Israel Matzav

Moonbats try to counter IDF recruitment efforts

And you thought this only happened in countries that aren't fighting existential conflicts.

A group calling itself 'New Profile' (probably a reference to the 'profile' that IDF recruits receive that indicates their physical worthiness for combat units) is planning to hold events at public schools in Tel Aviv to counter 'brain washing' by the IDF that is urging teenagers not to dodge the draft.

In a move to protest the IDF's plan to send thousands of officers into the country's schools on Wednesday, New Profile - a movement opposed to what they see as "brainwashing" by the army - plans to set up a demonstration in which members dressed as IDF officers will wash a large model of a human brain.

The organizers of the planned protest hope to draw attention to the IDF's nationwide campaign for students and voice their opposition to the "militarization of Israeli society." The demonstration will take place opposite Tel Aviv's Cinematheque and next to the city's Ironi Alef High School, which has one of the highest draft-dodging rates in the country.

"I think the fact that military officers have free access to schools exploits the status of soldiers and the status of schools," said Lotahn Raz, a New Profile activist and organizer of Wednesday's demonstration, which he called a "street performance."

"We want to reach out to students across the country and tell them that they have an opportunity to think differently. We also want to reach out to the larger Israeli public and tell them that the army should not play a part in our schools," he added.

Raz, who did not serve in the army for "ideological" reasons, told The Jerusalem Post that the issue was not about enlistment, but about the army putting pressure on students to enlist.

"The army is something that they need to think about," he said. "It shouldn't be an automatic decision. But the army coming in and exploiting their position of power is brainwashing."

"The army is a hierarchical organization," Raz continued. "It doesn't have respect for life, and they have no regard for the equality of women. It encourages following orders instead of individual thinking."

After the Lebanon War, a high-ranking IDF officer made the comment that he was making disproportionately fewer condolence visits in Tel Aviv than elsewhere in the country. The country HaAretz was scandalized.

If the country were suddenly to shrink into Tel Aviv and its environs, would it wake them up? I doubt it.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:22 AM