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Why IDF soldiers’ official headshots only show their backs
The Israel Defense Forces official website features headshots of its service members — but their faces don’t appear in them. Instead, the portraits capture only the backs of soldiers’ heads.
The unusual presentation is no accident. In January, the IDF restricted soldiers at the rank of colonel and below from displaying their full names or faces — wary of potential legal action against Israeli reservists travelling abroad related to allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
While it’s not unprecedented that members of the military would be barred from sharing their identities online — such rules have long applied to those in classified units of the IDF — choosing to display photos of only backs is, to say the least, a perplexing choice. In recent months, the photos have gone viral on social media, acting as a visible symbol of Israel’s increasing isolation from the rest of the world.
The IDF’s reasoning
The change in media guidelines was “due to security concerns,” a spokesperson for the IDF wrote in a statement to the Forward.
Israeli soldiers face risk of prosecution under “universal jurisdiction,” a legal principle that allows countries to prosecute individuals for international crimes considered so severe that no state should be a safe haven. Israel used the principle of universal jurisdiction in 1961 to prosecute Adolf Eichmann for his role in the Holocaust; Eichmann received the death penalty.
While no IDF soldiers have been arrested overseas related to the war in Gaza, the risk is far from hypothetical.
In January, a former Israeli soldier vacationing in Brazil had his trip cut short after a federal judge opened a war crimes investigation for his alleged participation in the demolition of civilian homes in Gaza, based partly on his social media posts. Israeli authorities helped him leave the country before he could be prosecuted.
In July, Belgian police took two IDF service members who were attending a music festival in for questioning related to allegations of violating international law in Gaza. They were released shortly afterward.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgian nonprofit named for a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, has been a driving force behind the effort. The group has filed dozens of legal complaints in more than 10 countries seeking Israeli soldiers’ arrests, though only a handful have resulted in active criminal investigations.
Still, any online information, including photos, can help those seeking to prosecute these cases, according to Eran Shamir Borer, director of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Security and Democracy.
“If you volunteer information about this person — their face, their name, their military affiliation — you just make it much easier for the various organizations overseas to try to mine further information about these soldiers,” Shamir Borer, who previously served as head of the IDF’s international law department, told the Forward in a phone interview.
Under international law, evidence that someone served in the IDF is not enough to open a criminal investigation; there must be documentation of misconduct on the battlefield, Shamir Borer said.
But not all countries abide by this standard. For example, South Africa has threatened to arrest dual citizens who serve in the IDF when they return home — irrespective of whether the service member has specifically been accused of war crimes.
For a war that has been broadcast on social media, the effort to conceal some identities may be too little too late. Restrictions on soldiers’ personal social media accounts have been difficult to enforce, Shamir Borer said, citing thousands of cases of soldiers uploading photos and videos of themselves in Gaza, despite IDF rules against that sort of documentation.
Still, when it comes to official headshots, he said, the state does not want to be in the position of providing easily accessible information to those looking to target Israeli soldiers.
“Now there is a better realization of the risks,” he said. “So they’re just trying to be careful.”
The reaction
On social media, many have read the images as amounting to an admission of guilt, or as a visual expression of shame. That message was echoed by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Instead of advising its soldiers not to commit crimes, what (Israel) is saying is ‘cover your faces or blur your face before posting videos or try to get lawyers,’” Albanese told Anadolu, the Turkish state-run news agency.
Another reading casts the photos differently: as a stance of defiance, with Israel symbolically turning its back on its foes.
Shamir Borer said the photos represent a compromise, balancing security and legal risks with the desire to praise soldiers for their service.
“When you show people from the back, you can still see whether these are men or women, whether they’re religious or not, the units that they belong to,” he said. “It does give you some feeling of the diversity of the people that are being commemorated.”
The need to conceal their identities, he said, is a sign of the times.
“It’s another very sad indication of the challenges that Israel is facing at the international level nowadays,” he said.
The post Why IDF soldiers’ official headshots only show their backs appeared first on The Forward.
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Downed Planes Raise New Perils for Trump as Tehran Hunts for Missing US Pilot
Traces of an Iranian missile attack in Tehran’s sky, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 3, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Two US warplanes were downed over Iran and the Gulf, Iranian and US officials said on Friday, with two pilots rescued and a third still missing and being hunted by Tehran’s forces.
The incidents show the risks still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran despite assertions from US President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.
The first plane, a two-seat US F-15E jet, was shot down by Iranian fire, officials in both countries said.
The second plane, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft, was hit by Iranian fire and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, two US officials said.
Two Blackhawk helicopters involved in the search effort for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.
