Posts Tagged IDF
Coexistence that the Western Media is not Willing to Cover
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, West Bank on July 27th, 2009
Saturday was a burning hot day in the West Bank. Combatants for Peace, a group made up of Israeli ex-combat soldiers and Palestinian ex-fighters, planned a protest at an illegal outpost adjacent to Shufa, a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank that is very close to the Green Line. The illegal outpost was built by settlers from the settlement of Avney Hefetz over the last three weeks. They simply took over a hilltop on Palestinian land and constructed makeshift tents that are guarded by the IDF. While the tents are not settlements, the pattern is clear. Build a tent, then build a house, then another one and you have a settlement protected by the IDF that then becomes a “consensus area” too populated to ever evacuate.
petition to review Gaza war crimes
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, Jerusalem on July 22nd, 2009
On the front page of today’s Haaretz, a petition to review Gaza war crimes as a result of the Breaking the Silence testimonies. Leading professors, actors, writers and intellectuals signed the petition including Amos Oz and David Grossman. If you have not read the Breaking the Silence please do so here.
If you are able to read Hebrew please visit this important website concerning the Gaza war set up by Rabbis for Human Rights.
Full Breaking the Silence Report in PDF
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel on July 16th, 2009
For those who have not read the whole report from Breaking the Silence. See what all the news is about.
Updates on the Breaking the Silence Report
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, Jerusalem on July 15th, 2009
As the United States starts to wake up for the day more news is coming out about the Breaking the Silence Testimony Report from Operation Cast Lead. Mikhael Manekin of Breaking the Silence has a brilliant piece in the Huffington Post about how the testimonies conflict with the official government line of what took place during the war. He writes:
“Most important, the spokesperson claimed that all soldiers received precise rules of engagement when they entered the operation, with an emphasis on avoiding injury to civilians. Many soldiers testified that in their units there was total disregard for civilian safety and a permissiveness they had never encountered in previous operations. “If you are not sure – shoot. If there is doubt then there is no doubt,” one combatant said he was told.”
Jerry Haber at the Magnes Zionist is also covering the story by giving commentary and reprinting full testimonies of soldiers. Please take a look at his site for these important updates.
Lastly, the Israeli government has responded in an upsetting but not surprising way. From the official statement:
“The IDF Spokesperson Unit regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without investigating their details or credibility. Furthermore, this organization denied the IDF the minimal decency of presenting the report to the IDF and allowing it to investigate the testimonies prior to the report’s publication. This was done while defaming and slandering the IDF and its commanders.”
Breaking the Silence Testimony from Operation Cast Lead on YouTube
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, Jerusalem on July 15th, 2009
This is the first in a series of over thirty YouTube videos that Breaking the Silence will be releasing over the next days. The videos are testimonies by soldiers who served in Operation Cast Lead last January. Please visit this post for more information about the report.
‘We’re a democracy, we can’t do things the way we would like to do them.” Breaking the Silence Releases Testimonies from Operation Cast Lead
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, Jerusalem on July 15th, 2009
Today, Breaking the Silence has released its testimony from soldiers who fought in the recent Gaza offensive, Operation Cast Lead. Breaking the Silence is one of the most valuable and important NGO’s operating in Israel today. They ‘aim ultimately to stimulate public debate about the moral price that Israeli society as a whole has been paying for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on an everyday basis and control its life.’
Over the past six months they have been collecting testimonies from soldiers that served in Operation Cast Lead about the reality of the war from their eyes and experience. I have read the document and was shocked at the stories on so many levels. The fact that white phosphorus was used as a weapon, the absolute destruction of Gaza, the “shoot first ask questions later” mentality, the atmosphere of sick untouchability of the commanders telling their troops to act brutally and finally the absolute lies that the State of Israel put out about its conduct in the Gaza war. The international media is beginning to cover the story and most of the news coverage today regards IDF using human shields during the Gaza campaign. What words can I put down as commentary for this? How do you discount the testimony of a soldier who was ordered to use human shields or destroy entire neighborhoods?
A passage that struck me is on page 54 and I have reprinted it below.
Testimony 24- Regarding Briefings & House Demolitions
I was a D-9 operator, and was called up for reserve duty on Saturday, January 3rd, I think, got there on January 4th.
Which is just when the ground –offensive began, right?
Yes
So you arrive and get briefed, what were the briefings you had?
Yes. Target practice, a drill here, a drill there. The infantry really trained hard, but we had nothing to train with, there was no equipment. In short, what shocked me was a talk we had with the commander of ***, he’s a colonel, and he gave our whole battalion a talk. First of all he started out with something like, “Unfortunately we’re a democracy, so we can’t demolish Gaza to the extent that we’d really like.” Perhaps he didn’t actually say ‘unfortunately’ but he repeated, twice, that ‘the fact we’re a democracy works against us, for the army cannot act as aggressively as it would like.” Then he said once again that we’re going into this operation aggressively, without… Usually in such talks the army, the commanders mention the lives of civilians and showing consideration to civilians. Here he didn’t even mention this. Just the brutality, go in there brutally.
Those are the words he used?
Yes. He said, “In case of any doubt, take down houses. You don’t need confirmation for anything, if you want.” Perhaps it’s legitimate, but if you suspect the presence of an explosive charge, you should get confirmation for a tank to fire. In short, a tank would fire a shell on the basis of a suspected charge. This is perhaps legitimate, but he also said, “Fortunately the hospitals are full to capacity already, so people are dying more quickly.” Then someone answered him, one of the soldiers replied cynically: “So kill the doctors” The commander replied dismissingly, not understanding his cynical intent, twice: “We’re a democracy, we can’t do things the way we would like to do them.” He didn’t leave anytime for questions, either.
