Israel – A former Israeli soldier who posted photos on Facebook of herself in uniform smiling beside bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners said Tuesday her actions were “thoughtless.” But she insisted she did not humiliate the detainees and said she was surprised the pictures were viewed as offensive.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Eden Aberjil struck a defensive tone in a pair of radio interviews, claiming that she did not do anything wrong and that similar things take place “every day” in the army.
Both the Israeli army and Palestinian officials condemned Aberjil over the photographs — one of which was accompanied by an exchange with a friend including jokes and sexual innuendoes. Because she has completed her mandatory service, however, it’s unclear whether she will face any disciplinary action.
Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio station, Aberjil called her decision to post the photos, taken in 2008 near the Gaza Strip, “thoughtless and innocent.” But she added: “I still don’t understand what wasn’t OK.”
“There was no statement in the photos about violence, about disrespect, about anything that would hurt that person. I just had my picture taken with someone in the background,” she said. “When I understood that so many people were hurt by those pictures, I removed them.”
In a separate interview, Aberjil lashed out at the international uproar over the pictures, which were vaguely reminiscent of the snapshots taken in 2003 by American soldiers at an Iraqi prison showing Iraqi detainees, humiliated and terrified. In contrast, the Israeli pictures showed no signs of physical abuse or coercion, and Aberjil denounced any comparisons.
“I did not humiliate those detainees. I didn’t hit them, I didn’t act toward them unpleasantly. It’s completely different than the American soldier some are trying to compare me to,” she told Israel Radio.
She said she was shocked by the international interest in the story, adding she had received calls from European and American media outlets. She attacked her local critics, saying they were more concerned about international criticism than protecting a soldier who bravely served her country.
“This is something that happens every day in the army, especially at bases like this,” she said, without giving evidence. She called the army’s criticism of her a “disgrace,” saying she “endangered her life for the country.”
Contacted by The Associated Press, Aberjil said she did not want to speak to the international media.
Palestinians are routinely handcuffed and blindfolded when they are arrested to stop them from trying to flee.
One photo showed Aberjil sitting beside a blindfolded Palestinian man slumped against a concrete barrier, while she leans toward him with her face upturned. Another shows her smiling at the camera with three blindfolded Palestinian men behind her.
The photos, taken in 2008 near the Gaza Strip, drew sharp criticism from the Israeli military, pro-Palestinian advocacy groups and Palestinian officials.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib condemned the photos and said they pointed to a deeper malaise — how Israel’s 43-year-old occupation of Palestinians has affected the Israelis who enforce it.
“This shows the mentality of the occupier,” Khatib said, “to be proud of humiliating Palestinians. The occupation is unjust, immoral and, as these pictures show, corrupting.”
Yehuda Shaul of Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli combat officers that criticizes Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, said the pictures showed how Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians has become “so routine … you lose the ability to see them as human beings.”
Capt. Barak Raz, an Israeli military spokesman, said the pictures amount to “a serious violation of our morals and our ethical code.”
Although her former commanders have been informed of the pictures, it is not clear whether the army can punish Aberjil because she has finished her compulsory military service.
Sorry to say that an IDF military personnel should have enough common sense NOT to post photos of prisoners!!! Her well thought out response to the backlash is sour grapes and shows her immaturity and the reasons why the IDF needs to take such severe action to such thoughtless and foolish displays. IDF soldiers should have enough common sense NOT to post photos of their army experience on the internet, especially of prisoners. That would be totally against ANY protocol of any national army regulations whether written or implied.
the only rthing she is guilty of is stupidity and posting this at all.
Better than the Islamic web posts of their prisoners.
#1 , children are brought into the army at age 18.
Girls are usually released at age 19 or 20. You are very indignant that “IDF soldiers” aren’t acting grown up and mature, because you obviously didn’t stop to think about who our soldiers are. They are children. They are not yet grown up or mature.
Sure, it’d be nice if all children behaved maturely. It’d be even better if all adults behaved maturely. Reality is what it is, and internet being what it is this display of immaturity and poor judgment is now, unfortunately, international news.
There’s nothing wrong with what this soldier did, taking pictures with Palestinian prisoners is not only ok, but normal. People shouldn’t be so fast to judge.
She’s the one risking her life to protect the country not you!
Insensitive……did you ever see what they do to our POW’s?
hmm.. that Arab trying to talk about how cruel Israeli children are needs to shut his face. What would you rather your children do, pose with prisoners in the back or put on a suicide belt and blow people up? In any case, I don’t care about the dignity of these creeps who want to kill us, although I understand why the IDF is getting all riled up = they always have to prove how moral they are to the point of letting their own soldiers die rather than kill Arab civilians’
I don’t recal any stories about ISRAELI 14 year olds trying to sneak in a suicide belt with which to MURDER as many men women and children as possible. The only thing newsworthy here is the international press’ double standard and hypocrisy when it comes to covering an Israeli picture taken perhaps in bad taste vis-a-vis Arab mass murderers.