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Israeli Soldier Defends Facebook Photos of Palestinian Prisoners

by Amar Toor on August 17, 2010 at 05:26 PM

Facebook PhotosOn Monday, newspapers in Israel ran a series of photographs, featuring an Israeli soldier posing childishly next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners. The photos, which were taken by former Israeli soldier Eden Abergil in 2008, were posted on her Facebook page in an album titled 'Army -- the best period of my life.'

Once the pics were discovered and published, Abergil soon found herself at the center of controversy; an Israeli military spokesman called her actions "disgraceful" while the Palestinian Government Media Center described her photos as a clear indication of "the mentality of the occupier, to be proud of humiliating Palestinians." The only person who doesn't see anything wrong with the pictures, it seems, is Abergil herself.


"I still don't understand what was wrong," Abergil told Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday. The former soldier went on to say that the photos were in no way meant to make a political statement or to belittle the Palestinian cause. "It was solely to show the experience of military service," she insisted.

As the AP points out, the comments underneath some of the shots don't exactly scream "maturity." "You're the sexiest like that," one friend eloquently wrote underneath one photograph. "I wonder if he's got Facebook!" the budding photojournalist responded. "I have to tag him in the picture!" Honestly, it's no surprise that this was the "best period" of Abergil's life. [From: Reuters and AP/Huffington Post]

Tags: army, facebook, Israel, Israeli-palestinianConflict, military, Palestine, palestinian, PalestinianConflict, palestinians, photo, photography, photos, politics, prisoner, prisoners, socialnetworking, top, web

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