Have you seen those pictures before? (about the IDF)?

Question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQAs4ZLa10A&feature=related

I was saying to myself, what if those in the pictures are Israelis pretending to be Palestinians just to show that the IDF are peaceful until I remembered something..
I remembered that my aunt who lives in Ramallah told me once that her 8 year old daughter plays with the Israeli soldiers sometimes and sometimes she pokes her tongue at them and they smile to her and play with her.
I guess not all IDF are bad and many of them are forced to do what they are doing.

Peace

NYC,
no when I said the IDF are forced to do things they don't want, I didn't mean defending Israel. I mean the horrible things they do and humilation they do to the Palestinians. No need to say more about this here. I meant it to be a peaceful post and If I want to give more illustration, I will spoil that.
Peace

Gonzo, if you say not all Palestinians are bad just because of me, I would simply remind you with Hamas.
Thanks for your honest answer.
There are good people and bad people in every group.
Peace

Freedom F, as I said there are good people and bad people in each group. Many of them are forced to do horrible things they don't want.

This is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37MFa7ZKQWo&feature=related

Peace

Answer 1

of course not all Israelis are evil
many of my friends went to te army
and they didn't do no war crimes didn't kill no one and were not cruel to every one.
but theirr is not a small number off people who do act cruel to arbs. but this is not the big problem. the peoblem is with the IDF as an organization and the conquest and not the people who serve in it.
it like i would say: well now i know Mimi not all Palestinian s are bad. how would you feel if i said that?

Answer 2

the IDF are peaceful they are Israeli citizens like me, the IDF is the most moralist army in the world.
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/about/doctrine/ethics.htm
I think the problem is that the situation is almost impossible for the soldiers they face very hard situations and I remember as a soldier I needed an official above me a lot of times and I had to make my own decisions which I remember irritated a lot of people (including mostly Israeli's that always shouted at me why I don't let them in without affirmation)
I also think there are some disturbed soldiers that the army could do without and should be in jail because of what they did.(btw the army has a lot of investigations against these soldiers and when they are caught they do goto jail.)


freedom you have a point in some of what you say especially to me that I think any violence is wrong in the first place and the last place but the IDF is still more ethical and moral than the other armies. it is an organized army getting instructions only from the government which includes also Israeli-arabs(which are now opposing against the reentrance of the IDF to gaza and we'll see what will be if others agree with them)
anyways..
the facts remain that the IDF goes by orders only and has internal laws that prevent soldiers from shooting without orders and area's that you have no orders to shoot at all, and it has an education arm with specific purposes to educate soldiers on how to be better people torwards all people and no brainwashing like the other side has.

Answer 3

I prefer to rely on statistics and information and historical documentation from verifiable, authoritive sources to make my assessments, rather than some pictures of hand shaking from some zionist propaganda production.

Your video states that the IDF is ethical. Do you believe that an illegal occupying force is ethical? You state some IDF soldiers played with a young child and this appears to have had a strong impact on you. I wonder if your opinion would remain unchanged if you read about how the IDF runs operations that are specifically designed to trap and murder children? http://www.shovrimshtika.org/testimonies_e.asp?cat=14&page=2 read Two X’s.

Have you considered the ramifications of those cluster bombs that the IDF dropped days before they ended the Lebanon war? I wonder what the zionist intensions were when they chose known malfunctioning cluster bombs; when they dropped millions of these in just the last days of the war when they were under heavy UN pressure to cease fire? Ethical is not a word that comes to mind.

EDIT Hamarker
Look at Nis 100 per kid here http://www.shovrimshtika.org/testimonies_e.asp?cat=15

While there is a chain of command, and IDF soldiers are given orders to follow, those that break those orders are not punished.

Answer 4

To answer your question, yes and no.

I'm sorry, but I find your post offensive. The idea that you need PROOF that "not all IDF are bad" speaks volumes. Furthermore, the conspiratorial mind frame that you display ("what if those in the pictures are Israelis pretending to be Palestinians just to show that the IDF are peaceful") is but one more symptom of a malignant anti-Semitism that you have at least been very heavily exposed to. I appreciate that you are attempting to find some common ground and be peaceful; but do you understand how offensive it is to read that you have discovered the amazing truth that “not all” of the IDF soldiers are bad? I’m glad you’re waking up to these realities…but the manner in which you inform us of this awakening, your astonishment and delight at finding out that Israelis are human beings after all, is hardly a pleasant thing, especially when it is tempered with so much disdain.
Again, I don’t mean to offend you because I don’t think you’re TRYING to offend. But here’s a tip: people don’t react kindly when you share your astonishment at discovering that they’re not *wholly* evil or inhuman after all. Think about it like this: how would you feel if I wrote in astonishment and delight that I had just realized that not all Muslims were terrorists and wife beaters because I had seen some video on youtube? Suppose I further revealed that I had initially suspected that the video was some sort of hoax intended to fool people into thinking that not all Muslims are wife-beating terrorists, but then I remembered some delightful little anecdote that convinced me that not ALL Muslims beat their wives and commit acts of terror, and many who do so are forced to do it? Would that seem condescending and bigoted to you? It would to me…as your post seems to me.

Answer 5

They're not forced, they are proud to defend their country and people. It is them, and only their bravery and often self-sacrifices, that prevents Palestinian terrorists from killing even more of their family and friends (please keep in mind that in Israel, everyone has a family or friend that has been gruesomely murdered in this way. To you, it is statistic; to us, it is every-day life and reality.

This is such an unbelievably difficult task, and it is so hard to protect security without losing humanity.

Israeli soldiers are some of the best and most moral in the entire world, and I could not be more grateful for their sacrifices. And yes, they play with children-- they are PEOPLE and have COMPASSION AND HUMANITY... regardless of what your media tells you.

Answer 6

Oh Mimi, again you make me cry :)

What a gorgeous post, I am going to give you a star for such a lovely link. Thank you.

I know many Israelis who served in the IDF. They always told me they just wished for peace; they never wanted to hurt anyone, just to defend Israel.

There are extremists on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, and they wish to prevent peace. We have to always hope that the moderate voices on both sides win out.

Your post has cheered me up, I was feeling very sad about all the tension and insults.

Shalom :)

Answer 7

Nice video. You didn't say who is forcing the IDF to defend Israel. Wonder when the palestinean peace now movement will march into gaza and demand that their gov't build an infrastructure rather than rockets :(

Answer 8

Gee, Adah, guess all Arabs are not bad either.

In Israel 90% of the population DO NOT HATE ARABS, this war of 60 years did not effect the Israeli brain YET. But who knows let the Gazians and the West Bankers continue they might 'win' hate
than all hell will open up

Answer 9

I'm not even going to presume that I can answer this question. I was unable to call up the links to view what it is you are showing. As a rule I believe anyone can put somthing on a site like You Tube and claim anything. Sorry.

Answer 10

The main point of debate should be when will the Israeli are going to end occupation.