Why IDF soldiers’ official headshots only show their backs
Story by Hannah Feuer, The Forward
The Israel Defense Forces official website features headshots of its service members — but their faces don’t appear in them. Instead, the portraits capture only the backs of soldiers’ heads.
The unusual presentation is no accident. In January, the IDF restricted soldiers at the rank of colonel and below from displaying their full names or faces — wary of potential legal action against Israeli reservists travelling abroad related to allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
While it’s not unprecedented that members of the military would be barred from sharing their identities online — such rules have long applied to those in classified units of the IDF — choosing to display photos of only backs is, to say the least, a perplexing choice. In recent months, the photos have gone viral on social media, acting as a visible symbol of Israel’s increasing isolation from the rest of the world.
The IDF’s reasoning
The change in media guidelines was “due to security concerns,” a spokesperson for the IDF wrote in a statement to the Forward.
Israeli soldiers face risk of prosecution under “universal jurisdiction,” a legal principle that allows countries to prosecute individuals for international crimes considered so severe that no state should be a safe haven. Israel used the principle of universal jurisdiction in 1961 to prosecute Adolf Eichmann for his role in the Holocaust; Eichmann received the death penalty.
While no IDF soldiers have been arrested overseas related to the war in Gaza, the risk is far from hypothetical.
In January, a former Israeli soldier vacationing in Brazil had his trip cut short after a federal judge opened a war crimes investigation for his alleged participation in the demolition of civilian homes in Gaza, based partly on his social media posts. Israeli authorities helped him leave the country before he could be prosecuted.
In July, Belgian police took two IDF service members who were attending a music festival in for questioning related to allegations of violating international law in Gaza. They were released shortly afterward.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgian nonprofit named for a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, has been a driving force behind the effort. The group has filed dozens of legal complaints in more than 10 countries seeking Israeli soldiers’ arrests, though only a handful have resulted in active criminal investigations.
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Why IDF soldiers’ official headshots only show their backs |