The degree of injuries among the crew of the aircraft remained unclear. The status and whereabouts of the missing F-15E crew member was not publicly known.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the pilot’s plane came down in southwestern Iran and the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed “forces of the hostile enemy.”
Iranians, who have been pummeled by American air power for weeks, posted gleeful messages celebrating the plane downings. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X that the U.S. and Israel’s war had been “downgraded from regime change” to a hunt for their pilots.
Trump has been in the White House receiving updates on the search-and-rescue operation, a senior administration official told Reuters. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NO SIGN OF END TO WAR
The prospect of a US service person being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support and no sign of an imminent end.
Iran has officially told mediators it is not prepared to meet with US officials in Islamabad in coming days and that efforts to produce a ceasefire, led by Pakistan, have reached a dead end, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The US and Israel opened the campaign with a wave of strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28. The war has killed thousands and threatened lasting damage to the global economy.
So far, 13 US military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the US Central Command.
Iran has rained down drones and missiles on Israel. It has also taken aim at Gulf countries allied to the US, which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.
In a security alert on Friday, the US embassy in Beirut said Iran and its aligned armed groups may target universities in Lebanon and urged US citizens in the country to leave while commercial flights are still available.
Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.
TRUMP THREAT TO STRIKE BRIDGES, POWER PLANTS
On Friday, as Trump threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait, underlining the vulnerability of Gulf states that rely heavily on desalination plants for drinking water.
On Thursday, Trump posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as US strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more attacks would follow.
“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” he wrote in a subsequent post.
On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of Iran’s southern Bushehr province.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. Other attacks were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.
Oil markets were closed after benchmark U.S. crude prices gained 11% on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.
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US-Iran: Diplomatic Push Falters as Qatar Steps Back and Pakistan Talks Stall
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
i24 News – Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran appear to have reached an impasse, as key regional mediators pull back and broader talks stall.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Qatar has informed US officials that it does not wish to take a central role in mediating between the two sides. Officials familiar with the matter said Doha has made clear it is “not willing” to lead negotiations or act as the primary broker.
At the same time, Pakistan-led efforts to bring Iranian and American officials together have also stalled. Mediators say Tehran has refused to attend proposed meetings in Islamabad, calling Washington’s conditions “unacceptable,” further underscoring the widening gap between the two sides and the growing difficulty of restarting dialogue.
Despite the deadlock, diplomatic channels have not fully closed. Turkey and Egypt are continuing parallel efforts to revive talks, with discussions underway about potential alternative venues, including Doha and Istanbul.
US President Donald Trump downplayed the impact of recent military developments on diplomacy, including the destruction of a US fighter jet during operations in Iran. Speaking in a brief exchange with an NBC News journalist, he said: “No, not at all. It’s war. We are at war.”
He further fueled speculation with a cryptic social media post on Truth Social, writing: “Keep the oil, anyone?” criticising international allies on Friday over rising fuel prices. Trump appeared to mock allies such as the United Kingdom, writing that they should “keep the oil.”
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Report: Iran Retains Significant Missile Capability Despite Weeks of US-Led Strikes
Iranian missiles are displayed in a park in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 31, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Despite weeks of sustained airstrikes by the United States and its allies, Iran has reportedly managed to retain a substantial portion of its military capabilities, particularly its ballistic missile arsenal.
According to a report by The New York Times citing US intelligence assessments, Tehran has developed methods to mitigate the impact of the strikes, allowing it to preserve and restore key parts of its missile infrastructure.
While the Pentagon has claimed responsibility for striking more than 11,000 targets over five weeks and reducing the rate of Iranian missile fire, intelligence officials now caution that the actual damage may be more limited than initially assessed. Iranian forces are reportedly able to rapidly repair or reactivate missile launchers stored in heavily fortified or underground facilities, sometimes within hours of being hit.
Analysts also point to the widespread use of decoy sites, which may have drawn strikes away from operational assets. Many of the targeted locations are believed to have contained dummy installations, complicating efforts to accurately gauge the degradation of Iran’s ballistic capabilities. Combined with deep underground bunkers and dispersed storage networks, this approach is seen as enabling Tehran to maintain a higher level of readiness than publicly estimated.
US intelligence officials assess that this resilience reflects a deliberate strategy: preserving a credible long-range strike capability as both a deterrent and a bargaining tool in any future negotiations, while ensuring regime survival and continued regional influence.
Despite sustained air dominance claimed by Washington and its allies, Iran’s adaptive tactics continue to complicate battlefield assessments, leaving the true balance of power in the conflict uncertain.