- Former IDF soldier Ben Silberstein trained a dog named Zili and died in a shootout with Palestinian militants.
- Silberstein took to Facebook to remember the dog but also to highlight the death of a Palestinian girl.
- “A killed Israeli dog attracts more media coverage than a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza,” he said.
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Zili was a nine-year-old Belgian Malinois who served with Israel’s elite anti-terrorist police force, Yamam.
The dog had been used in hundreds of surgeries, local reports said, but last week marked its last use. Zili died in a shootout in Nablus, West Bank, earlier this week.
Zili’s unit fired with three suspected Palestinian militants, including Ibrahim Nabulsi, 26, a wanted senior member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, according to the BBC.
Nabulsi was killed along with two other militants and 40 Palestinians were injured. The dog was the only Israeli causality reported.
His courage was praised in Israel. “Zili was part of the unit, appreciated and professional. He will be missed by the unit, dog handlers and fighters he has accompanied on numerous operational deployments,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement to i24 News.
Ben Silberstein, 29, the former IDF soldier who trained Zili, his namesake, took to Facebook to commemorate the dog and also the moral ambiguity of treating a dog’s death in the broader context of civilian casualties in Israel-Palestine highlight conflict.
“I have to admit that I initially had mixed feelings about the story – on the one hand sadness at the loss of a dog I’ve known from the day he was born, and pride that his name was shared and recommended by so many people is considered a ‘hero,'” he wrote.
But he added: “I am indeed a dog person, but I am also a human person. The death of a 5 year old girl saddens me, the indifference to her death saddens me.”
Silberstein was apparently referring to the death of five-year-old Alaa Qadoum, who was playing outside a relative’s home in the Gaza Strip, when an Israeli airstrike hit the street, killing her, the New York Times reported.
She was one of the victims of recent fighting earlier this month between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. It began with the assassination of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander by Israeli forces. The militants responded by firing hundreds of rockets at Israel, most of them launched from the Iron Dome defense system.
After three days of fighting, 49 Palestinian civilians were dead. Israeli attacks killed 30 people, including 17 civilians, including three girls, one boy and four women. According to a Haaretz report, 19 Palestinian missile launches failed, including 12 children.
“The reality we live in is a reality that a killed Israeli dog attracts more media coverage than a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I loved Zili,” wrote Silberstein, “I know he did a lot of good to protect me and my friends, both in and out of the army. Even now, I hope it helps me raise an important issue.” is something to discuss with me that I hope will be even more protective of me and my friends in the future. May his memory be a blessing.”
“She was an innocent little girl”
Palestinian girl Alaa Qadoum’s grandfather carries her body in Gaza City. 5th of August. Ashraf Amra/Portal
Alaa Qadoum was killed in an Israeli air strike at around 4:30 pm on August 5 in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.
Alaa died instantly when shrapnel struck her forehead, chest and right leg, according to Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmeyeh, per the Middle East Eye.
“She was an innocent little girl,” her grandfather told The New York Times. “Did she fire rockets at the border? She was a kid who wanted to see her whole life before her.”
We must humanize the victims to end the conflict, says the former IDF soldier
Speaking to Insider, Silberstein said he made his Facebook post to draw attention to what he believes needs to be done to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We need to talk about the victims of this conflict on both sides,” he said. He thinks we need to talk more about it, that’s the only way we can achieve reconciliation between the two peoples.”
He added that it is important to focus on what it means to live in the midst of constant conflict. He described communities “wounded by fear” and tormented by the knowledge that they or their loved ones could be killed at any moment.
Silberstein now works for the Geneva Initiative, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization working to end the conflict.