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).
"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."
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".