Sunday Times 2
Elite Israeli troops in trouble for dancing at Palestinian wedding
Defence bosses have rapped a group of elite Israeli troops for joining in a wedding party in Hebron while on patrol in the city of Hebron. The troops from the Givati Brigade stumbled across the celebration in the Palestinian city in the southern West Bank and were recorded on a mobile phone joining in with a dance, Gangnam style. At one point a soldier, in full uniform and carrying his weapon, is lifted up onto the shoulders of a reveler as the crowd enthusiastically dances to the music. The footage was aired Wednesday on Israeli Channel 2 TV, according to The Jerusalem Post.
After the friendly interaction, the troops left peacefully, according to local media, but the soldiers are now under investigation for ‘exposing themselves to unnecessary danger’. A former Israeli soldier, Seth Freedman, writing in The Guardian, condemned the IDF for castigating the soldiers and praised the human judgement of those involved, to show some compassion and friendliness.
Mr Freedman wrote: ‘Leaving the military rulebook aside, the footage of the wedding dancing does a great deal to humanise both sides of the interminable conflict, showing that – at ground level – not every meeting between Israelis and Palestinians is doomed to end in bitterness, bloodshed and recrimination.’ He concluded: ‘Outraged IDF chiefs might castigate their troops for the “unnecessary danger” of their actions, but the opposite is the truth.
It is the intransigent behaviour and policies of those at the helm of the IDF and Knesset which expose all Israelis and Palestinians to such unnecessary danger, and they could learn a great deal from the bridge-building revelry of the dancing troops.’
© Daily Mail, London
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