Eran Efrati: A Former IDF Soldier Speaks Out

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Phaetonic

The Force is Strong With This One
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93hqlmrZKd8

This video is a presentation by Eran Efrati, a former IDF soldier who became an outspoken critic of the genocide in Palestine after witnessing the horrors firsthand. His speech is really engaging, and he manages to talk about this subject without completely depressing the audience, which seems valuable in terms of getting this information out there. His stories speak for themselves, and his style grips the viewer's attention even as he reveals the horrors that he has witnessed.

He describes learning about the Holocaust as a child from his grandmother, who is an Auschwitz survivor. To me, the most moving part of his speech is when he describes how his grandmother would wake up screaming in the middle of the night from a nightmare about Auschwitz, and how that screaming is exactly the same as the screaming he would later hear from a Palestinian woman whose child had been murdered by the IDF. Being raised in a Zionist family, he grew up believing that another Holocaust was inevitable, so he joined the IDF with the idealistic hope that he would be working to prevent another such atrocity. It was there that he realized that Zionism is actually promoting another genocide, and after a period of dealing with the cognitive dissonance, he turned around and started protesting Israel's actions in Palestine. He distinguishes between Zionism and Judaism, but it must be difficult for him to acknowledge that the culture he grew up in is totally backwards in its approach towards "preventing another Holocaust."

A Jewish friend of mine posted this video on FB, and Eran's stories and speaking manner sound so genuine that they might convince even an ardent Zionist, assuming he or she isn't a psychopath. I found the end of his video to be the most interesting part; he presents some evidence that American police forces have been training with the IDF, which is something I was unaware of. It partly explains all of the stories of police brutality popping up lately, and it reinforces the idea that the chickens are coming home to roost, especially for those who can't empathize with the Palestinians.

I searched the forum for this video and for "Eran Efrati" but didn't find any results, so I thought I'd share it with you guys to see what you think.
 
GREAT find. What a great speaker this fellow is. I agree that even ardent Zionist could be woken up by his talk.

Kris
 
Thank you for this. I just watched and it is very powerful. I loosely transcribed the last parts of the speech because it needs to be out there. Great for sott too.

And during this time I am discovering something amazing. The more I go in looking for occupation, the more I find money. And I don’t understand, so I am going deeper and deeper and then in 2010 I am getting into a very interesting story about how the Israeli government and Israeli army was selling a new tear gas canister to the police and government of Singapore people. They are selling tear canisters to fight their own protests in their country. And during this time I am looking and I am saying “Israel is selling tear gas canisters?!”

So I am going into the website of this minister of security in Israel and I am finding out that they are saying that “Israel just concluded a deal with the Singapore government of selling the best tear gas canister ever produced and tried by the Israeli army”. And it mentioned there a few lines later that this tear gas canister was proven to be “the most deadliest ever”.

And I am going back and I am saying, “Wait… Tried the tear gas canister? Who would be agreed to be tried…?” And then I understand. They are trying the weapons every day. Not in labs, down there in the field. They are trying their weapons… I was trying their weapons in Biilin, in Ni'lin, in Hebron, in East Jerusalem [and other Palestinian communities] we are trying the weapons every day, and then we are selling them outside. And I couldn’t believe the things that I am seeing, so I am going deeper and deeper and then I realized… you remember these guys, the young guys who threw stones at the beginning of the protests? They were not Palestinians. They were actually an undercover unit of the Israeli army, looking like me, arab jews, disguised as Palestinians inside these villages starting a riot, starting something, so that the Israeli army will have a good excuse to start shooting the place up and testing the weapons!

And the more I go the more I can’t understand is this for real, how long is it going for, how much money are we making? I am going in and in and then I discovered. In the last 30-40 years – and this is a very, very partial list – this is the list of the dictatorships and regimes that the Israeli government, the Israeli army, is trading weapons with. Trading knowledge with, trading technology or training their soldiers by themselves in those countries. The last 40 years we were involved in the worst dictatorships and regimes in the world. And we are making a killing out of it. Literally. We are making so much money out of it. And then I understand.

This is not an occupation. It’s a laboratory. Sometimes as a soldier I would infuse poison to Palestinians. Sometimes as a protestor I would run away with Palestinians and be a lab rat. But all this time, we are trying weapons out and selling them out there. It’s the source of everything. It’s not the religion, it’s not the land, there’s a lot, a lot of money, and I understand that I am standing in the wrong place.

And I am moving to New York City, from Jerusalem, it’s a big change. And for the last 3 years in NYC I am researching the relationship between our army and your [U.S.] army. Our government, and your government. And all the money that flows in the middle.
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He goes on to say how an interaction with a Mairyland police officer gave him more perspective during a conversation. When Erat says he is from Israel, the po replies:

“Oh men, you guys are bad asses, you know how to silence the one that opposes you, you know how to come down, nobody disobeys you, you guys are the best!”

