Sparks fly at Israeli soldier's talk

“First,” said Sergeant Nadav Weinberg of the Orev Special Forces, “No photography or videotaping tonight.”

This small but strictly enforced request highlighted the sensitive nature of the topic discussed at Monday night’s speaker presentation hosted by Penn Friends of Israel at Huntsman Hall. An audience of about 60 sat in to listen to Weinberg, a member of the Israel Defense Forces who was invited to talk from a soldier’s perspective on ethics in the Israeli military.

“It’s an attempt to further dialogue on the Israel-Palestine conflict on campus,” College freshman and event organizer Elliot Comite said. “We were trying to add another layer of context and understanding to the issue.”

In 1992, Israel developed a code of military conduct in response to violence caused by Israeli forces on the Israeli-Palestinian borders. The conflict in the region is largely contributed to terrorist attacks conducted by Hamas — an extremist Islamic movement whose stated goal is to create a Palestinian state in the area that is Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“The media does not accurately portray what goes on in the West Bank [over in Israel] and what soldiers are doing over there,” Weinberg began, “But I’m not here to tell you guys that Israel is perfect.”

During his presentation, Weinberg presented several real-life scenarios faced by an Israeli soldier in times of combat. The room quickly grew uncomfortable and tense as Weinberg later asked questions that challenged moral and ethical conventions.

“Would you shoot a terrorist dragging a child [as a shield]? Would you shoot a child with a bomb strapped to his chest?” he asked, “These are all split-second decisions.”

At times, Weinberg’s presentation was interrupted by outbursts from an agitated audience member who was told to leave the room or stay in silence.

College freshman Sahir Doshi was one of several people disappointed with the speaker. “I felt that he avoided the deeper issues at hand such as what is causing the events over there.”

College freshman Qais Uwaidat agreed. “We should have argued about what caused the events in the videos he showed, not what the Israeli soldiers did.”

Aure Demoulin a College junior, offered a different opinion. “Students were expecting him to talk about politics. But they forgot he was bringing in his own perspective,” she said. “It was disappointing to see that students attacked him about political matters when he isn’t responsible for Israel’s policies.”

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