an seeking comment.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m70702&hd=&size=1&l=e 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 18 oct 2010
BRITAIN HANGS OUT WELCOME SIGN TO WAR CRIMINALS
Israeli War Criminals
The UK is to become a safe haven for Israeli psychopaths while they continue their brutal military occupation, colonization and ethnic cleansing of the Holy Land, and carry on bombarding blockaded Gaza and executing or abducting anyone bringing humanitarian help
That's the British government's latest contribution of Middle East peace.
The Zionist entity's Trojan Horse at the heart of our government otherwise known as the Conservative Friends of Israel held a reception recently attended by our foreign secretary William Hague.
Hague told the 400 guests: We have had good discussions with Israeli ministers on universal jurisdiction where the last government left us with an appalling situation where a politician like Mrs Livni could be threatened with arrest on coming to the UK.
We have agreed in the coalition about putting it right, we will put it right through legislation that will be introduced. The Justice Secretary will bring into the House of Commons adding to legislation going through the House of Commons later this year and I phoned Mrs Livni amongst others to tell her about that and received a very warm welcome for our proposals.
Who can forget that Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister, was largely responsible for the terror that brought unspeakable death and destruction to Gaza's civilians nearly 2 years ago?
And who'd have believed a British government minister would undermine our justice system in order to make the UK a safe haven for the likes of her?
Showing no remorse and with the blood of 1,400 dead Gazans (including 320 children and 109 women) on her hands, and thousands more horribly maimed, Livni's office issued a statement saying she was proud of Operation Cast Lead (the murderous blitz she had unleashed). And speaking later at a conference at Tel Aviv's Institute for Security Studies, she said: I would today take the same decisions.
Few of us would want to touch such a person with a barge-pole. But Hague is so smitten that he said it was completely unacceptable that someone like Tzipi Livni felt she couldn't visit the UK. We cannot have a position where Israeli politicians feel they cannot visit this country. The situation is unsatisfactory [and] indefensible. It is absolutely my intention to act speedily.
http://bit.ly/brtZpc
He even tried to make Livni's monstrous crime look good by claiming, as reported on the CFI website, that the immediate trigger for this crisis [the war on Gaza] was the barrage of hundreds of rocket attacks against Israel on the expiry of the ceasefire or truce. It is well known that the ceasefire didn't expire. It was deliberately breached by an Israeli raid into Gaza that killed several Palestinians with the intention of deliberately provoking a response that would re-ignite the violence and provide an excuse to launch Operation Cast Lead, which the Israelis had been preparing for months.
The foreign secretary concluded his talk to the CFI by encouraging stronger business links between Israel and Britain and saying he intended to visit Israel in coming weeks.
One of the delights awaiting Hague is a meeting with his opposite number, Avigdor Lieberman, who lives in an illegal squat on stolen Palestinian land and is a wanted criminal on that score alone. He is also pushing for 1.3 million Arabs currently living in Israel to be stripped of citizenship and forcibly transferred outside Israel's future borders.
To that end Israel's military and civil authorities have just finished an exercise rehearsing a crushing response to the riots this latest ethnic cleansing programme will inevitably cause.
Few individuals are more obnoxious than former club bouncer Lieberman, who is a convicted child-beater and described even in Israel as a virulent racist and a certified gangster. He is also reported to be under investigation for corruption. All the same, Hague wants him freely walking the streets of London with Livni. No doubt the media will soon be sprouting propaganda photos of Hague and Lieberman triumphantly shaking hands, smirking, embracing and doing whatever else two crazies do when they get together.
A Masterclass in grovelling
The universal jurisdiction fuss flared up again last year after Israeli top brass, including Ehud Barak, Livni and retired general Doron Almog, cancelled engagements in London for fear of being arrested. Israel complained bitterly. The then British foreign secretary David Miliband apologized and, according to a press report, promised Lieberman to begin working immediately to change the UK laws that enable the issue of arrest warrants against Israeli officials accused of war crimes.
Outraged members of the public were immediately asking who Miliband thought he was, grovelling in their name to Israeli thugs who had the temerity to whinge about the perfectly proper operation of British law, especially when the warrants were issued to answer well-founded charges.