And I am saying:

“I don’t think you know a lot about the Israeli army, so, you know, never mind…”
He says, “Oh no no, I just came back from there.”
I say “What? As a tourist?”
He says, “No, with the Maryland police, we just came back from training with your military and your police.
I say, “What?”
He says “You know all of our police here in the U.S. is going few weeks to Israel and train with your army and your police.”

[…] then before I leave his [police officer] car I am thinking, "is there a chance you know Efrati? My father the head of the investigation of Jerusalem police?"

And the guy takes out his cell phone and flips his pictures, and he got a picture with my dad, in the middle of the night, in Washington DC, and I am just blown away, I am going out of the car and I am calling my dad in Jerusalem and I am saying “Dad, what the hell?!” And my dad is telling me, “oh come on Eran, don’t be naïve! You know when NYPD got an office in Tel Aviv, right? You know we got an office in NYC, right? Come on, we are working together to protect you.”

And then I understand. It wasn’t the first time, but that was my closure. For years we are doing these kind of lectures, very different kinds of lectures and talking with communities here in the U.S. telling them that all they need to do is take care of their community and it’s gonna be fine. Every one of us will take care of our community, but you should know that what’s going on in Palestine is a humanitarian crisis. And I am going around and I am telling them, I learned something growing up. All of us want to be on the right place at the right time when history is knocking on the door. And history is knocking right now. Really loud in Palestine, and all of you need to be on the right side in this humanitarian case. But if you don’t care about Palestinians after these lectures, I don’t care. And if you don’t care about us Israelis asking for your help to stop the apartheid regime in Israel, I am fine with that also. But you guys should know: you are next in line. The next one who will die from a tear gas canister will be in Denver, it will be in Oakland, in San Francisco…

It is happening here already. It’s happening to different people, to people of color, to immigrants, it’s already happening, you guys are next in line. The next one who will die out of police brutality will be one of your sons, or your daughters, in a protest. Because they are training together. Your police training with our army. Our army is training them on how to take care of the “enemy”. Because Palestinians are our “enemy”. But when they come back, you are their enemy. All this time, when we are taking care of our community - I was taking care of mine, and you were trying to take care of yours – they (the government, the police) are organizing together, globally to oppress us. We need to start organizing globally to resist them. And that starts in Palestine, right now. Stopping the training there, we’ll stop it here. That's why I joined in 2005 the Civil Society Call for the Palestinians for Boycott divestment and sanction on the state of Israel, taking it out from the source. Non-violently. Taking the money out of the equation. How many lives can we save?
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Please let me know if you guys want someone to transcribe more of the video, I would be happy to do it.

This may be a good video to share on social media. For one, the ambiguous title of the YouTube video ("An Israeli Soldier's Story - Eran Efrati") may cause many pro-Zionism people to click the link expecting an affirmation of their beliefs, but end up learning a bit of the truth. On the other hand, someone I know to be fairly pro-Zionism actually "liked" the link on FB only fifteen minutes after I had posted it, so there was no way he could have watched the whole thing, and he may have liked it based on the title alone. But I think this aspect of the video would only work if the person posting it isn't already perceived as being "pro-Palestinian."

Another reason I can think of is the importance of the information presented at the end of the video. I was unaware of both that US police forces are training in Israel and that Israel may be selling weapons they are testing in Gaza to other countries.

Regarding Israeli weapons testing and sales, I am wondering if there is any other evidence out there apart from Eran's observations, as this is a pretty serious charge that warrants strong evidence. There was a recent article on SOTT regarding DIME weapons that may suggest that unorthodox and illegal weapons are being tested in Gaza (http://www.sott.net/article/282244-No-surprise-Once-again-Israel-targets-Palestinians-with-DIME-weapons). Also in that article is a link to a 2009 article about the same subject (_http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-testing-ground-experimental-weapons/7969). As far as the tear gas Eran mentioned, it seems that there are several American companies that manufacture and sell tear gas to Israel and other countries (_http://occupiedmedia.us/2012/02/tracking-tear-gas/). Finally, there is a Haaretz article about $7 billion worth of Israeli weapons sales in 2011 and 2012. This amount is just what the Israeli government has revealed, and the article states that "Israel does not normally name the states to which it sells arms... [and] refused to publish the information based on 'security concerns.'" The amount was disclosed after "six months of legal maneuvering." (_http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/.premium-1.567693?v=64F6DB6851A05048946E5C166DDE4C5C) (Link may require a subscription)

On an unrelated note, there is an article/blog post on Times of Israel that names Eran an anti-Semitic psychopath in an extreme oversimplification of his ideas. The twisted logic in the article is stunning, such as when the blogger calls Eran and his speaking partner Maya Wind racists for pointing out the racist policies of the Israeli government (_http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-soldier-and-the-refusenik-a-case-study-in-psychopathic-self-abhorrence/).
 
