Maxim Martel was an officer in the Russian army during World War II, but the specific details of his own experiences faded away as he examined photos of the Israel-Lebanon War by photographer Yoav Galai that were on display at Hillel at UCLA on Wednesday evening.
He was simply a soldier sympathizing with fellow soldiers.
“I look at these photos and I see myself,” Martel said, adding that the photos of a wounded solider brought back memories of his own terrible wartime injuries.
Hillel, Bruins for Israel and the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts cohosted the exhibit, which featured a presentation of Galai’s photos from the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War.
Galai, a 26-year-old freelance photojournalist from Jerusalem was the only embedded photographer during the 2006 war. He said he did not include captions for the photos in the exhibit because he wanted viewers to relate to them the same way that Martel did, focusing on the universal experience of war instead of political issues such as which side of the conflict his subjects were on.
“The next time people see war, whether it’s Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan, I want them to know this is what war looks like, everyone in green, the blood is red,” he said.
It was easy to get along with the soldiers, Galai said, and he quickly became friends with the men he was photographing.
Then, on August 12, 2006, the Israeli Engineering Corps unit he was embedded with came under friendly fire.
In those two chaotic minutes, the traumatic situation made it difficult for Galai to document the injuries of the soldiers he had become so close to, he said.
Photographing the soldiers in such vulnerable moments ““ such as when one badly wounded soldier was slipping in and out of consciousness ““ felt like an intrusion, Galai said, but he felt it was his obligation to record the events honestly.
Ultimately, Galai said he and the soldiers were glad he took the photos because it allowed the soldiers’ families to begin to understand what their loved ones had been through and how the experience had affected them.
“Even the most difficult pictures they were glad to have,” he said.
Soheil Zarrabi, a fourth-year political science student, said the images helped personalize the war.
Knowing that the men in the images were his age brought the conflict into perspective, Zarrabi said.
“I’m at UCLA studying. … You’re complaining about studying and these people are getting shot at,” he said.
Zarrabi said he appreciated Galai’s efforts to keep politics out of his work.
“The human side of you comes out,” he said, “not the political side.”
But, while some students said viewing the photos helped give them a better understanding of the soldiers’ experiences, some felt it made understanding the issue more difficult.
Meital Hadad, a former UCLA student, said though she supports Israel’s decision to engage in the conflict, the images reminded her of its human costs, complicating her decision to support it.
This was the type of reaction Galai said he had hoped to inspire.
“Any conflict situation, you should know it’s serious,” Galai said. “The fact they didn’t die is luck, that’s all.”