This article is an analysis of Israeli military snipers who served
during the Al-Aqsa intifada. It takes issue with the scholarly consensus that, for
such acts to take place, perpetrators have to somehow dehumanise their
enemies.
Based on interviews with 30 individuals, it shows that snipers do not
always need to dehumanise their targets and that they experience killing in
conflicting ways, both as pleasurable and as disturbing. The snipers
simultaneously deploy distancing mechanisms aimed at dehumanising enemies
and constantly recognise their basic humanity. The article ends on a cautionary
note: violence should not be seen as only belonging to the realm of the
pathological. Rather we must be aware of rules of legitimate violence, the
culturally specific ideology of violence at work in specific cases. This kind of
ideology may ‘humanse’ enemies but still classify them as opponents against
which violence may be legitimately used.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks