Eden Abarjil & Palestinian prisoners
The IDF are attempting to limit the damage caused by Eden Aberjil, an ex-IDF soldier who published pictures of herself with Palestinian prisoners who were blindfolded and handcuffed. The photos were published under the heading ‘IDF – the best time of my life’.
Reminiscent of the damning pictures of Abu Ghraib, (though no-one is implying the Palestinian prisoners were tortured by Aberjil), the IDF are currently at pains to point out that the internal ethical code of the IDF (‘The Spirit of The IDF‘) does not allow such things as the conduct of Aberjil, though no doubt the US Army has a similar code of conduct.
After publishing the pictures Aberjil and her friends commented on them in ridicule of the helpless prisoners.
As Aberjil left the IDF upon completion of her compulsory service before making the photographs public, it is not yet known if or how she will be subject to legal proceedings following the publication of the pictures.
In response to the revelations, Breaking The Silence - an organisation of veteran IDF soldiers who demand accountability regarding Israel’s military actions in the Occupied Territories – have released pictures on facebook demonstrating that far from being an isolated case, the behaviour of Aberjil appears to be not uncommon within the IDF.
Breaking the Silence - images of IDF behaviour towards prisoners
The head of the Israeli Committee Against Torture, Yishai Menuchim, said that Aberjil ”reflects an attitude which has become the norm and consists in treating Palestinians like objects, not like human beings”, whilst the Palestinian Authority commented that the pictures of Abergil show “the mentality of the occupier to be proud of humiliating Palestinians”.
The IDF styles itself as ‘the most ethical army in the world’. It is hard to see how that self-image can be reconciled with the insistence of Aberjil that she still does not “understand what was wrong” with taking the pictures, or her apparent lack of remorse or plain empathy for the victims of her exploits.
The IDF has rightly condemned the pictures as “shameful”, although Aberjil herself asserts that taking such trophy pictures is “something that happens every day in the army”.
