Published: 19 October 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
JUDY MALTZ: An image of Avner Wishnitzer went viral last month when he was roughed up and detained by the army while trying to deliver water to Palestinian villagers
THE PHOTO SHOWS a bearded man, blindfolded, his hands tied in front of him. An Israeli soldier is standing guard by his side.
Without knowing much about the circumstances surrounding the image, most Israelis would automatically assume that the man was a Palestinian. After all, when Palestinians are detained by Israeli troops in the West Bank, they are routinely blindfolded.
That wasn’t the case, though, which might explain why this particular photo went viral on Israeli social media.
The blindfolded man was a Jewish Israeli. Not just any Jewish Israeli, but a veteran of Sayeret Matkal – the most elite commando unit in the Israel Defense Forces, hailed worldwide for its daring hostage rescue operations.
Avner Wishnitzer, it could be said, is in good company: Israel’s current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and two former premiers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, also served in this unit.
But Wishnitzer, 45, was not on military duty when he was detained in the South Hebron Hills nearly a month ago. The former kibbutznik, who now teaches Middle Eastern and African history at Tel Aviv University, was there with a group of anti-occupation activists who had planned to deliver a water tank to a Palestinian community not hooked up to the water system. Most of the activists belonged to Combatants for Peace, an Israeli-Palestinian not-for-profit dedicated to ending the occupation.
What sets this particular organization apart is that it was established by individuals who had seen action on both sides of the conflict. Wishnitzer, who was born and raised on Kibbutz Kvutzat Shiller in central Israel and currently resides with his family in Jerusalem, was one of its founding members.
