New York, July 14 (ANI): A photo of a bikini-clad woman holding a gun, and standing on a crowded Tel Aviv beach has gone viral on the Internet.
Thousands of viewers curious about whether the lady is a part of Israel's military and why she wasn't in uniform with her weapon in tow.
The young woman, dressed only in a black-and-white string bikini, was captured chatting with a friend, rifle (with its magazine removed) slung casually behind her back, the New York Daily News reported.
Though there's no uniform to identify her, the woman appeared to be a part of the Israel Defense Forces.
Two years of IDF service is compulsory for most Israeli women at age 18. Men serve for three years.
The photo has been viewed 650,000 times in one day and was posted on sites including Facebook, Reddit and Gizmodo under titles like "Only in Israel," and "Badass Chicks in Israel Don't Go To the Beach Without Their Assault Rifles."
The photo has garnered a series of lascivious comments from male admirers but almost had many questions about the IDF's weapons policy for off-duty soldiers.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper, which picked up on the viral photo, wrote : "To an Israeli, the photo makes perfectly practical sense. When soldiers take their weapon off military premises, they must guard it closely and keep it on their person, at all times. Having one's weapon stolen is harshly punished with time in military prison a given."
Haaretz concluded by saying that Israelis are "used to seeing guns in all kinds of places - propped up next to the guy sitting next to us in a coffeeshop, or in a university classroom, and of course, slung over the shoulders of women soldiers." (ANI)
