Correction: Lynsey Addario was not humiliated by IDF soldiers

By Yossi Gurvitz December 1, 2011 | Edit

The media rose in uproar after Lynsey Addario was humiliated when crossing the Erez Crossing into Israel. Basically all of the media, +972 included, attributed the beastly behaviour to the IDF.

Well, I’ll be the last person to defend The Green Beast, but they’re not behind this particular odious incident. A reader on my Hebrew blog pointed out that the Erez crossing, as well as some other major checkpoints, are no longer manned by the IDF, but rather by something called the Checkpoint Administration.

A long series of phone conversations later, it turns out the reader was correct. The IDF Spokesman officially denies it is in charge of Erez, and says it is not manned by its men. I am still waiting for the response of the MoD, to find out who is in charge of it, and how MoD intends to discipline it. When – if? – they get back to me, I’ll update.

So, the people who humiliated a pregnant woman and laughed at her did not wear army uniform, and hence could not excuse themselves by saying they were young, stupid, and basically were forced laborers. They were actually drawing a salary from the government.

I am Yossi Gurvitz, a 40-year old journalist, blogger and photographer. I write for several Israeli publications, including the influential financial daily Calcalist and the Nana portal. In the past, I’ve been deputy editor of Nana News, and with Itamar Shaaltiel edited its 2006 Knesset elections section. I was raised as an Orthodox Jew, graduated from a Yeshiva (Nehalim), but saw the light and turned atheist at about the age of 17. After the mandatory three years in the military, much more strictly enforced in 1988 than now, I studied history and classics, earning a BA degree, and studying three additional years towards an MA, but abandoned the project in favor of earning my living as a journalist. [It seemed a good idea at the time.]

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