No subject

t are inside jokes that only they get, and sometimes they do something fool=
ish that they take to an extreme," Yisrael explained. "There have been a fe=
w times when commanding officers called and said, 'How can you print things=
 like that for soldiers?' For example, with shirts that trashed the Arabs t=
oo much. I told them it's a private company, and I'm not interested in the =
content. I can print whatever I like. We're neutral. There have always been=
 some more extreme and some less so. It's just that now more people are mak=
ing shirts."=20



Race to be unique=20



Evyatar Ben-Tzedef, a research associate at the International Policy Instit=
ute for Counter-Terrorism and former editor of the IDF publication Maaracho=
t, said the phenomenon of custom-made T-shirts is a product of "the infantr=
y's insane race to be unique. I, for example, had only one shirt that I rec=
eived after the Yom Kippur War. It said on it, 'The School for Officers,' a=
nd that was it. What happened since then is a product of the decision to as=
sign every unit an emblem and a beret. After all, there used to be very few=
 berets: black, red or green. This changed in the 1990s. [The shirts] devel=
oped because of the fact that for bonding purposes, each unit created somet=
hing that was unique to it.=20



"These days the content on shirts is sometimes deplorable," Ben-Tzedef expl=
ained. "It stems from the fact that profanity is very acceptable and normat=
ive in Israel, and that there is a lack of respect for human beings and the=
ir environment, which includes racism aimed in every direction."=20



Yossi Kaufman, who moderates the army and defense forum on the Web site Fre=
sh, served in the Armored Corps from 1996 to 1999. "I also drew shirts, and=
 I remember the first one," he said. "It had a small emblem on the front an=
d some inside joke, like, 'When we die, we'll go to heaven, because we've a=
lready been through hell.'"=20



Kaufman has also been exposed to T-shirts of the sort described here. "I kn=
ow there are shirts like these," he says. "I've heard and also seen a littl=
e. These are not shirts that soldiers can wear in civilian life, because th=
ey would get stoned, nor at a battalion get-together, because the battalion=
 commander would be pissed off. They wear them on very rare occasions. Ther=
e's all sorts of black humor stuff, mainly from snipers, such as, 'Don't bo=
ther running because you'll die tired' - with a drawing of a Palestinian bo=
y, not a terrorist. There's a Golani or Givati shirt of a soldier raping a =
girl, and underneath it says, 'No virgins, no terror attacks.' I laughed, b=
ut it was pretty awful. When I was asked once to draw things like that, I s=
aid it wasn't appropriate."=20



The IDF Spokesman's Office comments on the phenomenon: "Military regulation=
s do not apply to civilian clothing, including shirts produced at the end o=
f basic training and various courses. The designs are printed at the soldie=
rs' private initiative, and on civilian shirts. The examples raised by Haar=
etz are not in keeping with the values of the IDF spirit, not representativ=
e of IDF life, and are in poor taste. Humor of this kind deserves every con=
demnation and excoriation. The IDF intends to take action for the immediate=
 eradication of this phenomenon. To this end, it is emphasizing to commandi=
ng officers that it is appropriate, among other things, to take discretiona=
ry and disciplinary measures against those involved in acts of this sort."=
=20



Shlomo Tzipori, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves and a lawyer specializ=
ing in martial law, said the army does bring soldiers up on charges for off=
enses that occur outside the base and during their free time. According to =
Tzipori, slogans that constitute an "insult to the army or to those in unif=
orm" are grounds for court-martial, on charges of "shameful conduct" or "di=
sciplinary infraction," which are general clauses in judicial martial law.=
=20



Sociologist Dr. Orna Sasson-Levy, of Bar-Ilan University, author of "Identi=
ties in Uniform: Masculinities and Femininities in the Israeli Military," s=
aid that the phenomenon is "part of a radicalization process the entire cou=
ntry is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront. I think that eve=
r since the second intifada there has been a continual shift to the right. =
The pullout from Gaza and its outcome - the calm that never arrived - led t=
o a further shift rightward.=20



"This tendency is most strikingly evident among soldiers who encounter vari=
ous situations in the territories on a daily basis. There is less meticulou=
sness than in the past, and increasing callousness. There is a perception t=
hat the Palestinian is not a person, a human being entitled to basic rights=
, and therefore anything may be done to him."=20



Could the printing of clothing be viewed also as a means of venting aggress=
ion?=20



Sasson-Levy: "No. I think it strengthens and stimulates aggression and legi=
timizes it. What disturbs me is that a shirt is something that has permanen=
ce. The soldiers later wear it in civilian life; their girlfriends wear it =
afterward. It is not a statement, but rather something physical that remain=
s, that is out there in the world. Beyond that, I think the link made betwe=
en sexist views and nationalist views, as in the 'Screw Haniyeh' shirt, is =
interesting. National chauvinism and gender chauvinism combine and strength=
en one another. It establishes a masculinity shaped by violent aggression t=
oward women and Arabs; a masculinity that considers it legitimate to speak =
in a crude and violent manner toward women and Arabs."=20



Col. (res.) Ron Levy began his military service in the Sayeret Matkal elite=
 commando force before the Six-Day War. He was the IDF's chief psychologist=
, and headed the army's mental health department in the 1980s.=20



Levy: "I'm familiar with things of this sort going back 40, 50 years, and e=
ach time they take a different form. Psychologically speaking, this is one =
of the ways in which soldiers project their anger, frustration and violence=
. It is a certain expression of things, which I call 'below the belt.'"=20



Do you think this a good way to vent anger?=20



Levy: "It's safe. But there are also things here that deviate from the norm=
, and you could say that whoever is creating these things has reached some =
level of normality. He gives expression to the fact that what is considered=
 abnormal today might no longer be so tomorrow ."=20