Thank you for posting this-he is a very powerful speaker and it was very moving. I found another article featuring Eran, which is just as moving about the brutality the Palestinians face daily, especially the children:

Israeli troops 'ill-treat kids'

A former Israeli military commander has told the BBC that Palestinian youngsters are routinely ill-treated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, reports the BBC' s Katya Adler from Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he's really shaking... Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation.

"He doesn't understand a word of what's going on around him. He doesn't know what you're going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we're going to kill him.

They dragged me from my home by the scruff of the neck. The more I cried the more they choked me... They pulled me along on my stomach. My knees were bleeding. They beat me with their guns and kicked me all the way to the jeep
Mohammad Khawaja, 13
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"A lot of the time they're peeing their pants, just sit there peeing their pants, crying. But usually they're very quiet." Eran Efrati is a former commander in Israel's army. He served in the occupied West Bank.In a discreet park in Jerusalem we meet to discuss allegations that soldiers like him often mistreat Palestinian minors, suspected of throwing stones.

Mr Efrati - who left the army five months ago - says the allegations are true:
''I never arrested anyone younger than nine or 10, but 14, 13, 11 for me, they're still kids. But they're arrested like adults.
"Every soldier who was in the Occupied Territories can tell you the same story. The first months after I left the army I dreamed about kids all the time. Jewish kids. Arab kids. Screaming.
''Maybe [the kid is] blindfolded for him not to see the base and how we're working... But I believe maybe we put the blindfold because we don't want to see his eyes. You don't want him to look at us - you know, beg us to stop, or cry in front of us. It's a lot easier if we don't see his eyes."

''When the kid is sitting there in the base, I didn't do it, but nobody is thinking of him as a kid, you know - if there is someone blindfolded and handcuffed, he's probably done something really bad. It's OK to slap him, it's OK to spit on him, it's OK to kick him sometimes. It doesn't really matter.''

Young Palestinians are mostly arrested for throwing stones at Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers.
This, they say, is their only means of venting their frustration at Israel's military occupation of their home, the West Bank.Every week in the West Bank village of Bilin, Palestinians organise a demonstration against Israel's West Bank barrier.

Israel says it needs the barrier to stop attacks on its citizens. Palestinians call it a land grab. They say it makes their daily life even tougher. Israeli soldiers monitor the protest from the other side of the barrier.

At a recent protest, I watched a gang of Palestinian boys darting amongst the olive trees, picking up stones and rocks to throw at the soldiers.Some used sling-shots. Many had a scarf or shawl wrapped round their face to hide their identity.The soldiers responded with tear gas and sound grenades. Sometimes they have used rubber-coated bullets too.

Often after an incident like this, Israeli soldiers raid a West Bank village.Usually in the middle of the night. The arrests can be brutal.''Their faces were painted when they came for him. It was frightening. All those soldiers for one boy. They put iron weights on his back in the jeep and beat him all the way to jail. He couldn't get up for a week.''

Mohammad Ballasi's 15-year-old son, also called Mohammad, was arrested by Israeli soldiers for stone-throwing.We met him and his wife just outside an Israeli military base in the West Bank. Palestinian youngsters are tried in military tribunals.

The military tribunals regard Palestinians as minors until their 16th birthday, unlike the civil courts in Israel where minors are considered to be minors until their 18th birthday. The first time Mohammad's parents saw him since he was arrested two weeks before was at his trial. He pleaded guilty.

''When you're beaten like that, you would confess against your own mother," said Suad Ballasi, choking back tears.

Almost every other week we find a 14 or 15 year old carrying an explosive belt or grenade on his body
Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibowitz Israeli military spokeswoman {yeah, right... :evil:}
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''He's a child. His friends are playing in the street and he is in handcuffs. I couldn't stop crying in court. My heart feels like it's going to explode.''

The human rights organisation Defence for Children International (DCI) has written a report accusing Israel's military of what it describes as the systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by the Israeli authorities.

Gerard Horton is an international lawyer for DCI. He said Mohammad's Ballasi's story is a familiar one.

''We see these stories again and again. Israel is a signatory to the UN convention against torture. It's also a signatory to the UN convention on the rights of the child - and under customary international law, it's not permissible to mistreat and torture, particularly children, who are obviously more vulnerable than adults."

