Friday, August 20, 2010

'Israel tortures everywhere it goes'

Press TV Interview
With Franklin Lamb

"There is outrage around the world at an Israel soldier's posting of her pictures with handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinians. She terms these "trophy pictures."....

An Israeli rights group said the pictures were not exceptional and that they presented a norm in the Israel military. The Israeli Public Committee against Torture also believes these photos prove that the Israeli military treats Palestinians like objects, not humans.

Abergil took the photos during her military service in 2008. Press TV interviewed Franklin Lamb, an international lawyer in Beirut, about the issue. Following is a transcript of the interview.....

Press TV: Do you think that the cruelty reflected in these photos and the lack of conciseness is widespread in the Israeli military? Do you think this was a very individual isolated situation?

Lamb: What we see here is what we saw in Lebanon going back to 1982 and in 2006 - village houses which were taken over - and there is a cliche in Lebanon about Israeli soldiers. They have some problem because they go to the bathroom - they take their feces and they put it on mattresses and spread it on the walls. They use the same kind of racist language in Gaza about dogs.

There is a sickness in the Israeli army and other armies who are engaged in occupation and brutality, who are trained to despise their enemies. They practice despising supposed enemies. Everywhere they go they practice the same conduct. It is endemic. Should not the army investigate itself and clean up this kind of behavior? It is not the most moral army - it is arguably the least moral army. There has to be change. I should say the Israel army should go to square one and start training their soldiers to treat people as human beings....."

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