We were all outraged during Israel’s latest incursion into Gaza at the extreme number of civilian casualties. The IDF claimed that it observed high standards during the operations, yet, more than two thirds of those killed were civilians. A recent report states that a total of 1,434 persons were killed during the 22-day offensive, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters.
However, [a]n Israeli military spokesman said the army had “made every effort to minimise harm to the civilian population” during the fighting.
But Haaretz is making an expose this week that shows a very different reality.
Follow below::
There is no need to add much comment, the testimony brought forward by these soldiers is compelling enough:
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.
The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.
The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces’ claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation.
[…]
“The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn’t understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he … he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders.”
According to the squad leader: “The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.
“I don’t think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to … I don’t know how to describe it …. The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way,” he said.
Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.
[…]
The above quote was from yesterday’s issue. There is plenty more today in the following articles – and more to follow tomorrow:
ANALYSIS / Can Israel dismiss its own troops’ stories from Gaza?
IDF orders probe into allegations over Gaza war
In the wake of an Haaretz expose, the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday ordered an investigation into soldiers’ accounts of alleged misconduct and serious violations of the army’s rules of engagement.
Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit instructed the Military Police Investigation unit to launch the probe after soldiers were quoted as telling a military cadet academy that combat troops in Gaza fired at unarmed Palestinian civilians and vandalized property during Operation Cast Lead.
OK – all will be fine now. An internal investigation…
If Israel wants to be perceived as a nation of laws, it might be better to have an independent body do the investigations, as called for 2 months ago by Richard Falk:
GENEVA — There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its 22-day campaign in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry, U.N. investigator Richard Falk said on Thursday.
The mental anguish of the civilians who suffered the assault is so great that the entire population of Gaza could be seen as casualties, said Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Falk, speaking by phone from his home in California, said compelling evidence that Israel’s actions in Gaza violated international humanitarian law required an independent investigation into whether they amounted to war crimes.
But an independent inquiry is highly unlikely. My prediction; no one will be held accountable, with the possible exception of a low-rank soldier, or two.