Facebook photos of detainees have explosive impact

The Israeli ex soldier Eden Abergil posted several photos of herself posing with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees on her Facebook page. The scandal this has provoked also has moral dimensions which states must consider, writes the daily Der Standard: "On the one hand it conveys a frightening picture of the mood in the Israeli army and the attitude of many soldiers towards Palestinians. ... The pictures of humiliation which the Abergil case testifies to threaten ... to further poison Israeli-Palestinian relations, even if they show no evidence of violence against the detainees. This is the political equivalent of the party snapshot posted on Facebook which falls into the hands of an employer - but with far worse consequences. States too must be aware of the dangers that quickly-taken photos pose in the era of the mobile phone and Facebook. The debate about how to contain this danger has only just begun."

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