After the first meeting of the Army-Society forum, which dealt with the topic of women in the IDF, the joint forum of the IDF and the Israel Democracy Institute convened for a second meeting in March 2001 to discuss the topic of human dignity in the IDF. This volume contains a brief essay on this issue, together with the talks given by the seminar participants.
“The IDF is an extremely authoritarian, hierarchic and ‘total’ organization in many respects, and from its very nature possesses the potential for damaging human dignity. We believe, however, that the source of the IDF’s power is its human resources, and that maintaining human dignity is part of the proper treatment of this source of power.”
Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz, Chief of the General Staff
“Just as on the one hand, I educate my son not to raise his hand or swear, and to respect the other person, and on the other hand I tell him: ‘When your life is in danger, defend yourself’ – this is the way I will also act with regard to the army.”
Col. Einat Gafner, OC Training Base 12
“I spoke with four young men, immigrants from the former Soviet Union. … They are neither poorer soldiers nor less imbued with motivation and identification with the state, despite the continuing abuse of their human rights by the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and all other areas of life they have encountered.”
Lily Galili, journalist, Ha’aretz daily newspaper
“In the reserves, the issue of dignity is related to, among other things, the phenomenon of being a ‘sucker,’ and the unjust division of labor.”
Maj.-Gen. Doron Almog, OC Southern Command
“The IDF has not internalized the issue of human dignity: At the training facility for field units in Tze’elim, the targets that infantry companies train on are known as ‘Michal,’ ‘Gali’ and so on.”
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yishai Bar, law professor and CO of a reserve army division.
“The conflict between us and the Palestinians is a special situation with regard to its potential for damage to human dignity, mainly due to a lack of empathy toward the opposing side.”
Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, Hebrew University and the Israel Democracy Institute
“I brought here the Law for the Rights of the Student, and in my opinion, eighty percent of it can also be applied to soldiers without causing any damage to the soldier as a combatant or to the IDF’s goal as a combat organization.”
Shlomit Amichai, former Director-General of the Ministry of Education