Dear Edna, this soldier served in Gaza, where this pictures where taken! OK, let's say geography is not your strong point! Do you really believe that we are so wicked a country? Because, if you do, then I have the right to think that your work at Machson Watch is despicable! As far as I understand, whoever cares more about DECLARED enemies of Israel that about the boys who are risking their life just so you are able to do what you do (I don't want to put a name on it) You live, as far as I understand, in a dangerous limbo; flower power is already forgotten and however you may have nice ideals, that doesn't mean arabs share your views. You and your friends forget one originality Israel has, we are the only country in the world that cannot lose more than one war, because that war would be the last and every single Jew in the Land of Israel would be eliminated. Maybe you love your ideas and your arab friends very much, I love my children much more than that!

You'd have a little credibility if you ever focused your enlightened high moral standards on anyone else besides Israel. But, the fact is, you have ZERO credibility because you never have a word to say about anyone else. According to you & those like you, Israel must be 100% perfect or condemned, reviled, slandered & delegitimized. In your utopian view of the world, only Israel is guilty. But, in the real world, the issues are far more complicated than your simple-minded condemnations suggest. And, in the real world, everything is not perfect according to your exaggerated standards. Your aim is not some higher morality, your aim is only the condemnation of Israel, the ultimate purpose of which is to tie our hands, to limit our ability to defend ourselves. Do you ever criticise the Palestinians? No. Do you ever objectively state the reasons why we are in the territories? No. Has it ever occured to you that EVERY military operation in the world, every military operation that has taken place in all history, was full of unpleasant & sometimes thoughtless incidents? And, much, much worse. To be frank, I would posit that your behavior is an obsession.

some of them are not at all and believe me, as a Palestinian who lived decades in the West Bank, some people on both sides have lost their humanity but definitely not the majority. Inhumane incidents have negative effects on the public.

You should be very thankful, grateful, that so many of our young people are sacrficing themselves to protect YOU. Without their presence in Judea & Samaria, missiles would be falling on your head, bombs going off in restaurants & cafes, buses exploding. Or have you forgotten?

O those who pass between fleeting words Carry your names, and be gone Rid our time of your hours, and be gone Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sand of memory TAKE WHAT PICTURES YOU WILL, so that you understand That which you never will: How a stone from our land builds the ceiling of our sky. O those who pass between fleeting words From you the sword - from us the blood, From you steel and fire .. from us our flesh From you yet another tank -- from us stones, From you tear gas .. from us rain Above us, as above you, are sky and air So take your share of our blood -- and be gone Go to a dancing party -- and be gone As for us, we have to water the martyrs› flowers As for us, we have to live as we will. O those who pass between fleeting words Pile your illusions in a deserted pit, and be gone Return the hand of time to the law of the golden calf Or to the time of the revolver›s music! For we have that which does not please you here, so be gone And we have what you lack: a bleeding homeland of a bleeding people A homeland fit for oblivion or memory O those who pass between fleeting words It is time for you to be gone Live wherever you like, but do not live among us It is time for you to be gone Die wherever you like, but do not die among us For we have work to do in our land We have the past here, we have the first cry of life We have the present, the present and the future We have this world here, and the hereafter So leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds Everything, and leave the memories of memory O those who pass between fleeting words Mahmoud Darwish .

Israeli BRUTALITY on display..What is wrong with that..The world knows about Israeli Brutality in many forms and on many occasions before... Just returned form a brief visit...The Palestinians are so ANGRY to the DEGREE of HATE with VENGENCE. Images like this Will ONLY add to this existing HATE factor making it impossible to ever live in PEACE or Co-EXIST..If the tide turn, the Israelis Will never be Liked or treated with Dignity or humanely...It is of their OWN doing ....

not suprise at alll... keep up the good work

...woke America up... "The Mississippi civil rights workers murders involved the 1964 lynching of three political activists during the American Civil Rights Movement. The murders of James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Meridian, Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, a 20-year-old white Jewish anthropology student from New York; and Michael Schwerner, a 24-year-old white Jewish CORE organizer and former social worker also from New York, symbolized the risks of participating in the Civil Rights Movement in the South during what became known as "Freedom Summer", dedicated to voter registration." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders#Reaction

I can't resist making another comment, this lady from Machsom Watch is just asking for it. She thinks that her self-righteous condemnations are somehow an example of moral courage. This could not be further from the truth. It is, rather, a blatant example of hypocrisy, moral bankruptcy, intellectual dishonesty, & cowardice. Why do I say cowardice? Well, let's look at what real moral courage would be. Rather than criticize the very soldiers who protect her rights to freedom, indeed, possibly her very life, in the safety of her office or home, this lady & those like her, should have been on the streets of Teheran demonstrating against an oppressive totalitarian regime. She should be in Sudan protesting genocide in Darfur. She should have been in Gaza when Hamas thugs threw Fatah members off of ten story buildings or shot them dead in hospital beds. Why isn't she in Gaza protesting the holding of Gilad Shalit or the firing of missiles at civilians? Why isn't she protesting the brainwashing of children on Hamas TV? For that matter, since she so much believes in peace, why isn't she in Ramallah asking Abbas to make concessions, end incitement & stop teaching that Israel should not exist, thus ending the ''occupation'' she so desires ending? But, no, she is home, sitting on her tuchas, congratulating herself for being courageous for denouncing what exactly? A silly young girl who took a stupid photo? And, she does it because she knows nothing will happen to her, there will be no consequences. That's moral cowardice, closing one's eyes to real evil in the world.

