“The only way to remedy this is to transform IDF policy to match the preconceived image that dovetails with what prompts our funding sources in Europe.”
Tel Aviv, December 2 – The leader of Israel’s main far-left delegation in the Knesset called on the military today to abuse Arab civilians in the areas under their control to make his online posts about such incidents true.
MK Mossi Raz, chief of the Meretz Party, reacted Monday to revelations that a photo he had shared on social media depicted IDF soldiers helping a Palestinian youth away from an area where violence was taking place, and not, as Raz claimed, harassing or otherwise abusing the boy. In an official statement, the Meretz leader demanded that the Israeli military modify its procedures to include abuse of every Palestinian so that no photo with a caption such as his will constitute libel.
“I call on the Ministry of Defense and all relevant military echelons to make mistreatment of Palestinians a component of every action,” Raz declared this morning. “Only because of their inconsistency was my tweet this past weekend untrue. But everyone knows the reality of the situation, and it remains disingenuous of the army and its political leaders to pretend otherwise.”
Raz posted a photograph from the contentious city of Hebron over the weekend, asserting that it showed IDF soldiers mistreating a Palestinian preteen. One of the soldiers had his gun raised while the other was moving the boy toward the camera. The MK’s tweet accused the soldiers of systematically abusing Palestinians as demonstrated by the image. However, other photographs from the series, in addition to posts by the photographer himself and IDF sources, documented that the soldiers were moving the boy out of harm’s way after violence erupted nearby, and the soldier’s gun pointed elsewhere, behind and away from the child.
Other figures echoed Raz’s call for the IDF to show more consistency. “We would like to be right about what we accuse the IDF of doing,” explained Breaking the Silence spokesman Dean Issacharoff. “It pains us when our accusations of Israeli brutality turn out not to match the facts, and the only way to remedy that is to transform IDF policy to match the preconceived image that dovetails with what prompts our funding sources in Europe to open their purse strings. We can’t do that if every other accusation we fling at the IDF reflects untruth.”
The human rights group Btselem also voiced cautious support for Raz’s idea. “This would go a long way toward addressing verification issues,” a representative allowed. “We would want to see more details of how such a policy might be implemented, and if possible, we would want to be involved.”
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