News

JERUSALEM – A former Israeli soldier posted photos on
Facebook of herself in uniform smiling beside bound and blindfolded
Palestinian prisoners, drawing sharp criticism Monday from the Israeli
military and Palestinian officials.

Israeli news websites and blogs showed two
photographs of the woman. In one, she is sitting legs crossed beside a
blindfolded Palestinian man who is slumped against a concrete barrier.
His face is turned downwards, while she leans toward him with her face
upturned. Another shows her smiling at the camera with three Palestinian
men with bound hands and blindfolds behind her.

The incident was a reminder of the fraught relations
between Israeli soldiers and the West Bank Palestinians under their
control.

Israeli soldiers have run into trouble on the social
media sites like Facebook and YouTube before. Most recently a group of
combat soldiers were reprimanded for breaking into choreographed dance
moves while on patrol in the West Bank town of Hebron. The dance
featured prominently on YouTube.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib
condemned the photos and said they pointed to a deeper malaise — how
Israel's 43-year-old occupation of Palestinians has affected the
Israelis who enforce it.

"This shows the mentality of the occupier," Khatib
said, "to be proud of humilia... >>>