Jerry Haber at the Magnes Zionist just finished reading the document and has these conclusions:
1. Operation Cast Lead was a “war” in which only one side fought and fought with little restraint.
2. White phosphorus was used against international conventions.
3. The devastation was enormous, on an unprecedented scale in the Israeli warfare.
4. Vandalism was
5. Gazans Were Used as Human Shields
In Israel, Haaretz broke the story and currently is featuring the story on its English website. It is curious that the Hebrew version of Haaretz has the story placed “under the fold”. The Jerusalem Post is not even covering the story yet and Ynet has a small headline in its news section. The BBC, by contrast, is carrying the story as its main headline.
Picnic at an Illegal Outpost
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, West Bank on July 12th, 2009
Yesterday, members of Ta’ayush set out to have a picnic at an illegal outpost built on Palestinian land next to the settlement of Susya in the southern West Bank. Susya is divided into three places; Palestinian Susya, Jewish settlement Susya and archeological site Susya. Often, the first construction of an illegal outpost is a synagogue which the IDF is less willing to destroy. About one year ago settlers from Susya built a synagogue on the privately owned land of a local Palestinian. The area is known as Flag Hill (Givat HaDegal). Within weeks, the settlers had laid a foundation for one house and sure enough today a house now stands on Flag Hill. The IDF actively protects the house despite there being no full time inhabitants.
We encountered problems before we even arrived at the outpost. A minibus of Ta’ayush activists was stopped at the main checkpoint separating Jerusalem and the southern West Bank. Soldiers asked for our ID cards and without a stated reason held us at the checkpoint for over an hour. Presumably, they were requesting an order from a high commander that would bar us entry to the West Bank, efficiently denying us freedom of movement because we were engaged in left wing actions. This order never came. The commander at the checkpoint wrote down our names and ID numbers while informing us that we were not allowed to enter the south West Bank and if we were found to be in a “military area” we would be detained for 48 hours. This, of course, was a lie as he had no authority to issue such a statement and it was not put in writing. He was trying to frighten us which he failed to achieve. We entered through another checkpoint and eventually made our way to the picnic.
Ta’ayush has been monitoring the expansion of Flag Hill and yesterday decided to have a peaceful picnic in protest of the Army’s active participation in maintaining this outpost. We were a group of Jewish Israelis invited by the Palestinian land owner to have a picnic on his land. We thought, by all accounts, we had every right to be there. As we walked up the hill to the outpost, five or six IDF soldiers came to greet us. Without an order from a commander, they could do nothing so we continued and set up our picnic complete with hummus, watermelon and homemade pita from the land owner. A commander arrived within minutes and pronounced the area a closed military zone ordering us to leave within five minutes or face arrest. We continued to enjoy the picnic as the Army began arresting people, going after Ezra Nawi first.
The IDF arrested three people and removed the rest of us, over 20 people, from the hilltop. We returned to the land owner’s home and waited for word from those arrested. They were driven to a checkpoint about 15 minutes away from Susya and simply dropped off. One of those arrested told me that he was saying to the soldiers, “you are showing me that you broke the law and not me. If I did something wrong arrest me! Take me to a judge. But you are unwilling because I did nothing wrong and you did”
Another Day in the West Bank: Upsetting Video from Safa
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, West Bank on June 14th, 2009
Safa is a village next to the extremist settlement of Bat Ayin. Ta’ayush and other peace organatizaions have recently been spending time with the framers of Safa, helping them work their lands. The settlers of the settlement have increased their violent presence and two weeks ago settlers attacked members of Ta’ayush and flipped the car of Ezra. Yesterday, members of Anarchists Against the Wall and the Palestine Solidarity Project were on the ground again protecting farmers. What followed was yet another instance of excessive force and violence of the IDF on behalf of the settlers.
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Outposts and Hasbara
Posted by Joseph Dana in Israel, Jerusalem, West Bank on July 22nd, 2009
Amidst the media circus surrounding Jewish hotels and apartments in East Jerusalem, the Israeli government has been making waves on the illegal outpost front. The Border Police has reportedly been doing drills to prepare for the evacuation of 23 illegal outposts built since 2001. The subtext of these news items provides us with a unique window into Israeli propaganda. Haaretz is reporting that the Israel police have set up a special unit to handle the large-scale evacuation of outposts in the coming days. The settlers have responded by asking the population to pass on any information about possible evacuations so that they can ‘defend’ them. Some settler groups have come out in favor of violent resistance, citing the Orthodox protests in the streets of Jerusalem as proof of success.
Reading about the expected violence from settlers brings up thoughts about the 2005 Gaza disengagement, when most of the country was bracing itself for what was feared to become a civil war. Of course, there was no violence. Not a single soldier was hurt in a substantial way. So why all the hoopla then and now?
West Bank outpost of Maoz Esther being rebuilt hours after it was demolished by the IDF
Israel wants to appear as if it is making ‘painful concessions” that inflict a major cost on Israeli society. While it is quite dramatic for the settlers to leave an outpost, the real cost to Israeli society is the amount of energy, funding and moral and political peril we pay as a result of the settlement project.
What is not being reported nearly enough in Israeli news is that the community that faces the most hardship as a result of outpost evacuation is the Palestinians, who must deal with the ‘price tag’ reprisals of the settlers. The settlers often rampage through the West Bank after an outpost has been dismantled, burning Palestinian fields and throwing stones at their cars. The IDF generally allows them to ‘blow off steam” and does not intervene. Yet, the Israeli hasbara machine wants us to believe that the threat of violence from the settlers to our troops is out of control, when in reality, it is lawful conduct that is out of control.
hasbara, IDF, outpost, police
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