According to an article on IOL, Aaron Bayhack, a 22-year-old Sandton man, was part of an elite Israeli sniper unit accused of despicable war crimes against unarmed Palestinians.
His actions beg the question, what type of human being will kill unarmed civilians and then continue his life as normal? Does he not have a conscience? How could he have murdered unarmed Palestinians and then still sleep peacefully at night?
After killing several Palestinians boards an aeroplane, flies to South Africa, and then still blends in with other human beings as he goes about his daily routines in Sandton.
The abnormal and illegal actions of the IDF snipers always bothered me. Is a plausible explanation that such cold-blooded murderers could have a genetic make-up, predisposed to such despicable actions?
When I saw the murderous actions of the honeyguide hatchling, I wondered whether the unlawful killings by the elite Israeli snipers could be explained similarly.
The mother honeyguide bird of Zambia lays a single egg in the nest of a bee-eater bird deep inside a burrow. The honeyguide egg must hatch first. The bee eater's hatchling who instinctively seeks the protection of its supposed sibling – a fatal mistake - is then attacked indiscriminately by the honeyguide chick who uses its hooked beak until it eventually succumbs to its injuries. The foster parents seem oblivious to the murderous act of the honeyguide chick. Not, even if they lose all their other chicks over the next few days.
This despicable action guarantees the honey guide the sole monopoly of the food supply. Two weeks later the honey guide’s hooked beak and aggression disappear.
When it leaves the dark burrow, it also sheds its dark side and changes into the lovable honeyguide who will look for a human being and guide it to the location of honey stored high up in tree trunks but is too afraid to access it, since the bees would attack it. The honey guide is then rewarded with a chunk of beeswax and honey by the human being whom he led to the honey.
Who would have thought that this lovable bird was capable of evil?
Like the honeyguide chick, are the murderous actions of the young snipers of the elite Israeli unit executed instinctively, triggered through an evolutionary process?
You be the judge.
* Adiel Ismail, Mountview.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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