Ex-soldiers reveal the pressure they are put under by their superiors - and question the IDFs commitment to leaving the unarmed unharmed "Memories of his service along the Gaza border two years ago have been streaming through the mind of Shai Davidovich this week as he hears news from the crowded coastal enclave of heavy Palestinian civilian casualties from the devastating Israeli military campaign there. Mr Davidovich, 27, the educational director for an ex-soldiers group Breaking the Silence, served in field intelligence during Operation Pillar of Cloud, a previous Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza in 2012. He says he was repeatedly ordered to help prepare for the firing of artillery during the hostilities but that he thought it was crazy to use artillery in a crowded area, in this case the town of Beit Hanoun. The news is bringing me back to when we were there and we got orders every day that at 5pm we will shoot artillery. We prepared all day for this, but in the end it didnt happen. It was surrealistic to see kids playing in Beit Hanoun. With the binoculars we saw a lot of civilians, but I dont remember that anyone ever spoke about the civilian population. I thought to myself, how can you fire without harming civilians? Artillery is an imprecise weapon. Artillery fire to an area inhabited by civilians cannot be moral, we trained on open areas. Mr Davidovichs memories fuse with the images of large-scale carnage in the current conflict, which he unequivocally opposes, unlike the near consensus of Israelis who view this as a just war of self-defence against rocket fire and tunnel infiltrations, and blame Hamas for all the civilian casualties. Any campaign in which the civilian population is harmed on a large scale cannot be moral, he says. Israel has a right to defend itself, but not like this. Mr Davidovichs colleagues in Breaking the Silence, which collects soldiers secret testimonies to try to enlighten the Israeli public as to the true nature of the armys activities in the West Bank and Gaza. This week, alarmed at the civilian deaths in Gaza, it took testimonies from soldiers who served in previous Israeli operations in the region, including Mr Davidovich. They made the testimonies available to The Independent to make a statement against the current fighting. Operation Rainbow in 2004 is the earliest of the campaigns covered while Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09 and Operation Pillar of Defence in 2012 also feature. They do not include anything from the current conflict. If you look at all the recent operations continuing into the current operation you see a moral descent that doesnt stop and a military aggressiveness that only increases, says Yehuda Shaul, the founder of Breaking the Silence. The level of destruction, the death toll of civilians and the practices teach us that it gets worse and worse. He takes issue with the use of artillery and the bombing of family homes of Hamas personalities, which the army says are used for command and are, therefore, legitimate targets. Mr Shaul says that even if Israel warns civilians to vacate areas to be targeted, that does not absolve it of moral responsibility for their fate. If they dont leave do they deserve to die?, he asked. One of the biggest lies of this operation and Cast Lead is that were doing everything to avoid civilian casualties. When you use artillery in a place like Gaza you cant say you are taking every precaution. Its not the case that generals are looking to kill more civilians, far from that. But we are far away from the official line that everything is being done to avoid civilian casualties. While Breaking the Silence views the testimonies from the past as a way to understand the present, the army believes the group is rehashing old claims to embarrass it at a sensitive time. Asked about the allegations, Col (res.) Shaul Shay, former deputy head of Israels National Security Council and a scholar at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, told The Independent that the army kept, is keeping and will keep high moral standards in all its Gaza operations. To our sorrow, the approach of Hamas is to use civilians as a human shield and to war against our civilian population. The army adheres in an exceptional manner almost to the point of endangering our soldiers in order to try to have war with minimum civilian casualties. The more Hamas shelling builds shooting positions, tunnels and attack positions in built-up areas, the more the army is forced to fight there and from this there are [civilian] casualties. He says steps to warn civilians to leave their homes go beyond anything the US or UK militaries have done. Breaking the Silence has no case. It saddens me that Israelis make such claims at such a time, claims that serve the propaganda and psychological warfare of the enemy, Mr Shay said. The testimonies We open fire and dont ask questions Sgt Major Amir Marmor Unit Armoured Corps Time 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead === We