On Facebook: Israeli soldier posed with bound Arab
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_facebook
While no abuse is depicted, unlike the Abu Ghraib photos, I have to agree with these statements:
"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."
Yishai Menuchim, head of the Israeli Committee Against Torture, also criticised the images, saying the incident "reflects an attitude which has become the norm and consists in treating Palestinians like objects, not like human beings".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10994668
The comments on her photo are perhaps as telling or more so than the photo itself, though that is pretty disgusting. Her friends tell her she's sexy posing with captured Arabs and wonder if the captive men have Facebook so they can tag them in the photo.
When attitudes such as these are the norm, how can one doubt there are abuses by the Occupier? Why doubt Goldstone and why believe Israel when it says it was justified when it attacked the Turkish aid vessel?
And she still doesn't get it after hearing the news coverage and disapproval of many, including her state's military:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10997011
The pictures are taken down, but she still ha no clue as to why these are offensive. Many Americans probably share this view. How about this. Think about a white policewoman smiling prettily as she poses in front of some cuffed black men she and her men are holding as guilty until proven innocent. For a souvenir. To remember her time on the force. Our society as a whole once found this amusing, no doubt, like this girl and her friends do. Stuff like this upsets me. I would guess I am in the majority in the case of the similar event happening in this country. At least I hope so.
Some female Israeli (former) soldiers get it and are critical:
There was an attack on a mosque in Harawa, West Bank April 14 by settlers. This one was just graffiti and some reports describe a burning car as well.
Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. That’s how the saying goes, but in this case it is accompanied by violent acts by people who mean to terrorize and hurt others. The words (slogans, racist graffiti, etc) take on a bit more life and significance. The latest graffiti at a West Bank mosque was preceded by more burning cars, 300 uprooted olive trees and shooting at a shop. This is the point when freedom of speech and words one can ignore cross the line into viable threats and cause for action.
What will happen to these guilty settlers? And if Israelis fail to act or set the guilty free, will it be appropriate for the rest of the world to flag all settlers or all Israelis or all Jews as threats? Will it be appropriate for Palestinian security officials to assassinate the guilty parties or kidnap, imprison and interrogate them and those who know them indefinitely? No, it’s not appropriate, but that’s what happens to Palestinians.
December 2009 mosque arson:
http://notanotherpoliticalblog-j.blogspot.com/2010/01/hebrew-slogans-and-another-reason.html
April 2010 mosque attack:
Vandals Attack West Bank Mosque
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/vandals-attack-west-bank-mosque/
“…the attack was the second on the village this week. He said that settlers has set another car on fire and shot at a shop on Monday.”
Mon-Tue
No-one saw, no-one heard: 300 Palestinian olive trees uprooted
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163243.html
Tue-Wed
Jewish settlers suspected in West Bank mosque attack
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8619741.stm
*two burning cars, mosque graffiti
Israeli soldiers showed up after the attack and erased the graffiti. They prevented journalists from taking photographs until they completed the cleanup.
quote from http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/04/14/105843.html
Is this to destroy evidence and protect settlers or are they doing Palestinians a favor?
“Price tag” again shows up as racist graffiti this time as it did in December '09. It has been described in the news so far as a “policy” as far as I have seen. Some would call such a policy of retaliating on innocent people for the actions of your own government for merely threatening to crack down on your illegal state of being (settlements) crazy, unjust, unfair, illegal, criminal, TERRORISM, but to most it remains a mere policy.
***I wonder if they are "reacting" to the Israeli human rights organization who condemned Israel for trying to push through a rather old measure that would make all West Bank residents illegal aliens and able to be "deported" elsewhere. They could be "reacting" to Obama's strong words (in the absence of actions), especially if the Israeli public seems swayed by them against settlements. "Reacting" is settlers' interpretation.
I haven't been able to find a description of what was written in the April 2010 attack that constitutes racist graffiti, but there are examples here if you are at a loss as for what to expect:
Dec 2009 arson:
http://notanotherpoliticalblog-j.blogspot.com/2010/01/hebrew-slogans-and-another-reason.html
IDF T-shirt (March 2009):
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072466.html
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21080&Itemid=57
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7960071.stm
IDF graffiti (March 2009):
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/aftermath/5.html
"...soldiers left behind dozens of bags of faeces in the bedrooms, despite the presence of a functioning toilet, and left crude sexual diagrams on the walls. "
"Death will find you soon”
Have you ever wondered what hell looks like? Well… look around you -----! Ha ha ha”
“Die you all”, “Make war not peace”, “Arabs need to die”, a gravestone engraved with the words “Arabs 1948-2009”
“There will be a day when we kill all the Arabs”
“Bad for the Arabs is good for me”
“A good Arab is an Arab in the grave”
“Peace now, but between Jews and Jews, not Jews and Arabs”
more on T-shirts:
http://norabf.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/dead-palestinian-babies-and-bombed-mosques-idf-israeli-destruction-forces-fashion-2009/
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite//ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1984651&Language=en
