It may be just another of the endless recent reports of racist communications that emanate from the Facebook and Twitter accounts of Israelis. Or maybe a post characterized as hurtful, insulting and racist in an article on the Hebrew news site, nrg.co.il, is more than that, especially if the offending poster is a soldier who serves in an important command position at the army base which houses the Israel Defense Forces radio station.

On the occasion of Memorial Day when Israel commemorates its dead soldiers and others who were killed in its conflict with its neighbors, Sergeant Major Avi Ben Chamo placed the following “joke” on his Facebook account:



Screen grab of Ben Chamo post form nrg.co.il

An Arab asks a Jew on Memorial Day eve: ‘Why do you stand [at attention] at the sound of the siren?’ The Jew answers: ‘We stand silently [at attention] to remember the Jewish soldiers that were killed in Israeli wars.’ The Arab asks: ‘What about our dead?’ The Jew answers, ‘Ah, that we celebrate tomorrow…’

To understand the hook of this vile “joke,” which met with mostly praise, laughter and a number of other repugnant “Arab jokes” among the over 700 reader comments, one must know that the day after Memorial Day is Independence Day, the day on which Israel celebrates its victory in its 1948 War of Independence. For the Palestinians, this is a day of sorrowful remembrance for their war dead and the exile of over 700,000 indigenous residents.

Basically, what the Sergeant and the commenters are saying is: On Memorial Day we mourn our Jewish dead, on Independence Day we give thanks for theirs. Could this be the attitude of the most moral army in the world? Is this an example of that Orwellian Israeli concept, “the purity of arms?”

Avi Ben Chamo, despite the low rank of sergeant, has overall responsibility for the army base from which Galei Tzhal, the IDF radio station, broadcasts. Ben Chamo is known as “the commander” and has overall responsibility for the soldiers who serve there.

In response to the incident, the IDF radio station stated that those that work there refrain from expressing themselves in an insulting and hurtful manner. In addition the offensive Facebook post was claimed to be made by Ben Chamo’s spouse (no one is buying this) and that it has been removed.

Avi Ben Chamo has not issued any public response.

I do not know what is more disturbing: the reactions of the commenters to the news story or the inaction of officials at the radio station (which obviously include Ben Chamo.) And since Ben Chamo has a leadership role at the base from which Galei Tzhal broadcasts, shouldn’t this affair be investigated at a higher level by army officials?

Oddly, I was able to find only one other post about this story in English and none in Hebrew. Maybe an Israeli soldier’s racism is no longer news. This would not be surprising to the over 400 commenters who basically asked,”What’s the big deal?” Maybe indifference and insensitivity is all that can be expected from a Jewish Israeli population raised to be part of an army whose main function is to suppress Palestinians.

Still the silence rankles.

Update: Richard Silverstein at Tikkun Olam has also written about Ben Chamo.