This article first appeared in the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronot in 1978. Translated to English by Akiva Orr

The subject of this article is one of the most fascinating aspects of Israeli psychology, namely, the personality of young Kibbutz** members as men of morals.

It is based on “A tear-gas monologue“ published in the Kibbutz movement magazine “Shdemot” (“Ploughed fields”) in summer 1978.

This monologue, recorded over a cup of coffee, is by an Israeli soldier, a Kibbutz member, who asked to remain incognito. This suits my aim as it allows me to treat him as representing a type rather than a particular individual.

It is clear that he is one of the soldiers who threw tear-gas grenades into a Palestinian school in the village of Beit-Jalla  (near Jerusalem). The location is not mentioned in the monologue, but the details fit. He says that six soldiers threw the grenades, four were Kibbutz members and two were urban Israelis.

The six were part of a group of twenty soldiers who were earlier attacked by stone throwing Palestinian students. The Israeli soldiers were forbidden to respond. Later they were ordered by radio to drive some 10 minutes to a school about 3 kilometers away. There an officer gave them tear-gas grenades and ordered them – contrary to standing orders of the district command - to enter classes in the local junior school and throw the grenades into them, although no stones were thrown from this school. The soldier testifies that there were no signs of disorderly conduct in this school and all the children sat in their classes. The four Kibbutz members and two urban Israelis, outraged by stones thrown at them earlier, obeyed the order to throw the grenades. Here are some parts from his monologue:

“We left our weapons and steel helmets behind, knowing these are children. We ran with the grenades. We saw no one in the corridors. There were three or four classrooms with closed doors. We opened the doors. We saw - and did not see - the children. We looked briefly. They looked at us. There was time. I guess that had we refused to obey the orders we could have done so. [emphasis by B. Evron]. One second - and we threw in the grenades, closed the doors, and stood outside to prevent the children from leaving the classrooms. Then we went around the school and suddenly saw children aged 8 to 10 lying on the walls of the school with broken legs.\In the playground were more lying with broken legs, maybe ten. The children were very scared. As the grenades exploded near the doors they jumped out of the windows.

When we saw the lying children we suddenly realized what we have done, We realized what happened here. And one of us said that actually these children caused us no harm. They did nothing. We ourselves carried the children to the hospital. We returned to the school and opened the doors to ventilate the tear-gas. The children dropped into our arms like butterflies. Some fainted, like butterflies sprayed with insecticide.

We began to think. Why did we do it? How does one who was raised on moral values, who is committed to treat all human beings as equals, suddenly reach a situation where one goes to throw grenades on eight year-old children who cannot even defend themselves. Why did we obey such orders without even thinking twice? We returned shocked to the other soldiers. Some of them justified the act, saying „There is no alternative, a good Arab is a dead Arab‟. It is interesting that most of them were religious, They wore skullcaps the ones who justified, or found some justification. Of course, not all the religious. They said that in order to stay in control we must use a strong arm, as this is part of Israel, and we are allowed to do anything to keep it so. This was evident also by these soldiers‟ severe beating (of Palestinians, A.O.) demonstrators. They always volunteered to beat Palestinians, the same guys. My problem as a human being, as someone raised on moral values, who has nothing against Arabs, is = Why did I throw the grenade? I could refuse to throw it. No one would have said anything. No one could know. (emphasis by B. Evron). Maybe what happened to me is what happened to the Germans for many years. Blind hatred. No thinking.“

This monologue has a few layers. Let us peel them one by one.