Why break the silence?Because I was shocked by how much people don’t know what, how much I didn’t know, until I went on your tour, I was sure I was an expert on it, that nothing could surprise me. But I was shocked by what I saw, and also later when I tried telling people about it many of them didn’t want to hear about it, or alternatively those who did want to hear were shocked by the situation. I think it’s very important to reflect these things. Regardless of one political view or another, it’s something I think that a citizen in this country, it’s important that they know these things. Because at the end of the day this policy has no connection... It’s not as if, if now, according to history, right? If some left-wing government were to be formed now, this policy would change. This policy has existed for many years, in governments with different political approaches. And it’s important that people understand what it is. That’s it. Like, when I read your testimonies, most of the testimonies I happened to come across in the booklets I saw, are about soldiers in an operation, like how they behave during an operation. But there are a lot of things in this environment beyond the soldiers’ operations, which I think it’s important to be aware of. And the militarism in the civilian environment of the settlements, and whether it’s the soldiers and the ‘jobnik’ soldiers (military slang for non-combatant) who come there once a year, and don’t even understand that by driving the shepherd away because he’s 200 meters from the settlement, they’re actually harming his livelihood. And he probably hasn’t come there through a choice of like, “Wow, I feel so much like going as close as possible to this settlement today.” That must be the place he has to graze his flock. That that’s where there’s grass now or something like that. And most don’t even understand. Like, you don’t think about this when you’re there. Like generally, when you’re in the army you don’t really think about the things you’re doing. You just want to watch your movie in peace, and also like I don’t know, I don’t think about what I’m doing and what its repercussions are. Because I’m on shift. Because I’m in an operation. It’s very hard to stop and think. And when it’s over you don’t want to stop and think. You don’t want it to disrupt your next shift. And yes, these are things that are important for people to know, to understand what they’re doing.
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