Palestinian child in the Cross-hairs (Israeli soldier photo on Instagram)

Juan Cole 02/19/2013

An Israeli soldier posted on Instagram a picture of a Palestinian child in the crosshairs.

The soldier said that he found the picture on the internet.

Palestinians said it exemplified the brutality of the occupation regime.

Given right wing Israeli discourse, as with Avigdor Lieberman, of the ‘demographic threat’ of Palestinians to Israel’s continuance as a Jewish-majority state, the photo is symbolic of that tendency.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page