He told me that Israel arrested 9,000 Palestinians last year. Seven hundred of those were children.Mr Horton says the military tribunals need to process cases quickly. DCI believes the system is designed so that it is in an adult or a child's interest to plead guilty. Gerard Horton says Palestinians tend to end up in jail longer if they try to fight their case.

Mohammad Khawaja had just turned 13 when he was arrested.
They dragged me from my home by the scruff of the neck. The more I cried the more they choked me," he said.

"My mum was screaming. They pulled me along on my stomach. My knees were bleeding. They beat me with their guns and kicked me all the way to the jeep.

"They cuffed my hands and legs, blind-folded me and left me there for 24 hours. I thought I was going to die.

"Later interrogators wanted me to tell on other people. I wouldn't. They beat me with plastic chairs. They told me to sign a paper written in Hebrew. I don't read or speak it. Because I signed it they put me in jail.''
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Israel's military denies any suggestion that the abuse of young Palestinians is routine, but the army says it has to guard against Palestinian children involved in what it describes as "acts of terror".

Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibowitz is a spokeswoman for Israel's military.

"Even though it's just a stone or just a Molotov cocktail, they're deadly weapons. Doesn't matter who did it - they're deadly weapons," she said.

"Almost every other week we find a 14 or 15-year-old carrying an explosive belt or grenade on his body, in one of the crossings.

"This is the situation we live in, and since we are defending ourselves and we want to punish those terrorists, we have no choice but to find them, to punish them - and hope that we won't return to this."

Mohammad Khawaja hasn't slept properly since the soldiers came. He says the nightmares will not go away.

Human rights groups are calling on the international community to investigate what they say are Israel's violations of children's rights.
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_http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8186905.stm

It's just so so sad, I have no words :(
 
"This is the situation we live in, and since we are defending ourselves and we want to punish those terrorists, we have no choice but to find them, to punish them - and hope that we won't return to this."
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All the Israeli Jews from Europe and America should just go back to where they came from. The world just can't bear their victim status, it's just so soul crushing to know they're living in the middle of so many "terrorists" you know. If the colonizers were really in so much danger, they'd have left a long time ago....
 
Phaetonal said:
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93hqlmrZKd8
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Thanks for sharing Phaetonal, this was a real eye-opener for me. While I knew about the brutality of the Israeli forces, I wasn't aware about the extent to which they use Gaza for their nefarious projects. They literally made it their own military lab experiment not just for their own cause of eliminating Palestinians but even as a testing ground for military equipment that is then commercialized and sold to defense forces worldwide AND they even provide the training to these foreign forces on how to "treat" civilians and use their weapons! :mad:
I'm just out of words.
 
Thank you for sharing, Phaetonal.

Eboard10 said:
Phaetonal said:
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93hqlmrZKd8
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Thanks for sharing Phaetonal, this was a real eye-opener for me. While I knew about the brutality of the Israeli forces, I wasn't aware about the extent to which they use Gaza for their nefarious projects. They literally made it their own military lab experiment not just for their own cause of eliminating Palestinians but even as a testing ground for military equipment that is then commercialized and sold to defense forces worldwide AND they even provide the training to these foreign forces on how to "treat" civilians and use their weapons! :mad:
I'm just out of words.
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Yes, it's awful.
That are things that disturb me a lot. I think about what will happen next in Israel, right now, in the next minute. I think the Israelis are more or less aware of carrying out the last part of its program of slaughter of all Palestinians. And what will be the probable consequences?.

Laura said:
September 24, 2001
Laura and Ark

Q: (L) What is the purpose of this control; this increasing control.
A: Preparation for war in Palestine.
Q: (L) But nobody has said anything about having a war in Palestine. They're all talking about having a war in Afghanistan. How does Palestine fit in here?
A: It is the ultimate objective of Israel.
Q: (L) Why would they want to have war in their own country? Well, aside from the fact that they've been having a war in their own country for a long time. I guess they want to bring it to a final conclusion. What is going to be the result of this plan?
A: Destruction of Jews.
Q: (L) Well obviously this is not what THEY are planning, is it?
A: No.
Q:(L) They are planning destruction of Palestinians, right?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) It seems that through out history whenever the Jews have plotted and planned to destroy somebody, they are the ones who have ended up being destroyed themselves. Or am I misreading my history here?
A: No.
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Maybe I'm completely wrong, but the destruction of Jews can be not only in Israel but throughout Judaism?. I mean, the facts that will destroy Israel will do the same with the Jewish religion?, as it will be the ultimate death of "God". So, maybe with Judaism could die then also Christianity and Islam, the monotheism?.
And, with the death of the false Christianity could revive the cult of courage, empathy and love based on the real life of Julius Caesar...
 
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