The ex-soldier criticized for uploading photos of herself on Facebook posing with Palestinian detainees wrote that she would "gladly kill Arabs – even butcher them" the Israeli press said Thursday.
Eden Abergil attracted attention when photographs depicting her smiling in front of blindfolded, handcuffed Palestinians, in an album titled "IDF - Best years of my life" were publicized on a blog, and later in international media.
Writing on her Facebook page on Thursday, Abergil explained, "I hate Arabs and wish them all the worst. I would happily kill them all, even butcher them," the Israeli news site Ynet said.
Responding to a comment made on Abergil’s page, expressing sympathy that the girl’s life has been ruined, Abergil wrote, "No honey, they didn't ruin my life. I can't afford to have Arab-lovers ruin the perfect life I'm leading!!! I am not sorry and I do not regretttttt it."
Fans of Abergil have set up a Facebook support group for the reserve soldier, which has attracted nearly 1,000 fans so far.
The fan page is an apparent response to a group set up by Israeli human rights group Breaking The Silence, which features similar photographs of Israeli soldiers posing next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinians. In at least one of the photographs, the Palestinian is dead.
Breaking The Silence set up the group, titled "The norm denied by Avi Benayahu" to demonstrate that, contrary to claims by the Israeli army, Abergil’s album is "merely the tip of the iceberg" and that "Many people possess thousands of photos."
The army condemned Abergil's behavior as "shameless" while the Palestinian Authority said the photos "shows the mentality of the occupier, to be proud of humiliating Palestinians."
In an interview Tuesday with Army Radio, Abergil said "I still don't understand what was wrong."
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