Filmmaker Rima Essa, in an interview in another paper, said this about about the work of Machsom Watch "The Machsom Watch women only prettify the occupation. What more do they do besides ask the soldiers to speak nicely? Yes, they write incredible reports, but how does that help the Palestinians?" Speaking nicely and writing reports and standing for hours at checkpoints is not good enough for the Palestians, in fact it's not what they really want. Edna Canetti, whatever you think and do please bear in mind that the Palestinians do not want, nor appreciate, your help. And why is that? No doubt you are familar with Mahmoud Darwish's poem, quoted in on of the posts here. Simply put, we are asked to go, to vanish from our country, you included. Your kind work goes to waste, unfortunately that is the reality and neither the Israeli Arabs or the Palestinians will ever thank you for it, since they admit loudly and often enough that they will never recognize the rights of the Jewish people to their ancestral home. You want to teach young Israeli good manners, do so, but don't expect thanks from the Palestinians, ever.

You are defending the indefensible unnecessarily. There is no need to condemn Israel completely and totally (which I never would do - and I agree - the "blame Israel first" crowd is tiresome) by saying that this soldier's pleasure in posing next to blindfolded and cuffed prisoners is dispicable, contrary to IDF values and profoundly unjewish. What she is pointing out is that this attitude is wrong, and is not an isolated incident. It should be examined and eliminated from the IDF, where it does not belong. Your respective defenses of Israel and zionism generally, while true, don't really address this problem. And it is a problem.

of war,not 'occupation'--arabs in arab palestine-jordan-have no problem ...also security measures are working better than ever

Evil is not a female "settler" cursing at her Arab neighbor: worse swearing happens in Tel Aviv every day. Evil is not the "bound detainee shot in Naalin". A dramatic description for discharging a rubber bullet that accidentally bruised a detained rioters toe. Evil is certainly not Eden Abergil who posed next to well-treated healthy Arab prisoners. Evil is when American soldier Lynndie England raped and tortured Iraqi prisoners. Evil is when the CIA trained Arab sniper shot baby Shalhevet Pass in the arms of her father. Evil is when Arab heros murdered the four sisters Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7), Meirav (2) and their pregnant mother Tali Hatuel, making sure to shoot her in the belly to murder her unborn child. Evil is the Arab mob in Ramallah dancing with body parts of Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami. And evil is Edna Canetti who chooses to support the Hamas and Fatah genocide of the Jews in her own arrogant self-righteous way.

I'm sure Edna Canetti does care about what's going on in Darfur and is appalled by the regime in Iran. But you're missing the point, which is that she's writing about OUR military occupation of 3+ million Palestinians. Her entire organization is dedicated to ending the occupation so it would seem natural that she'll write an article about it and not say, Darfur. She isn't in "Save Darfur Now." Just because she's pointing out the obvious that evil is banal and that banality is rife in the occupation (anyone remember the banning of Zatar in certain parts of the West Bank?) your cognitive dissonance has gone into overdrive which is why you're frothing nonsensical rubbish about Darfur and Iranian human rights abuses when that isn't even the issue here. The issue is how easy it is for a teenage girl to look at these bound and hapless people as less than deserving of human dignity; she looked at them like animals. After all she made sure they were watered. Terry, Edna's article gets right to the point. You can't deal with the stinking truth thrust into your face and so in an attempt to straighten out your cognitive dissonance you've gone into a rage asking why isn't she writing about Darfur or doesn't she realize that far worse goes in the world. Two wrongs don't make a right, firstly, and secondly, and I can't but make this point as repeatedly as possible so it might sink in, this isn't the subject of the article. Now please go sort your head and ideas out. Thanks Smith

Oh, by the way Jews, even the Jewish heroes in Judea and Samaria, are human beings and have rights!

You just dont get it....do you? For it to be considered "occupation", please rell me whos land we are occupying, seeing as Jordan annexed the land? As their own Arab leaders have quoted, "there is no Palestinian people" or nation to claim a thing.

Oh, I think I get it very well. I didn't presume to guess at what Edna thinks about Darfour, etc. - I only used them as examples. Do you know where the expression, The Banality of Evil comes from? It was first used by Hannah Arendt to describe Nazis. The implication is that we are like the Nazis. You don't think that's offensive? You don't think that's slander? This is a charge made by the worst anti-Semites along with apartheid & racism, a favourite with the Islamists & their Lefty friends. I think most of us are fed up with the one-sided criticism of Israel, the exaggeration of every incident, the intent being to throw more dirt at us. If you read carefully, I didn't defend the soldier, what she did was foolish, immature (aside from the fact that she is a kid). It wasn't a war crime. It was just the silly act of a kid. And, to get right to the point, as you say, no one else on Earth is subject to this kind of scrutiny, held to a standard no one else is held to. And that's the stinking truth.

