Ex-Israeli soldier mystified over Facebook photo uproar

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

JERUSALEM - A former Israeli soldier who posted on Facebook pictures of herself in front of

'The army, the best time of my life'

Public uproar at photo showing Israeli soldier posing with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners.

blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinians on Tuesday appeared mystified by the uproar.

"What's wrong with that? I don't understand," Eden Abargil told Israel's army radio.

"There was no violence in the pictures."

Abargil posted pictures on her Facebook site showing her smiling and posing in front of three prisoners blindfolded and cuffed, with a caption that said: "The army, the best time of my life."

The military slammed the behaviour of Abargil, who Israeli radio said was 20 years old and from the southern port of Ashdod.

"This was shameful behaviour by the soldier. In light of the fact that she was discharged last year, all of the details have been turned over to the commanders for further attention," an official army statement said.

The images were first broadcast on Israeli public television late on Monday, prompting an angry response from rights campaigners.

"This reflects an attitude which has become the norm and consists in treating Palestinians like objects, not like human beings," said the head of the Israeli Committee Against Torture, Yishai Menuchin.