when i was in the army in israel, a very good friend and member of my platoon was killed on a patrol in the beeka valley in lebanon. myself and 2 other guys (one raised in america nd the other in england) decided to get identical tatoos to commerorate our friend. after the event we were pulle din by the brigade commander and given a dressing down. we were told that it was against jewish law and against jewish sensitivities (my mother had a tatoo from aushwitz so who the fuck was he to tell me what was sensitive or not?) and most importantly it was against army law (we were army property after all). he said that he had neve rseen an israeli with a tattoo. the matter was taken no further. it is still my one and only tattoo. i love it. but if you go to israel now, well tel aviv, you will struggle to find anyone under the age of 30 without one. how time have changed.