Man don’t make me laugh….
Have you read anything about issues with a couple of Israel military folks not wanting to fight. I think it was like 200 or maybe 20 idk… apparently 4 even killed themselves
I haven’t read much on it but I also don’t doubt it’s veracity. I can attest to it from knowing people in my professional life, who have kids in the IDF, that it’s a harrowing experience being called back.
There’s massive trepidation on their part and why wouldn’t there be because no matter what myopic view the western world holds of this conflict, Israeli’s and Palestinians are culturally closely related, which can make them feel like they’re going against their families in going back to serve for the occupation or wars.
Sorta like a black policeman watching his white counterparts beat on an innocent man in the hood. You don’t wanna be doing this, but it’s your job.
Here’s some accounts of former IDF soliders and their experiences, via a group called Breaking the Silence:
SERGEANT, ANONYMOUS
Nablus Regional Brigade, Nablus, 2014
"Provocation and reaction" is the act of entering a village, making a lot of noise, waiting for the stones to be thrown at you and then you arrest them, saying: "There, they're throwing stones."
Lots of vehicles move inside the whole village, barriers. A barrier seems to be the army's legitimate means to stop terrorists. We're talking about Area B [under civilian Palestinian control and Israeli security control], but the army goes in there every day, practically, provoking stone throwings. Just as any Palestinian is suspect, this is the same idea. It could be a kid's first time ever throwing a stone, but as far as the army is concerned, we've caught the stone thrower.
SERGEANT, ANONYMOUS
Kfir Brigade, Tul Karem, 2008
There was one checkpoint that was divided into three lanes: there's a settlement, a checkpoint, and then Israeli territory. In the middle, there's a Palestinian village, so they just split the checkpoint into three lanes. Three lanes, and the brigade commander ordered that Jews should only wait at the checkpoint for 10 minutes. Because of that we had to have a special lane for them, and everyone else, the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, had to wait in the other two lanes. I remember that settlers would come, go around the Arabs, and just did it naturally. I went over to a settler and said: "Why are you going around? There's a line here, sir." He said: "You really think I'm going to wait behind an Arab?" He began to raise his voice at me. "You're going to hear from your brigade commander."
<p>A group called Breaking the Silence has spent 10 years collecting accounts from Israeli soldiers who served in the Palestinian territories. To mark the milestone, 10 hours' worth of testimony was read to an audience in Tel Aviv. Here we print some extracts</p>
amp.theguardian.com