There's a review in The Jewish Daily Forward of a book of photographs of Israel's women soldiers. The book - Serial No. 3817131 by Rachel Papo - looks interesting. But the reviewer is evidently troubled by a niggle, one which he nowhere enlarges upon. His introductory paragraph says that...
... at the attainment of majority at 18, it is thought, one has already known the best of life, and now it is time, if there would be any, to serve in the military and kill people...
OK, a bit direct, but descriptively accurate. A bit further on, however, the directness evolves into something sharper still; for, now, what we read is...
...these women - young heroines or sanctioned murderers, depending on your viewpoint...
Yes, indeed, 'depending on your viewpoint'. According to one viewpoint, countries, like people, may defend themselves, and those who serve in the armed forces are soldiers, who are morally different from murderers; and according to the other viewpoint, soldiers are, without more ado, murderers. The reviewer, I would say, is without more ado a numbskull.
Some of Rachel Papo's pictures of those IDF women soldiers.
