“Expelling people from their homes is not heroism.”

The post translated from Hebrew describes what a systematic pattern in the West Bank of settler-military coordination to drive Palestinian herders and farmers off their land through intimidation, night raids, arbitrary detention, and access denial looks like in the most direct violent daily interaction. These practices have been characterized by the UN and human rights groups as forcible transfer — which is a war crime under the Rome Statute.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Translation — Iris’s Post (Facebook)

To the mother of Corporal Maya,
You’re probably missing your daughter who stayed over Shabbat. So know that she’s fine. She and her unit companions didn’t sleep last night — they’re busy with a mission.
How do I know? Because she’s featured in videos and photos documenting their operational activity. They’ve been there for weeks already, day and night.
Maya serves in the Jordan Valley Brigade. Her mission — hers and her companions’ — is to make sure no Palestinian shepherd goes out with his flock or cattle to graze.
Maybe you’re asking why.
The goal is simple: to break the shepherds, to make them pack up themselves and their families and leave. To leave another piece of land empty of Palestinians.
Don’t worry — Maya and her companions wear masks. They can’t be identified.
I’m sure you’re proud of your daughter. Proud that she’s a combat soldier.
I’m just wondering whether this is the upbringing she meant when she told me that’s how she was raised.
To shout at women and children.
To enter a home in the middle of the night.
To wake children at three in the morning.
To turn a home upside down.
You can be proud of her persistence. Her dedication to the mission. In the evening she didn’t find the “wanted” person. Before dawn she came back.
After the shepherd proved he wouldn’t go out to graze, she waived the arrest. For this time.
The next day she was called out again. A settler reported that the shepherd had “dared” to go out.
Threatening to arrest his wife — a mother of five small children — did the job.
The shepherd came home. Maya handcuffed him in front of his children and put him in a jeep.
After a few hours he was left in the field, in the dark, in the cold, with a blindfold over his eyes.

Maya’s mother,
Next time you talk, maybe ask her why.
Why she thinks it’s okay to prevent people from living as they have lived for decades.
Why it’s okay to enter a home with a weapon and terrorize children.
Why it’s okay to turn a home upside down.
Maya has a weapon. A disaster could happen.
And she will have to live with what she has done.
Please, tell her:
Expelling people from their homes is not heroism.
This is not feminism.
This is not humane.
There are orders it is permitted to refuse.
This is not what you gave birth to her for.
This is not what you raised her for.

@zvinj

#palestine #israel #warcrimes #apartheid #ethniccleansing #zionism #idf