It's a man's world: Israeli army's female recruits speak out

Inbar Michelzon, one of a handful of former Israeli servicewomen, has spoken out about her military experiences, a move that has brought accusations of betrayal and disloyalty.

Concerns about Israeli army culture were raised last week following the publication on Facebook of photographs of a servicewoman posing alongside blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinians: the images were reported as being reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq (and see WVoN story). 

Michelzon cited a routine example of a Palestinian woman waiting at the crossing. She called her officer, asking permission to allow the woman through. She was told to make the request once the woman had been kept waiting for hours. 

"I felt very alone in the army. I couldn't talk about the things I felt were misplaced," she said. "I didn't have strong views but I felt uncomfortable about the talk, about soldiers hitting Arabs and laughing. I thought everyone else was normal and I was the one who wasn't. I felt an outsider to the group experience."

At the end of her service Michelzon came across Breaking the Silence, an organisation of army veterans who publish testimonies from former soldiers on life in the occupied territories to stimulate debate about the "moral price" of the occupation. 

Michelzon gave evidence to the group and two years ago appeared in a documentary, To See If I'm Smiling, about the experiences of young women in the army. The film, she said, was criticised by all sides. The left focused on "the bad things we did and not on the fact that we wanted to start a discussion. We wanted to put up a mirror and tell Israeli society to look itself in the eyes".

The psychological impact of military service on women is undeniable, according to the testimonies of Michelzon and others, particularly those who serve in the occupied territories. "If you want to survive as a woman in the army, you have to be manly," she said. "There is no room for feeling. It's like a competition to see who can be tougher. A lot of the time girls are trying to be more aggressive than the guys."

This echoes the macho culture found in most male-dominated arenas: to succeed people need to stop having feelings. Damaging to both women and men I think.

Read the full story in the Observer.