Being pro-Israel does not and should not mean blind support for Israel and ridiculous dismissal of any wrongdoing via irrelevant arguments. By doing so we start to sound more like the other side, which we so like to disparage. And a note to Terry: While I'm far from being a leftist, and while I generally appreciate your comments, as of late I feel that you're increasingly losing your credibility precisely because of this point. Instead of being thoughtful, wise, and insightful - as you've often been - in some of your recent posts you come across as a simplistic know-it-all committed to the same ol' tune, regardless of the issue at hand. Just something to think about.

I seem to have missed the part about the treatment of Israeli prisoners in Arab countries.

The conduct of the young female soldier may be questionable. However, in no way does it change the fact that Judea and Samaria have belonged to Israel for more than 3,500 years and always will. Members of Machsom Watch, which hinder the I.D.F. as it protects our civilians from terror and harms Israel in many other ways, should be tried for treason. If Israeli laws are not suited to curb the despicable conduct of groups like Machsom Watch, our laws should be suitably changed to make them so.

"The land of Israel belongs to God, and He has decided to give it to the Jewish nation, in accordance with the covenant sealed on Mount Sinai, a covenant that no other nation was willing to undertake. After a long exile, we've returned home. We bear no malice toward anyone and seek no harm to anyone. But we will not surrender any portion of our land to foreign powers, and if foreigners rise up against us to destroy us, we will fight against them and, with God's help, we will destroy them." Martin Wasserman There is no palestine only occupied Jewish land

I find nothing reprehensible in a soldier's pleasure of having done a good days work by disabling a number of enemy combatants. It's healthy and natural if you wish to win the war. But to post the pictures on Facebook was unnecessary and a little silly.

cannot be fixed. In terms of our soldiers, we are paying a psychological price as the author of this article points out and the psychological attitude engendered may transfer once these respective soldiers leave the IDF. I don't know if any study has been done to verify the author's statement to that effect, however. All soldiers everywhere returning from active duty to civilian life do pay a price and always have paid a price. The question I would ask the author is whether we have any choice. She thinks we do: Get out of Samaria and Judea. This is the usual consideration for the leftist socalled "peace" crowd although time and time again leaving territory has been a disaster for Israel. Salma, on this post, repeats a poem by Mohammed Darwish, the national poet of a future Palestinian state. He made it clear that nothing less than our complete removal will satisfy Palestinians. This, in effect, is Salma's proposition and Ali's (another poster) as well. The author does not know her enemies. The enemy wants our complete removal and won't be satisfied until we disappear. Palestinians did not want us here when we were small in number and, beginning in 1920, made terrorist attacks against us. If you want a complete list, google "israel+terrorism" and go to "lindaslog". Every opportunity Palestinians ever had for shared accomodation was turned down. Israelis and diaspora Jews everywhere must get that through their heads. So our soldiers do pay a psychological price for our vigilance and the characteristics embedded during service may transfer to society-at-large. We could ask the IDF for better counselling of soldiers during their military stints in order to keep them from unnecessarily humiliating and lording it over Palestinians (this occurs during any military connection everywhere, however) but a soldier must, in order to be effective, remain absolutely vigilant. We could allow better counselling for soldiers when the military stint is finished and soldiers must re-embed themselves in civilian life but let's face it, we are a society largely identified by our military and this is the price we must pay for our existence. The author does not comprehend this fact. It is a fact, a painful fact of life in Israel but one which cannot be altered no matter what we do other than leave. In the end, this author undermines our will to survive due to her fairytale ideas of what life could be like if we just give up land and appease those who would destroy us.

you Arabs and Persian Muslims so when you attack Israel and Israelis it shows just how unreflective you really are. Arabs always point their fingers at someone else for the misery in which their people exist and you are typical. Gaining a perspective on the mideast appears to be beyond your ken.

#14. You have it exactly right. Evil is not a young female soldier posing next to well fed and well treated detaineess. That is, at worst, poor taste. Evil is self righteous leftists like Edna Canetti supporting our genocidal enemies and hindering our beloved soldiers as they protect us. And Israel should stop tolerating this evil.

These photos are insignificant compared to the fact that Gilad Shalit is still a captive of Hamas, and Hamas won't even allow the Red Cross to see him. Wake Up Israel!

The "settlers" were CAGED behind security fences. The Arabs were everywhere, their freedom ensured by our troops. Ask Nadim Injaz why he felt safer in Tel Aviv. It was not because of the "settler" threat.

The pictures of the soldier with the prisoners were taken by young soldiers who are naive and lacking in the understanding of respect for other human beings. The pictures never should have been taken and should be condemned by all. However, the writer Edna, is immoral because she uses the pictures as a prop to deny the eternal right of the Jewish people to dwell in the land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria and to be soverign in those areas. We, the Jewish people have the right to self defense. Anyone who denies us that right is immoral. Where is the arab organziation monitoring arab deniel of Jewish human rights? Jews are also human! Aren't they? Therefore, Edna is immoral!