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Soldier: Major called me 'annoying nigg*r'
Aviad Glickman
Published: 02.09.10, 19:42
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24 Talkbacks for this article
1. Israel must move to a professional Army
Al   (09.02.10)
Clearly there are many who have no business being in an army. An army is not a social engineering experiment. Barak would never have make it to be a COS in a professional army..He would have been pointed out as a useless twit from day one.
2. sack the major and demote to private.
ygalg ,   israel   (09.02.10)
3. Sack the Major
Robin ,   US   (09.02.10)
There's no excuse for this.
4. shame
dan ,   birmingham, USA   (09.02.10)
it's a shame to hear things of this nature, in a time when GOD's people need to be unified, you hear of small minds showing divide with in the ranks, giving the real enemy ammo to use against you. very wise!
5. disgusting
pini ,   usa   (09.02.10)
racism is ugly in every light, but between an israeli and an israeli it is utterly disgusting
6. Demote the major!!!
Chaya ,   Tel Aviv   (09.02.10)
There is no excuse for such abominable behavior!
7. I do not know what the Major said
Raptor   (09.02.10)
and how he expressed himself, presumably he used the word Kushi, which I do not find derogatory in any way. If the soldier was annoying then the Major has a right and duty to say so. If he picked on him because he is Ethiopian then the Major is way out of line and should be reprimanded.
8. #7 Raptor.....
Abir ,   Chicago, IL   (09.03.10)
How can you say that "Kushi" is not derogatory?? Had you been called that I am not sure how you would react! Use of the word "Kushi" in Israel is similar to the use of the "N" word elsewhere and is certainly not complimentary to say the least. There are those in Israel who seem to feel a sense of entitlement, and allow themselves to use certain terms and then determine if they are derogatory or not. It is tantamount to urinating on someone and trying to tell them that it is raining!! I don't think anyone of us can determine what the soldier in question felt and what drove him to complain.
9. sack him
John ,   Accra,Ghana   (09.02.10)
Ethiopians are also Jews.Ethiopians don't go about bombing and attacking Israelis.The arabs muslim should rather piss the major off because they are those attacking innocent people.
10. To 7
Shimon ,   Poleg   (09.02.10)
I guess you are not black so you do not find the word Kushi derogatory. It is an offensive racist term that has no place in Modern Hebrew. This term should be confined to biblical Hebrew study when describing inhabitents of Kush
11. israeli judge yitzchac milnov (contrary to no. 7) write,
sweeter than honey ,   far away   (09.02.10)
"The term "Cushi" is considered, by the Israeli society as a whole, to be a Pejorative term and an insult, usually meant to defame a person for his dark-skinned color, and to mark him as an "exceptional", and as an inferior person to a lighter-skinned individual. It is a racist slur, meant to humiliate and degrade the receiver... This accordingly falls into the fourth alternative category of the definition of "Defamation" in provision 1 of the law (an expression meant to "defame a person for his race racially aggravated harassment, from wonderful israel.
12. how much do they spend on the IDF?
sweeter than honey ,   far away   (09.02.10)
each year. billions of something. shekels, dollars, whatever. the luxury billets (there are), the pensions (there are), the good times to be had. there are many opportunities. and most years more people get killed on israeli roads than in israeli uniform. really. just in case anyone thought it was such a tough life or something, )unless they want to make it that way). there are many of us who have had it much tougher, without billions being spent on us as an organisation. the corporation. so all this a big surprise, huh? hardly!
13. If this soldier loved his country....
The 11th Man ,   London.   (09.02.10)
....he wouldn't be acting like this, especially at this troubled time. He should be ashamed of himself for opportunism.
14. Unbelievable...automatically everyone ...
Malone ,   Hfx   (09.03.10)
....believes this story. Where are the sources? What about the majors side of the story? This politically correct nonsense will ruin us all.
15. Wrong Response
Jay A. Cohen ,   Santa Clara, CA, USA   (09.03.10)
The Ethiopian soldier replied incorrectly. His response should have been, "I am NOT annoying." The major's comment is particularly nauseating coming from a Jew.
16. What Rubbish
Harry Baby ,   Canada   (09.03.10)
Clearly there is more to this story than "racism". There is no word in hebrew for "N...". All the alternatives used are not in the derogatory category this soldier claims them to be. In fact many Ethiopians and others use the hebrew word "Kushi" as nicknames. Further, there is no shaking of hands in any army as a form of greeting. Saluting is the official greeting. Anything else falls under "personal preference". Definitely it would be inappropriate for an officer to shake hands with a private. However, notwithstanding, there appears to be serious animosity between this private and the officer, which in any army could be for a variety of reasons.
17. Nigg*r
Krakken ,   USA   (09.03.10)
Why is the soldier's version being accepted as gospel without question? Could it be that private F##k -up is lying? In what army in the world do field grade officers kiss and make up by shaking hands with privates? I'm a retired school teacher and I can't count the number of times students went home with stories about what I said or did. My last month of teaching I watched as a habitually truant student cell phoned her father complaining that I wouldn't give her yet another homework extention. I got a call about 3 minutes later form across the USA from her over-the-road trucker father threatening to kick my a##.
18. at least he serves in the army
dani   (09.03.10)
unlike all those annoying haredim who don't do anything but throw stones if you drive through their neighborhoods on 'shabbes'.
19. The Ethiopian....
Ali ,   villanova -PA- USA   (09.03.10)
This poor Ethiopian got th shock of his life...He should have stayed in Ethiopia..
20. To all defenders of the Major........
Cali Cal ,   Los Angeles, USA   (09.03.10)
I guess you dont mind being called kikes or heebs now and then. Am I right?
21. #16 didnt serve in the IDF, and man it shows.
Avi ,   Kiryat Shmona, Israe   (09.03.10)
wow, your ignorance is appalling. what you don't realize is, in modern hebrew, we use english terms every day, whether seriously or joking, and n****r is absolutely one that is thrown around both in seriousness and jokingly. i have shaken my katzin's hand a million times and i was in the paratroopers. i also hugged and hit him occasionally in good fun, because in the idf we have a very inforamlized military hierarchy after you are done with basic and advanced training. your ignorance is blinding and i'm very surprised that you received at red tag comment for your comment/type-vomit that you've shown here. and by the way, go say kooshi to an ehtiopian soldier and see how he reacts (knocks you out). it all depends on how the word is said.
22. I don't know what he said, either,
Linichka ,   Gdynia, Poland   (09.03.10)
but I do know that the "n" word does not have the heartstopping affect in Israel that it does in the U.S. and elsewhere. I heard it used frequently without offense intended. Further, there is the chance that this private was indeed annoying, and compared to what a lot of us have been called when exasperating higher ranking military people, this was mild indeed.
23. I'll stop using the 'N'word when blacks stop using it. How
is it offensive ,   when they use it????   (09.03.10)
24. #22 you're right
jason ,   israel   (10.15.10)
the context is definitely different, while not making excuses for derogatory comments. I don't know of any word in hebrew that translates to the famous American insult, except for the common word in hebrew that was probably used, and better translates back to simply "black, of African origin". nearly all conversations i've had with native israelis show they simply have no clue to the derogatory power or racial history of the n word, laughing it out while i cringe. oh well, live and learn.
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