[...] 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. …
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. …
[...] The squad leader said: “You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won’t say anything. To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It’s what I’ll remember the most.”
The accounts reported in Haaretz are infuriating to anyone writing about the region, especially if you understand the work diplomats, peacekeepers, Israeli and Palestinian alike, but also Arab states, are doing to change things in the Middle East. That they make lies out of Israel Defense Forces’ claims is an understatement.
The IDF testimonies will give some fodder, while depressing others, also potentially hardening hard liners on both sides of the fence. I think it’s a tremendous moment of potential healing, however. But I also know the costs of these types of confessions once they hit the public consciousness. Just ask John Kerry who talked about the legacy of some of what happened during Vietnam.
Most Americans with a lick of sense are simply ashamed of what was done to the American Natives as our country was being formed.
I will never understand why they can’t see what Israel did (and is still doing) to the Palestinians is an *exact* parallel.
That is really horrendous and very sad.
Being a native of Arizona pmichael I must tell you that it DOES shame me that we treated the American Natives so horribly. But we still are and it’s shameful.
These, along with pictures, are the stories I heard in Egypt. Some of the stuff made me literally gag. It just seemed so senseless, my God women and children.
Betsy, while we (except idiots like the KKK) no longer venture there – that persecution has its roots in the fictional word, “soul”. For many years it was used to treat Blacks like animals – and of course, American Natives were also ‘savages’ so they also didn’t have a ‘soul’.
Today it’s used to separate other mammals such as the whales. They don’t have ‘souls’ – so it’s just fine to slaughter them.
“Soul” – the word invented by the King James translation. The word didn’t exist in the original Hebrew (the org word meant ‘breath’ – which was the way ‘life’ was defined those days).
“it DOES shame me that we treated the American Natives so horribly.”
“Treated”? Anyone who has ever been on just about any Rezzzz can tell you that third world level poverty is more the norm then big casinos and big dollars.
Any time a captive/occupied population is oppressed long enough they lose their humanity in the eyes of the oppresser. Ask any of the troops back from Iraq. Ask anyone who did a tour in Nam and ask any IDF soldier.
we talk about human rights but unfortunately we don’t see everyone as worthy of those rights and we have a way of demonizing those we think are different from us so we don’t extend human rights to them.
My husband and I spent two weeks up in S. Dakota a few years ago at the Pine Plains Reservation, home of the Oglala Sioux. One of the poorest areas in the country. If you want a worthy cause support their schools.
Maybe that’s why I’m an animal rights person. I subscribe to the Sea Shepherd’s newsletter and it’s amazing how they go out and actually try and stop the japanese whaling ships. I admire what they do. Whales, dolphins, and porpoises DO have souls and a brain and it’s horrible how human beings can torture and kill them. Boy, don’t get me started on that one.
JA, when my husband taught Chemistry at the AF Academy, he and one other professor would go once a year to the 4 corners reservation and would go to the schools and perform the Chemistry magic show for the kids. He said that the boys would sit there very stoic, but that the girls giggled and were so cute. They did this in hopes that they could recruit Indians into the Academy. There were a couple but just couldn’t hack it, not because they weren’t smart enough but because they had never left the reservation, and couldn’t handle the different life style.
Those that usually wander off the reservation end up homeless, and usually alcohol is involved. It’s just a very sad commentary about our people.
Betsy says:
19 March 2009 at 3:51 pm
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Betsy – did I ever tell you that my hubby is a chem Prof also? He teaches that plus calculus based physics and other chem courses.
Obama is about to speak in LA.
To everyone I managed to offend while simply trying to pat Kris on the back – I apologize. I’m not trying to make a list of anyones’ possibly errant remarks. GeoT is the first to apologize when he believes he should. I applaud that. Try to read these posts as if they are written in the voice of a nice and well meaning person. They will usually “sound” a lot different than if one assumes it’s a mean old hateful voice.
djjl says:
19 March 2009 at 5:24 pm
To everyone I managed to offend while simply trying to pat Kris on the back – I apologize. I’m not trying to make a list of anyones’ possibly errant remarks. GeoT.
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then don’t single people out, notice I am the only one named as “calling you PUMA all the time” It’s not true. That’s not who I am. What you intend and what you impart, in this case, are two different thing. Once again, I’m encouraged to the sidelines, it’s not worth it for me to defend myself against phantonm claims.
Please GeoT do not go to the sidelines. I enjoy talking with you.
Tayler this is not as surprising as some would think. If you read BBC news or (horror of horrors) peruse Al Jazeera you would have found out that the Israelis used White Phosphorus in Gaza. Specifically there are very incriminating photos of the Israelis using WP on the UN compound.
The use of WP on dense civilian concentration, Gaza City categorically and the entire strip for that matter, can be considered a war crime. This is because of the nature of WP.
WP is an incendiary. Once set off it undergoes a self-sustaining chemical reaction that only ends when all the substance is exhausted. Very simply WP once started is a fire that can not be put out. WP will burn human flesh right down to the bone. If accidentally inhaled it will burn out the victims lung causing a very nasty and very painful death.
The Israeli military has admitted to using using WP on the UN compound but claimed that it was a used by a reserve unit that was not following doctrine. Even if one takes the government of Israel at its word one has to conclude that the Israeli Military’s command and control functions were at best criminally sloppy. Operation Cast Lead had been in planning for months before it was unleashed. Somehow the generals where unable to make sure that all the units were on the same page as far as tactics? Somehow a rouge reserve unit was able to indiscriminately use WP on a protected site sheltering protected civilians? Is the army of Israel really so spectacularly incompetent? Maybe, but not very likely.
The use of WP on the UN compound is exhibit A in the case that Cast Lead was a attempt by Israel to brutalize the civilian population of Gaza. At the very least it is prima facia evidence that Israel had next to no concern for the lives of the people of Gaza. Only a reckless and callous government would let its military repeatedly use WP in a densely populated urban environment.
Israel was that reckless and callous government It let its military shell Gaza with WP on repeated occasions. It even had the gall to first deny the use of WP even after the BBC and other News outlets published the incriminating photos. The evidence was so incontrovertible the state of Israel was forced to back-pedal from its previous denial. That is when the spin doctors offered the “explanation” of the poorly trained reserve unit. The thinness of that particular bit of whitewash is observable to any person willing to scratch beneath the surface.
The use of WP on the UN compound was all by itself quite possibly a major War Crime committed by the the state of Israel. Taken in total with the rest of Operation Cast Lead the least that can be said is that the state of Israel covered itself with shame. In fighting terrorist organizations it has become a terrorist organization writ large.
Thank you Taylor for bringing these atrocities to our attention.
I believe it is a responsibility to keep bringing to light what happened recently in Gaza….the white phosphorus, the aggressive and racist actions of the soldiers, the inability of the occupying forces to provide basic medical and humanitarian needs to the Palestinian people, etc…..and to try to do what we can to give voice.
I am a first time poster so forgive me for even remotely appearing rude, but really I find it interesting that so many commentators are unable to deal directly with what the article speaks of but rather many diverted attention to other atrocities being committed or had been committed.
Your post inviting more newbies to comment here is really welcome.
Only if we have courage to face the dark can light begin to shine. It seems we are hardly near the light if we deny or refuse to face these ugly crimes against humanity.
As American taxpayers, surely you do know how much aid goes to Israel, much of it to their defence budget, so we are in some way involved in these actions.