Former Israeli soldiers speak out

[emceeemcee]

'Our lives became something we'd never dreamt': The former Israeli soldiers who have testified against army abuses

• Former Israeli soldiers who have testified against army abuses have for the first time given up their anonymity, to make their voices all the harder to ignore. Donald Macintyre gets an exclusive preview of a powerful new book

For anyone who has covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over the past few years, reading Occupation of the Territories, the new book from the Israeli ex-soldiers organisation Breaking the Silence, can be an eerily evocative experience.

A conscript from the Givati Brigade, for example, describes how troops in the company operating next to his inside Gaza during 2008 had talked about an event earlier in the day. After knocking on the door of a Palestinian house and receiving no immediate answer, they had placed a "fox" – military slang for explosives used to break through doors and walls – outside the front door. At that very moment, the woman of the house had reached the door to open it. "Her limbs were smeared on the wall and it wasn't on purpose," the soldier recalls. "And then her kids came and saw her. I heard it during dinner after the operation, someone said it was funny, and they cracked up from the situation that the kids saw their mother smeared on the wall..."

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The first of these terms is "Prevention" [sikkul in Hebrew] which, it argues, has become a "code word" that allows almost every form of military action, offensive as well as defensive, to be classified as "prevention of terrorist activity". It says the principle, first enunciated by the former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon of "searing it into the consciousness" of Palestinians that violence does not pay, translates into "intimidation... and indiscriminate punishment of the Palestinian population". The examples given include: sending a military truck into the village of Tubas at 3am in 2003 "with stun grenades and just throwing them in the street, for no reason, waking people up [to say] 'We are here. The IDF is here.'"; shooting ' a visibly unarmed man walking on a roof in Nablus in 2002 ("The company commander declared him a lookout, meaning that he understood there was no threat from the guy, and he gave the order to kill him"); and halting stone-throwing in Tekoa by using a "moving human shield" – a Palestinian man tied to the front of a vehicle – before driving round the village.

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Next is "Fabric of life" [mirkam hayyim], the term used by the IDF to underline that it does its best to ensure as normal a life as possible for Palestinians – a proposition strongly contested in the book. It claims that Israel controls the passage of civilians and goods into Israel and within the West Bank, the opening of private businesses, transport of school-children, university students and medical cases. "[Property] can all be taken at the discretion of a regional commander or a soldier in the field... troops will burst into the house in the dead of night and arrest one of the inhabitants, only to release him later – all in order to practise arrest procedures."

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Another example concerns illegal workers and their families trying to get into the Wadi Ara of northern Israel from the West Bank. One former soldier recalls "Pouring out the kids' bags and playing with their toys... They cried and were afraid." The adults cried, too? "Of course. One of the goals was always: I got him to cry in front of his kids, I got him to crap in his pants... from being beaten for the most part."

full article here

 

[timon]

Great article

 

[robbied196]

So this is what you get for trying to claim back your own land with a home made rocket.

 

[rizwano]

it's a very controversial issue. it's about religion, politics and economics. hopefully, the conflict will end peacefully one day

 

[timon]

it's a very controversial issue. it's about religion, politics and economics. hopefully, the conflict will end peacefully one day

Hope so mate

 

[vodkazvictim]

 

[Namreg]

OMG THEY IZ TRAITORZ LIKE JULIAN ASSANGE LET'S LOCK THEM UP AND CARRY ON WITH DOING WHAT WE ARE ORDERED WITHOUT QUESTION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE ROLL IN DA DEMOCKRACY.

the 'ck' is not a spelling error.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

lol israel, moar like isfake amirite?

 

[GodsEmbryo]

Once there was this period in the 20th century were stories like this involved Jews as the victims. Off all people they should know the lessons we should have learned from the past... but did they?

 

[BioDefenseGrad]

OMG THEY IZ TRAITORZ LIKE JULIAN ASSANGE LET'S LOCK THEM UP AND CARRY ON WITH DOING WHAT WE ARE ORDERED WITHOUT QUESTION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE ROLL IN DA DEMOCKRACY.

the 'ck' is not a spelling error.

Julian Assange isn't a traitor. He just hates America. But then again, people like you who support him think that's a good thing.

 

[robbied196]

Julian Assange isn't a traitor. He just hates America. But then again, people like you who support him think that's a good thing.

And from what source do you conclude that Julian Assange hates America?

 

[Hochimama]

thanks for sharing

 

[emceeemcee]

And from what source do you conclude that Julian Assange hates America?

Fox news, most likely. They've gone full-soviet IMO

 

[arianajoladdict]

it's a very controversial issue. it's about religion, politics and economics. hopefully, the conflict will end peacefully one day

with subjects like that i dont think it ever will

 

[BioDefenseGrad]

Fox news, most likely. They've gone full-soviet IMO

I don't watch FOX news, you guys are obsessed with FOX.

 

[meesterperfect]

a lot of arabs hate the usa because of our meddling in their region.
the granddaddy of this meddling in the creation of israel.

the argument of do the jews have the right to live there is irrelevant and can never be resolved but in the minds of most arabs they dont belong there and are not wanted.
thats reality.

how did the usa meddle?
well if they didnt enter wwi the germans would have won and england never would have gave the jews palestine
had the usa not entered wwii in europe, the germans would have won and palestine would not have been divided.

I wonder how much influence this had in the decisions of the usa entering both wars.
it may have been the main reason or the deciding factor, we'll never know.

so thats the root of the problems with arabs today.
should we condone or be involved with whats happening over there between arabs and jews? not at all, we should just back away, stay out of it, if we would do that we'd have a lot less problems now and a better future tomorrow.

 

[GodsEmbryo]

a lot of arabs hate the usa because of our meddling in their region.
the granddaddy of this meddling in the creation of israel.

the argument of do the jews have the right to live there is irrelevant and can never be resolved but in the minds of most arabs they dont belong there and are not wanted.
thats reality.

how did the usa meddle?
well if they didnt enter wwi the germans would have won and england never would have gave the jews palestine
had the usa not entered wwii in europe, the germans would have won and palestine would not have been divided.

I wonder how much influence this had in the decisions of the usa entering both wars.
it may have been the main reason or the deciding factor, we'll never know.

so thats the root of the problems with arabs today.
should we condone or be involved with whats happening over there between arabs and jews? not at all, we should just back away, stay out of it, if we would do that we'd have a lot less problems now and a better future tomorrow.

Read a book for a change dude. What a load of bollocks.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

had the usa not entered wwii in europe, the germans would have won and palestine would not have been divided.

Ha!

 

[vodkazvictim]

well if they didnt enter wwi the germans would have won and england never would have gave the jews palestine

You're so wrong it even hurts your sister.
Had the americans not entered WW2 the Russians would've crushed Germany.
Knowing the Russians it's safe to assume that they would then have promptly exterminated the Jews.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Knowing the Russians it's safe to assume that they would then have promptly exterminated the Jews.

Say what you want, but whether it was killing Germans or his own people, Stalin got shit done.