Wednesday, April 30, 2014

IDF Faces Frame-Up By B'tselem And Arab Gangs For Propaganda

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

David, a  Nahal Brigade soldier,  was provoked by a teen-aged Arab gang who threatened and provoked him in Hevon, (Hebron).  Hebron has the Jewish  history of being a levitical city and a city of refuge of which there were 4 in Israel's early history with Joshua.  This is where King David ruled for 7 1/2 years before he moved to Jerusalem.  It's where Abraham bought land holding the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife, Sarah.  Hebron is now considered a Palestinian city which lies 19 miles south of Jerusalem which is in Judea/Samaria.   What is a soldier to do?  He was all alone so he warned one of the boys not to continue doing this but the teen pushed him  and continued to act in a threatening manner.  The soldier himself could have been no more than 18 years old himself.
                                                                     
                                                              Hebron
The problem is that the teens had been helped in their behavior by B'tselem, an NGO that gave out cameras to Palestinian Arabs for the very purpose of catching soldiers behaving in ways that could get them in trouble so as to have something on film for anti-Israel propaganda.   B'tselem gets funding from the New Israel Fund.  B'tselem says it has "championed human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for over two decades, promoting a future where all Israelis and Palestinians will live in freedom and dignity".but their way is to frame the Israeli soldiers with lies, giving the Arabs ammunition to fight against them which is not bringing about peace and harmony between the two peoples.  

An earlier attack on a soldier turned out to be very successful.  They got a senior officer, Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner dismissed from service.  A teen-aged gang  had tried to disrupt traffic on a major highway and the gang was being violent towards Eisner by breaking one of his fingers.  So they're out for more IDF victims.

The Nahal soldier being threatened had cocked his rifle and pointed it at the teen.  Then he pointed it at another Arab who jumped towards him with what looked like a set of brass knuckles on his hand, so the soldier kicked the first first teen away, making ready to handle the 2nd who was coming at him. It is alleged that he was involved in another incident earlier in the week.  Then it would seem that he has been pointed out by the Arabs as someone to work on and break down.

All this was being filmed.  Arabs and left-winged allies uploaded the video to the Internet and onto facebook and called the media.  The IDF heads, in defending their own IDF values, mores and reputation, said that the soldier had acted in a way that wasn't the regular way and said that he might be dismissed from his unit.  Also, he wouldn't be serving in combat positions.  In fact, chances are that he could be jailed for acting in an "inappropriate manner" and will be tried in court.   The IDF may even take steps against the supporting soldiers who held up signs they uploaded on facebook.

What would have happened had not the soldier reacted normally?  No doubt in this soldier's mind that he would have been taken down by the gang and attacked which might have led to his death.

The reaction of the soldier's fellow soldiers was that thousands of IDF soldiers from all units are supporting him.  They are protesting the action taken against him.  These soldiers see that the lone soldier was in a tight spot and treated unfairly so that they are demanding that the Israeli government give them the word to properly deal with these types of problems.  Right now the rules are such that they are not allowed to protect themselves and they must respond to violence by the Palestinians.  This policy is evidently not made by the army itself.  It's being an ongoing happening that Palestinian Arab teenagers deride and provoke IDF soldiers into a defense position.  What happens in this type of media is that they cut out the Arabs' actions and only show the IDF soldier's act.

This IDF position is like that of a new teacher in a classroom.  He has to set down rules of behavior in the fall to set the scene for future events that will come up.  The teacher cannot be wishy-washy or weak.  If you say NO to something, there must be consequences if not listened to.  David is expected to act like the British guard in England with the high tall black furry hat, not to move a muscle or say a thing.  He cannot do this when confronted with taunting getting into his space.  One soldier facing a gang bent on causing trouble should be backed up by his peers who will have to face similar situations.   The rules of behavior should be altered to cover these situations.  If there wasn't a camera available, this wouldn't have happened.  .

Resource: Arutz Sheva; news@israelnationalnews.com, Unprecedented IDF Protest over Soldier's Punishment and As AIDDF Protest Grows, Nahal Soldier Faces Jail, by Gil Ronen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebron-has error listed.
New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia: Hebron
http://www.btselem.org/

No comments:

Post a Comment