Under universal jurisdiction all states that are party to the Geneva Conventions are under a binding obligation to seek out those suspected of having committed grave breaches of the Conventions and bring them, regardless of nationality, to justice. There should be no hiding place for those suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Applications can be made to a court for private arrest warrants, and this has been happening because the government itself shirks its duty under the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention and drags its feet until the bird has flown.
Livni bleated: It's about the entire State of Israel and our ability to go on working together against common threats.
The threats Israel faces are caused by its racist expansion, land theft, general lawlessness and hateful attitude towards its neighbours, and by the nuclear threat Israel itself poses to others in the region and the Islamic world generally. To suggest we have anything in common is an insult.
Israeli prime minister Netanyahu's office butted in with this arrogant statement: We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and [opposition leader and former foreign minister] Tzipi Livni will be summoned to the bench. We utterly reject the absurdity that is happening in Britain.
And the Israeli ambassador in London, Ron Prosor, had the cheek to chastise the British foreign secretary telling him it was time the British government took action.
Miliband obligingly called the warrants intolerable and said he had asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Justice Minister Jack Straw to find an urgent solution.
Dancing to Tel Aviv's tune
The solution is simple enough. If Israel wants talks in London they send people with clean hands. There should be no concessions, anyway, to a regime that shows such contempt for international law and normal codes of conduct.
Instead Brown, a patron of the Jewish National Fund, said Livni was most welcome in Britain any time, and our Ministers of the Crown are dancing to Tel Aviv's tune. No moves were made by Labour in their last days in office, but it seems the incoming Conservatives and their Liberal-Democrat partners are planning to put the Director of Public Prosecutions in charge of issuing arrest warrants. This turns what should be a strictly judicial process into a political one that keeps any warmongering child-killer our ministers happen to admire out of the clutches of the UK's courts.
William Hague was recruited into the Conservative Friends of Israel at the worryingly tender age of 15.
In 2007, while shadow foreign secretary, he said: We will always have strong economic and political ties with Israel. We will always be a friend of Israel.
In 2008 he declared: The unbroken thread of Conservative Party support for Israel that has run for nearly a century from the Balfour Declaration to the present day will continue. Although it will no doubt often be tested in the years ahead, it will remain constant, unbroken, and undiminished by the passage of time.
Hague told the Jewish Chronicle in an interview: We don t approve of expanding settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem because it makes the two-state solution more difficult. Not because it's a barbaric crime to dispossess Arabs of their lands, homes and livelihoods he doesn't approve because it's a bit awkward politically.
I've traveled across the country, he continued. I've stood on the Golan Heights and swam in the Sea of Galilee. I've stood on the part of the West Bank where you can see the Mediterranean, where you really understand Israel's strategic fragility.
If he had stood in the rubble of Gaza and seen the devastation to homes and infrastructure and visited the shattered schools and hospitals there if he had stood in Bethlehem, imprisoned on all sides by the evil separation wall, and made his way on foot with Palestinian workers (those with permits) through the sinister steel barriers and holding pens of the Israeli checkpoint a process that can take hours before beginning the journey to Jerusalem, he might have understood how the Israeli jackboot chokes the life out of the Palestinian people.
Hague's Zionist sympathies visibly ooze from every pore. Livni appears to have him eating out of her hand. If Parliament passes his measures to weaken powers of arrest in order to harbour those wanted for crimes against humanity, doesn't that make the whole British nation an accessory to those crimes?
And before MPs approve such measures they should reflect on how it would be the lowest thing they could do.
Stuart Littlewoodis author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk
http://bit.ly/9pKxgT
9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 19 oct 2010
IDF to block Facebook, Gmail to prevent 'gifts for Hamas'
List of popular websites to be blocked on army bases, offices, to avoid inadvertent leaks of classified information.
The Israel Defense Forces plans to block several prominent websites, among them social networks Facebook and Twitter, as well as email sites like Gmail %u2013 a military intelligence official told Channel 2 on Tuesday.
The head of the intelligence corps information security Gadi Abadi said that the sites would blocked on computers that have internet connections on army bases and offices where classified materials are kept.
However, these sites would be accessible from computers situated in the unit's break room.
Soldiers would still be able to access the blocked sites on their cellular phones.
