Jerusalem – Israel – Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were arrested by military police Thursday, following suspicions of mistreatment of Palestinians detainees, which included taking improper photographs.
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The soldiers, members of the Nahal Haredi combat unit, were arrested following information received by their battalion commander, which claimed that two of the five soldiers were involved in drug use, while the rest are suspected of taking photographs of themselves alongside cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainees using their cellphones.
Four of the five IDF soldiers were remanded by military police by four days, with the fifth due to appear before a remand hearing on Friday.
The arrest came after earlier this week a storm erupted over the Facebook images of a former IDF soldier, Eden Abergil, who had taken photographs of herself alongside bound Palestinian detainees, (as was reported by Vos Iz Neias).
Photographs uploaded by Abergil and labeled “IDF – the best time of my life,” depicted her smiling next to Palestinian prisoners with their hands bound and their eyes covered.
A comment attached to one of the photos of the soldier smiling in front of two blindfold men and posted by one of Abergil’s friends read “That looks really sexy for you,” with Abergil’s response reading: “I wonder if he is on Facebook too – I’ll have to tag him in the photo.”
On Thursday, a comment allegedly added by Abergil to her Facebook page saying that she would “gladly kill Arabs – even slaughter them.”
“In war there are no rules,” Abergil allegedly wrote on the wall of her profile page on the social network Facebook.
Reacting to Abergil’s initial upload of the controversial images, the IDF spokesman issued its response Thursdays, saying “on the face of it the behavior exhibited by the soldier is base and crude.”
Also a new group on Facebook published more pictures showing Israeli soldiers and police officers posing with cuffed detainees and dead bodies, in support of Abergil.
Israeli army spokesmen harshly criticized the soldier, but said no disciplinary measures can be taken against her since she has been discharged.
However, Abergil denied any wrongdoing in a radio interview.
In defiance of the widespread rebuke over her actions, the new Facebook group created on Wednesday under the name “We’re All With Eden Abergil,” states its support for her decision to post the controversial photos.
It also called upon additional soldiers to post similar photos of their own.
“Eden was an excellent soldier,” the group declares, “and now the army is throwing her to hell and putting her on trial. Whether you agree with her or not, we will not allow the army who sent her (on duty) to run away from responsibility.”
The group page features a photo album entitled “Not only Eden enjoyed the army,” which includes various photographs of troops posing with Palestinian prisoners. Other, more graphic photos show troops kneeling besides the bodies of unidentified men, apparently killed in military operations.
Over 600 Facebook members have visited the new page since its creation.
The comments registered on the page were mixed. “These pictures made the whole world hysterical? Don’t you have anything better to do?” one commenter wrote, while another web surfer said “I am due to enlist soon and I feel ashamed when looking at this group. You shame the entire Jewish people and all Israelis.”
Abergil remained in the limelight on Thursday when she allegedly wrote controversial remarks in a Facebook chat that included several participants, some of whom criticized her.
“I hate Arabs and wish them all the bad,” Abergil was quoted by the Ha’aretz newspaper as saying, “no matter the reason, what they do cannot be forgotten… I would gladly kill them, even massacre them.”
An officer from the IDF spokesman’s office told Xinhua on Tuesday that while the army top brass is concerned about soldiers posting sometimes controversial content on the Internet, it cannot prevent them from doing so.
“The commanders are aware of the problem, discuss it and try to find the best ways to prevent young soldiers from disseminating the material on the web,” he said.
seems like this group has been taken down already
Every soldier found to have engaged in such behavior should be hunted down and punished severely. I can imagine the hell that his captors have now planned for Shalit after seeing these photographs. This cannot be allowed to be repeated or no Israeli soldier will ever come back alive from captivity.
Better have a soldier say she “would” rather than a muslim who actually did and says would again! (lets not forget daniel perl and all the others.) May h-m avenge their death.
They dont care what you do as long as you DONT GET ON CAMERA!!