TLDR: A well funded and developed brainwashing machine vs the mind of an 18 year old will end in tragedy. The Israeli government is doing generational damage to its own people and this is just the beginning. There is no excuse for the genocide but there are reasons.
I had to serve 3 years in the IDF 2013-16. I spent a year trying to get out of it using medical issues but then the police showed up to our door. I spent 3 years fixing armored combat vehicles at an engine shop.
When you grow up in Israel you are surrounded by pro military and anti Palestinian/Arab propaganda. At 16 they call you in for a physical and that's where the brainwashing really kicks in. The next two years of high school you're thinking of finals and graduation, prom but also what unit you and your classmates could end up in. My school had a program where you spend time on a military base to "try it out". They draft you at 18 years old, you've just graduated and you've received a letter from the government telling you what unit you're in and when to report. You may hate the Israeli government you may think Palestinian should have rights but the social pressures of serving have been hammered into you for years. Now you're on a bus taken to a remote military base where they put you through all the brainwashing and cult building tech they've perfected over the decades. You're just a kid out of highschool already conditioned to follow authority and now they're yelling at you to run, shoot and protect your new best friend you made in the army. They tell you that every Palestinian at the check point is a threat and show videos of Palestinian resistance to make sure you're scared. You hear about a soldier who fell asleep on a bus and got stabbed in the neck by a Palestinian fighter. You hear about a police officer shot at a checkpoint.
These kids are committing war crimes while deep in a cult that tells them it was right. When they leave and see reality it will cause PTSD and suicide for those that can't live with what they've done. The feeling when reality conflicts with your brainwashing hits hard.
Imagine looking back at your teenage years when you were an idiot by instead of cringe you recall shooting innocents that a system convinced you were out to kill you.
When I first drafted I was not aware of the Palestinian struggle but over my 3 years, even though I wasn't in combat I started to realize who the bad guys were. I tried to transfer to the humanitarian arm of the IDF that allegedly does outreach to Palestinians but was denied due to my low physical score. If I had protested and dodged my draft it would have ruined my life, I did not live in a progressive town or household. To this day I don't know any other pro Palestinian liberation people from my old social circles.
