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Israeli Military Condemns Troops' T-Shirts

They show Palestinian children in crosshairs, exploding mosques

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2009 2:20 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Israel Defense Forces today came out against a series of outrage-inducing T-shirts worn by its soldiers, the AP reports. The shirts, first reported by Haaretz, featured crude jokes about killing Palestinians—one depicts a child in cross-hairs along with the slogan, “The smaller they are, the harder it is,” while another shows a soldier blowing up a mosque as Palestinian women weep over a gravestone.

Soldiers ordered the shirts to celebrate graduating from various military courses, but they weren’t made or sanctioned by the military, the IDF said, calling them “simply tasteless.” It promised disciplinary action against anyone caught wearing the shirts. A Hamas spokesman, meanwhile, said the shirts demonstrate “the brutal mentality among the Zionist soldiers and the Zionist society.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

In this photo taken March 16, 2009, an Israeli man prints a T-shirt that shows Godzilla-like Israeli soldiers stomping Palestinian buildings. (AP Photo)

In this March 16, 2009, photo, an Israeli model poses with a T-shirt with Hebrew that reads 'Sniper platoon' in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo)

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I spent many years in the army and I know that if you don't pay attention all the time, these things can happen. These are very young people in a combat situation. - Uzi Dayan, former Israeli deputy
chief of staff

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Israeli Military Condemns Troops' T-Shirts