Abadi explained that the block aims to maintain information security. "We give IDF soldiers a lot of credit," he said. "They are good soldiers who care deeply about security, but they are human. When a soldier is in his office at the unit, the risk of confusion and mistakes is higher. When you separate the work environment from the non-operations environment, the number of mistakes drops significantly."
Following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF established a special unit whose purpose was to prevent the leakage of classified information onto the internet via social networks. The unit scans a list of popular websites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace looking for breaches of security.
Military Intelligence also disseminated a memo on the protocols of transfer of information online in efforts to raise awareness on the dangers of such inadvertent leaks.
"Who has been handing out gifts to Hamas?" the memo read. "Images from which classified information can be gleaned have been located online on a Hamas forum! These photos include IDF weapons, military exercises during Cast Lead, photos of senior officials, a photo of a drone and more. Most of these pictures were uploaded to social networks by IDF soldiers. Exposure of such classified information undermines the element of surprise and could lead to attacks on our forces."
http://bit.ly/bIwS9g 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 20 oct 2010
IDF blocks soldiers' social media access
Israeli army cracks down on troops' use of Twitter, Facebook, Gmail account on military bases in attempt to prevent security leaks, potentially image-damaging posts from going viral.
The Israel Defense Forces plans to bar soldiers from using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as email sites like Gmail, while on base, in an attempt to prevent security leaks and embarrassing videos from going viral.
Lt.-Col. Gadi Abudi, head of the Intelligence Corps information security, said Tuesday that the idea was to prevent sensitive information from reaching Israel's "enemies" via such popular social media sites.
Abudi said the ban applies only when troops are on base, where their online habits could put military computers at risk. Mobile phone use will also be restricted.
The move follows a series of online embarrassments cause to the IDF, after soldiers posted pictures on Facebook of themselves mistreating detained Palestinians. In one case, the military had to cancel an operation after a soldier revealed plans on his Facebook page.
Abadi told Channel 2 News that such sites would blocked on computers that have internet connections on army bases, as well as in all offices where soldiers might have access to classified documents and materials.
Social media and email sites, however, would remain available to soldiers in units' break rooms. Soldiers would also still be able to access the blocked websites on their mobile phones.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3972105,00.html 9 jan 2012, 13:22 , Respect -
Maria 24 oct 2010
New batch of IDF soldier Facebook photos released
Cast Lead pictures posted by "Breaking the Silence" show soldiers spraying grafitti in Palestinian homes, pointing guns at prisoners.
Israeli pro-Palestinian organization Breaking the Silence posted an album featuring pictures of soldiers posing in Gaza homes during Operation Cast Lead, on the social networking Facebook site on Sunday, two months after IDF reserve soldier Eden Abergil made headlines by posting similar photos.
The album, titled "Cast Lead," features three photos. The first shows a soldier pointing a gun at a blindfolded man. Another picture shows an IDF soldier squatting in a kitchen, in which two hijab-wearing women are cooking.
The final photograph in the album shows a soldier spraying grafitti of a Magen David and the Hebrew words for "be back soon."
Facebook users commented that the soldiers are doing "evil deeds," and that these are photos of "a terrorist at work."
Breaking the Silence collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the West Bank, that discuss cases of abuse towards Palestinians. The organization describes its goal as to "portray a different and grim picture of questionable orders in many areas regarding Palestinian civilians."
Earlier this week, the organization hung and distributed photos of soldiers "torturing, plundering and destroying property" on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.
After the Abergil incident, the organization posted photos of soldiers posing with injured and tied-up Palestinian men.
The IDF Spokesperson's office responded that "the IDF finds it unfortunate that Breaking the Silence chooses to continue to present testimony to the media and not directly to the IDF. As has been done in the past, any unusual cases are investigated by the Military Police, and given to the Military Prosecuter's office, where they will decide whether to indict [the soldiers] in a military court."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192607
9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2010
Israeli Soldiers Continue Their Facebook Displays
The Israeli Walla News Website published on Sunday several pictures by Israeli soldiers on Facebook showing memories while humiliating Palestinians during the war on Gaza.
The Website said that the pictures show Palestinian detainees in degrading positions as the soldiers posed next to them.
The pictures were taken inside Palestinian homes that were broken into by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
One of the pictures shows two soldiers pointing their guns at the head of a bound and blindfolded Palestinian, another picture shows a soldiers writing We will be back and drawing the star of David at the wall of a Palestinian home.
