IDF soldier jailed for a week for taking part in TV debate in uniform

An IDF soldier was sentenced to seven days in jail earlier this month after he spoke out during a televised debate against what he termed the IDF’s “inhuman” treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Cpl. Shachar Berrin, 20, who is considered a lone soldier because his parents are not living in Israel, was charged with taking part in a political and media event without permission.

IDF soldiers are prohibited from participating in political events and are only permitted to speak to the media after obtaining permission from the army.

Berrin, who serves in a combat search and rescue unit in the Jordan Valley, was in the audience during the filming of an episode of the television show “The New Arab Debates” in Jerusalem on May 14.

The debate, which was recorded at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim complex in the capital, was moderated in English by former BBC reporter Tim Sebastian and pitted settlement advocate MK Dani Dayan against Uri Zaki, a human rights activist, to discuss the motion “The occupation is destroying Israel.”

When the audience was invited to question the panelists, Berrin, who was wearing his IDF uniform at the time and identified himself as a soldier on active duty, talked about his experiences in the West Bank.

Addressing Dayan, Berrin argued that soldiers learn antagonistic behavior in their dealings with Palestinians — which then negatively affects Israeli society.

“When soldiers are conditioned on a daily basis to subjugate and humiliate people and consider other human beings as less than human, I think that seeps in,” he said. “I think when the soldiers go home… they bring that back with them.”

As an example Berrin cited an incident he said he had recently witnessed.

“Just the other week, when some Border Police soldiers were rough with some Christian tourists, another soldier of mine, a colleague, said she couldn’t believe what they were doing. ‘Come on, they are people, not Palestinians [she said].'”

“That, I think, resonates throughout much of the soldiers in the occupied territories,” Berrin added.

Dayan rejected the soldier’s claims and called him a liar for saying “he is given orders to treat Palestinians as inhuman.”

“Then he brought examples of some of his friends, his colleague — that are morons — that referred to Palestinians in a derogatory way,” Dayan continued. “I challenge him to bring one case in which [a commander] gave him an order to treat Palestinians inhumanly.”

“I’m not necessarily talking about a specific illegal order, but just the general attitude of the soldiers and the commanders toward the Palestinian civilians,” Berrin responded. “For instance, when Palestinians are passing through a checkpoint — to see how the soldiers, how the commanders speak to them, whether they speak as they would speak to any fellow Israeli or a fellow soldier or if it’s only in grunts or short sentences — it’s only in yelling.”

Berrin also said that he and other soldiers were told to avoid being photographed with Palestinian children, and that if anyone tried to snap pictures, the soldiers were to “to just kick them away.”

Other members of the audience took photographs and video of Berrin speaking and two days later he was court-martialed. The show was broadcast on May 20 and May 21 on the German international channel Deutsche Welle English.

Berrin’s mother, Shani Tzoref, who works in Germany, told Army Radio that her son was only wearing his uniform because he wanted to save money on travel to the event, apparently by enjoying the free bus rides to which soldiers are entitled.

“He is being silenced and wanted his voice to be heard about what it means to be a combat soldier,” she explained, but noted that Berrin wasn’t tried for what he said, but rather for speaking at all.