Israel, it is legitimate and obligatory to detest IDF soldiers: they are authoritarian, violent, ruthless criminals in uniform

It’s time for a sweeping change in one’s attitude to the IDF, even on the left side of the political spectrum, which always takes such great care in preserving the army’s dignity, worshipping it much like the right wing does. It’s time to recognize that the army is not hallowed and that parts of it, mainly soldiers serving in the occupied territories, behave in an imperious manner, thuggishly and viciously, employing a great deal of violence.

The IDF doesn’t deserve any more slack in the way it is viewed by the public. If its soldiers and commanders look like the ones documented last weekend in Hebron, it’s not only allowed but obligatory to oppose them and tell the truth: They are brutes.

Enough with always blaming commanders and politicians, the situation, the parents and educators while completely absolving the soldiers themselves, some of whom are no more than vicious thugs in uniform. One cannot continue to grant them blind admiration and the total immunity they enjoy, in addition to the legal and military immunity the army affords them with such generosity.

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These are the children of the entire country? Is this how we really want to see our children? Beating a leftist activist and barking at Palestinians? It’s about time they were ashamed of their actions when they come home. They should feel shame at their beastly behavior.

It’s permissible and necessary to confront soldiers who behave in this manner. It’s permissible and necessary to condemn them by name, when a black flag flies over their abusive conduct. One can even detest thuggish soldiers such as the ones documented in Hebron, even if the IDF only views them as an image problem.

For years we’ve gotten used to the mantra that our soldiers are untouchable, worthy of discounts at steak houses and gift packages in the winter; they should be embraced, no matter what they do. After all, they are defending us. Every good young man taking up arms becomes a sacred cow.

Now look at the Givati Brigade soldiers in the clips from Hebron and decide if this is how one defends a country, or the way one contributes to the destruction of its moral character. The soldier knocking down a leftist activist and the one saying he hates leftists and the other saying that Itamar Ben-Gvir will restore order (“That’s it, you’ve had it, the whorehouse you have here is over”), or the soldier barking at a group of justice seekers who are his parents’ age: “Fuck off!” These are the ones we want to embrace? These are the ones we should be silent about? Why?

What is the difference between these soldiers and the thugs on the country’s roads we’ve seen in action recently? Only the fact that the former are armed and in uniform. This shouldn’t grant them automatic protection.

Often, their finger is just as light on the trigger as was the hand of Adi Mizrahi, who killed Yuri Volkov at a crosswalk in Holon. Volkov’s life was as worthless as the life of Rifat Aisi was for the four soldiers who emerged from their private vehicle and killed him near the separation barrier, even though he was not running away. There is no difference other than the fact that Mizrahi is now hated by everyone, while the soldiers who killed Aisi are hiding behind their anonymity, and considered heroes.

Obviously, not all soldiers are like that. But what we saw on the clips from Hebron is the IDF’s code of conduct in the territories, certainly with regard to Palestinians. Any other kind of conduct is the exception, as anyone traveling around the West Bank knows.

It’s already a completely politicized army in the territories with a Kahanist majority, long before Ben-Gvir becomes the minister in charge; an army of the West Bank that hates Arabs, journalists and leftists. Area commanders not only fail to lift a finger to change their soldiers’ behavior; most of them support it and even encourage it. The army’s senior brass, from Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi on down, is completely afflicted. In their inaction they are full accomplices to the growth of this generation of the occupation’s soldiers.

Everyone is contaminated by this; the occupation obviously corrupts, but ultimately one must remember that the soldiers themselves, the ones opening fire with horrific ease and the ones shoving and beating with terrifying enthusiasm are no less responsible for their own conduct. They must be told. Detesting them is allowed.

Gideon Levy

Source: Haaretz