A former Israeli soldier who posted on Facebook pictures of herself with blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners appeared mystified Tuesday by the uproar. “What's wrong with that? I don't understand,” Eden Abergil told Israel's army radio, clearly bemused by the fierce backlash which erupted two weeks after she posted an album of pictures entitled: “The army -- the best time of my life.” “There was no violence in the pictures, there was no disrespect,” she said defiantly, insisting she had been caught on camera with the Palestinians merely “in the background.” Two pictures show Abergil posing alongside blindfolded and cuffed prisoners at an unspecified location which the former soldier, aged around 20, said was near Gaza. It was denounced by the Palestinian Authority, which said the images showed how the occupation was corrupting Israelis. “This shows the mentality of the occupier, to be proud of humiliating Palestinians,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. “There is nothing in the world that can justify this humiliation that is part of the Israeli occupation practices on daily basis.” One photo shows Abergil crouching down in front of three seated detainees – one with white hair, another with a greying beard and a skullcap and a third, a younger man with black hair who is hanging his head. All three are blindfolded and have their hands cuffed. A second picture shows her sitting next to the black-haired man, twisting her head towards him. – Agencies “I was photographed innocently, naively, without any political significance. There was no violence -- it was just about the good experience of being in the army, that's all,” she argued.
