Sure, a few months in jail seems like an option, But there are 2 important factors here:
Wether they are going to be combatants or not
The fact that these are young adults / teens in a very normalized situation.
If you are 18yo and fresh out of school, understand that the IDF is in the wrong and condemn it but are now facing the choice between doing what society expects of you and going for 2-3 years of office work at the IDF or go against the law, go to jail for an unknown amount of months and possibly face social consequences, you might choose the office work. It does not obsolve you from all faults, but it does not make you genocidal or a rapist.
This approach of grouping everyone together is just adding more fuel to the fire. Everyone sticks their head in the sand and says “This is the problem, there is no nuance!” And guess what? Sometimes you will be more right and sometimes you will be more wrong, but you will very very rarely be correct.
There is no innocent IDF member, even if they were brainwashed into serving. Just following orders isn’t an excuse, we learned that via the Nuremberg trials.
I feel no sympathy for an IDF member, as I do for the American soldiers in Vietnam. Drafting doesn’t absolve you of war crimes, even if you feel guilty of it. People died, and it’s their fault.
Thats not a good example because in Nuremberg trials they specifically trialed generals and political leaders, which held positions that were directly related to the crimes, I don’t think generals in the IDF are remotely close to innocent.
But by putting a general who planned and executed war crimes and an office worker that maybe was responsible for office supplies in the same category, you are ignoring the reality of the situation and you are harming the severe and important definition of war crimes.
Your blind categorisation is harming your cause, which I assume is justice and protection of human rights and life.
Sure, a few months in jail seems like an option, But there are 2 important factors here:
If you are 18yo and fresh out of school, understand that the IDF is in the wrong and condemn it but are now facing the choice between doing what society expects of you and going for 2-3 years of office work at the IDF or go against the law, go to jail for an unknown amount of months and possibly face social consequences, you might choose the office work. It does not obsolve you from all faults, but it does not make you genocidal or a rapist.
This approach of grouping everyone together is just adding more fuel to the fire. Everyone sticks their head in the sand and says “This is the problem, there is no nuance!” And guess what? Sometimes you will be more right and sometimes you will be more wrong, but you will very very rarely be correct.
There is no innocent IDF member, even if they were brainwashed into serving. Just following orders isn’t an excuse, we learned that via the Nuremberg trials.
I feel no sympathy for an IDF member, as I do for the American soldiers in Vietnam. Drafting doesn’t absolve you of war crimes, even if you feel guilty of it. People died, and it’s their fault.
Thats not a good example because in Nuremberg trials they specifically trialed generals and political leaders, which held positions that were directly related to the crimes, I don’t think generals in the IDF are remotely close to innocent.
But by putting a general who planned and executed war crimes and an office worker that maybe was responsible for office supplies in the same category, you are ignoring the reality of the situation and you are harming the severe and important definition of war crimes.
Your blind categorisation is harming your cause, which I assume is justice and protection of human rights and life.
Oh my bad, I’ll make sure that the people who moved papers covering up war crimes just didn’t follow orders before they go to trial.