Israeli Army T-Shirts Mock Gaza Killings

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Israeli army is at the centre of a second controversy over the moral conduct of its soldiers in as many days.

The revelations centre on t-shirt designs made for soldiers that make light of shooting pregnant Palestinian mothers and children and include images of dead babies and destroyed mosques.

The t-shirts were printed for Israeli soldiers at the end of periods of deployment or training courses and were discovered by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

One, printed for a platoon of Israeli snipers depicts an armed Palestinian pregnant women caught in the crosshairs of a rifle, with the disturbing caption in English: "1 shot 2 kills".

Another depicts a child carrying a gun also in the centre of a target.

"The smaller, the harder," read the words on the t-shirt.

According to a soldier interviewed by the newspaper, the message has a double meaning: "It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally and also the target is smaller."

Another shows an Israeli soldier blowing up a mosque and reads "Only God forgives."

<snip>

"The revelations, coming so soon after Israel's offensive in Gaza in which hundreds of civilians were killed - many of them women and children - are causing outrage.

Perhaps the most shocking design shows a Palestinian mother weeping next to her dead baby's grave, also in the crosshairs of a rifle.

It suggests it would have been better if the child had never been born, with the slogan "Better use Durex."

more

[YOY]

1. Wow...just wow.

Adorable...(and I don't need a sarcasm sticker for something that obviously sarcastic do I?)

[rateyes]

2. And, if the situation were reversed, Israel would rightfully be screaming

"anti-semitism."

Ah, consistency, thou art a jewel.

More Israeli government hypocrisy.

[Howardx]

3. another hit...

for "the world's most moral army" meme.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. This is what happens when hundreds of soldiers refuse to serve

in Gaza or the occupied territories, leaving only those troops serving there who LIKE this crap.

[rateyes]

4. Why is there a recommend link in a forum where posts can't be recommended?

I would if I could.

[wtmusic]

5. Misleading headline

A spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) told Sky News Online, the t-shirts were printed on the private initiative of the soldiers and their designs "are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless. This type of humour is unacceptable and should be condemned".

IDF had nothing to do with it.

[Howardx]

7. so who was punished?

any mention of punishment or just the usual idf denial?

[wtmusic]

8. Probably no one

American soldiers print this shit all the time, and are never punished.

Both groups should be, but wtf. It's the attitude that's promoted by higher-ups that needs to be addressed.

[Howardx]

11. exactly

nco's and company commanders need to take some heat for letting this shit develop.

[geek tragedy]

12. Can a military be moral if its members are not? n/t

[wtmusic]

13. They can discourage this kind of thing.

I may be living in fantasyland, but I have this idea that a military where honor is important can still be effective.

[geek tragedy]

14. Well, the goal of the Gaza operation was to make

life miserable for the Palestinian people, so it's not a big leap from those 'military' goals to just shooting the people who are the targets of the operation in the first place.

[wtmusic]

16. Exactly, the problem starts at the top

and if you wanted to check back at the UN Charter I'm sure there are any number of violations in the policy itself.

[grassfed]

19. These shirts have to get the approval from IDF

These shirts have to get the approval from IDF commanders and are a military tradition, although the explicit nature of these shirts seem new. Bar-Ilan University Sociologist Dr. Orna Sasson-Levy is quoted as saying the shirts are "part of a radicalization process the entire country is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront." Israeli anti-militarism activist Sergeiy Sandler, who works for the important organization New Profile, emailed this article out saying the shirts are "a long-standing tradition in Israeli military units; you see those shirts, although usually with less outrageous designs, on the streets all over the place. A picture's worth a thousand words, isn't it?"

They reflect a mindset where Palestinian life is disdained, when it's even acknowledged. One of the soldiers says it best in their testimony describing the killing of a mother and her two children: "the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way."

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/racist-and-sexist-military-shirts-show-the-fruits-of-israeli-militarism.html

[oberliner]

20. These shirts did not have to get the approval of the IDF

Contrary to what the blogger you cited claimed.

Here is a fuller IDF statement on the subject:

The IDF Spokesman's Office comments on the phenomenon: "Military regulations do not apply to civilian clothing, including shirts produced at the end of basic training and various courses. The designs are printed at the soldiers' private initiative, and on civilian shirts. The examples raised by Haaretz are not in keeping with the values of the IDF spirit, not representative of IDF life, and are in poor taste. Humor of this kind deserves every condemnation and excoriation. The IDF intends to take action for the immediate eradication of this phenomenon. To this end, it is emphasizing to commanding officers that it is appropriate, among other things, to take discretionary and disciplinary measures against those involved in acts of this sort."

Somehow the blogger you cited fails to include this very clear and unequvicoal condemnation and pledge to take action from the IDF.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

22. Military actions of that kind are what deserve condemnation and excoriation. nt

[grassfed]

25. uh huh ... LOL!

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Count me as not surprised

After those horrific pictures of the Israeli kids signing their names on bombs aimed at Gaza, nothing the Israelis do shocks me anymore.

[LeftishBrit]

10. Sickening. Literally.

As someone said, these are not official army T-shirts but created by individual soldiers.

But it shows how sick some people can get, and how war corrupts.

Let no one ever say again that it's Palestinians who celebrate death and killing. This show how Israelis can do so too. It's *humans* who do so, wherever they're from, when corrupted by war and hate.

Sometimes I despair of the human race.

[NavyDavy]

15. I always say I dislike humanity as a whole but I do like

individuals........because as a whole we can be very evil, but its the individuals who do good are the ones I choose to associate with.....:hi:

[grassfed]

17. this needs to be widely circulated

please share

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090320/twl-israeli-army-t-shirts-mock-gaza-kill-3fd0ae9.html

[grassfed]

18. updated

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/racist-and-sexist-military-shirts-show-the-fruits-of-israeli-militarism.html

[ProgressiveMuslim]

24. "Bet you got raped!"

There are also plenty of shirts with blatant sexual messages. For example, the Lavi battalion produced a shirt featuring a drawing of a soldier next to a young woman with bruises, and the slogan, "Bet you got raped!"

[stranger81]

21. Disgusting . . . . but unfortunately not surprising. [n/t]

[ProgressiveMuslim]

23. Evidence of an unraveling military culture? Makes the passing of sweets look like child's play. nt

[Alamuti Lotus]

26. "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."

my personal favourite, as it were.

A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."

[Violet_Crumble]

27. That IDF spokesperson has a strange idea of what humour is...

'This type of humour is unacceptable and should be condemned".'

Uh, it's not humour. It's sick in the extreme and absolutely scary that people who'd own those sort of t-shirts are given weapons and let loose on Palestinians...