A third picture shows a soldier carrying his gun near a Palestinian woman inside her kitchen.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army stated that the soldier said that "he is sorry" because the Break the Silence Israeli group continues to leak such pictures to the media instead of filing complaints to the army.
He claimed that the Military Police will investigate the incidents and will submit its findings to the Military Prosecutors Office.
Several days ago, the Israeli army decided to ban the soldiers and officers from using social network sites in military bases.
Websites like Facebook, twitter and even Gmail were blocked in these bases not because the soldiers are publishing photos of abuse of Palestinians, but because the army of the military bases in question have classified materials on their computers.
This past August, photos of an Israeli female soldier posing in front of Palestinian detainees were posted on Facebook, were met with anger by Palestinians.
The photos were posted by Eden Abergil, a young Israeli woman who finished her military service over a year ago. They show the uniformed officer smiling and posing next to bound and blindfolded Palestinian men.
Abergil's album that was posted on Facebook was titled "IDF...The best time of my life ".
The view of the soldier posing in front of the handcuffed and blind folded Palestinians was connected to the view of American soldiers who were posing in front of Iraqi prisoners being tortured in Abu Ghreib prison in Iraq few years ago.
When asked by a CNN host about this comparison, the former Israeli commando and author of a book Brotherhood of Warriors, Aaron Cohen said, what you see are Palestinians who are handcuffed, sitting down and not stacked up on top of each other.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59733 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2010
'Israel abused Gazans during war'
Israeli troops have abused Palestinian detainees during the 2008-2009 attack on the Gaza Strip, new photos released by a rights group show.
The photos were published on Monday by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group of veteran combat soldiers who collect testimonies and photos of troops who have served in the occupied territories.
One picture shows a soldier pointing his assault rifle at the face of a blindfolded Palestinian detainee, AFP reported.
Other images show soldiers smiling and posing inside what appears to be Palestinian homes and in one picture a woman in a headscarf is cooking at a stove.
Yehuda Shaul, a founding member of Breaking the Silence, said the group has received dozens of similar pictures that point to a widespread phenomenon.
"It's the norm in the Israeli military and it's a direct consequence of being in a place where you control and rule civilians on a daily basis," he said.
"You become corrupt, and you are not able any more to see them as human beings like you," he added.
The Israeli military would not immediately comment on the photos.
The Israeli military launched a deadly assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing at least 1,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/148175.html 9 jan 2012, 13:23 , Respect -
Maria 26 oct 2010
Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli troops the norm, not aberration
Arab News - JERUSALEM: Israeli reservists critical of their military's treatment of Palestinians have released new photos that show Israeli soldiers holding assault rifles to the head of a blindfolded Palestinian man and spray-painting "Be right back" on the wall of a Gaza home.
The images, released Monday by the Breaking the Silence group, are the latest in a series of pictures to surface in recent months showing soldiers mistreating Palestinians.
Breaking the Silence said it published the pictures on its Facebook page to rebut the military's contention that improper conduct by soldiers is an aberration.
"We will continue to release photos every so often to prove that this is the norm, this is how soldiers behave, and this is the price of occupation," said group member Yehuda Shaul. "We lose our ability to see Palestinians as our equals."
The military said it "regretted" that the group published the photos rather than bringing them directly to the army to be investigated. It said the pictures did not reflect the values of the military.
Shaul said the group received the photos two weeks ago and was told they were shot during Israel's war in the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago. He said he could not absolutely confirm that was the case, but said details from the photos, like the military units shown there, supported that claim.
In another development, a Palestinian woman on Monday accused Israeli troops of burning two copies of the Qur'an when they came to arrest her husband during an overnight raid in the northern West Bank.
Sahar Beida, 40, said the troops confined her and her daughter to a separate room when they detained her husband Ismail in the town of Jayyus near Qalqilya.
"When I came out I was shocked to find our Qur'ans were on the front step and had been burned," she said. "They took the Qur'ans from the house and burned them in the alley. We didn't see it happen because my daughter and I were in another room. They locked the door and would not let us talk or move or do anything."
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2010/10/abuse-of-palestinians-by-israeli-troops.html