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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind.
An officer in the armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake.
“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk, 28, told The Associated Press.
What’s so shocking? Soldiers are specifically chosen from people who obey first and ask questions later if at all. And that mindset is further drilled into their heads during training.
In Israel they’re conscripted rather than specifically chosen.
There are examples of people who rather go to jail than participate in genocide. It’s possible, the majority of society just doesn’t want to resist the system. The majority of people is more okay with participating in genocide than with facing the consequences of doing the right thing. In Nazi Germany they would have been those who were “just following orders“.
Resisting the system would be to leave Israel.
Some have.
Sure, but the commander still chooses who to send where. It’s not like someone with the attitude of “don’t tell me what to do” will be sent to murder civilians. They’re still gonna send someone who acts first, thinks later.
In Israel they’re all conscripts. I get your point that in a professional army they’d self select, but this is basically a cross section of Israeli society (orthodox Jews excepted).