began a week of practice on the ground, during which we talked with the officers commanding the operation. Pretty soon we realised that the idea was not just a campaign, but an actual war in which gloves were to be taken off. Considerations we were accustomed to hearing in briefings, like rules of engagement and attempts not to hurt innocents and the like, were not made this time. On the contrary, the attitude was, war is war. To paraphrase the brigade commander who spoke to us one day in the field we were sitting around the campfire one evening, and he came and spoke with us about events in Gaza. Among other things, he told us what we should expect and how we were supposed to behave he even brought up people who asked him about morality and innocents. His reply to them, and to us, in this regard was that this time it was war and we should have no second thoughts about damaging anything including mosques, including any threat we feel, real or imagined. The approach is to open fire and to try not to consider the repercussions. At any obstacle any problem we open fire and dont ask questions. Even if its firing in the dark, aiming at an unknown target firing when we cant see, deterrent fire no problem with that. A vehicle thats in the way crush it. A building in the way shell it. This was the spirit of things that was repeated throughout the training. I dont remember being told about civilians Staff Sgt Shai Davidovich Unit Field intelligence Time 2012 Operation Pillar of Defence === We were positioned east of Beit Hanoun [north Gaza]. People are walking around in the streets with lots of children hanging about. I see kids on bicycles in a street where shells are falling and the children run around free. Not far from the houses was a major hit. And I see this kid riding his bike as if nothing happened, two meters away from him now. I dont remember having been told about civilians there. Our mission was to shoot at sources of fire. It was very intense in both directions: the IDF strikes, I recall the shots. Crazy blasts. You keep seeing all of Gaza up in the air. The light it created, it was insane. There were combat helicopters up in the air constantly. There were drones with which we worked. There was gunfire from Gaza at all times there was so much gunfire. We were working with X, giving the open-fire orders. We told him we detect no one was actually firing. I dont remember seeing a group of combatants, just flashes of rockets fired all the time. You see houses but its very difficult to detect a target. You cant be precise you cant really aim. Im asked why Im not killing anyone Captain Oded Kimron Unit Shaldag airforce commandos Time 2004 Operation Rainbow Area Rafah ==== During Rainbow Operation, we sent two squads. The mission was to take over a house for stake outs. I commanded one of the squads; a friend of mine commanded the second squad. At the beginning of the briefing we are told that we have to divide Rafah from Tel-Sultan. A few days before the operation a Golani [infantry] force entered Tel-Sultan, did some job there and went out. The idea, as I understood, was that since Givati [infantry] had to enter Rafah, and since they didnt want the (Golani) operation in Tel-Sultan to have been for nothing, we had to enter and create a buffer zone. At the end of the briefing, the brigade commander gets up; he bangs on the podium, and says: Guys, the bottom line is that the mission is to kill as many armed men as possible. This had its effect on the mission. On the first day we shot no one; we actually did nothing, while from time to time every one or two hours a message from the commander and his commanding crew arrived: Whats going on guys? Why have you not started killing yet? Whats going on there? All around us there was destruction on a scale I had not seen before of houses, greenhouses, and roads. Everything there just became a bunch of sand dunes. All the while, I am repeatedly asked by the force commander: Why arent you shooting? What is going on? Why arent you killing anybody? Non-stop pressure. Dont check the weight and you hit a school Anonymous Unit Artillery Time 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead Area Gaza Strip === The problem with artillery fighting in an urban area is that one tries to be as precise as possible, but there are a million parameters at play: weather, the weight of the shell. I might have a high-explosive squash head that blows up and destroys a lot with that kind of weight, and then another shell of a different weight. If you dont check the weight, you can have a 200-300m difference in range that may end up hitting a school instead of the target. == http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...d-unharmed-9645264.html?origin=internalSearch
Maybe Zionist Jews should stop stealing Palestinian lands and recognize/respect non-Jews legitimate rights . Its NOT about Rockets or the-murder of three Israelis in the occupied West Bank or the foul murder of a Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem. Nor about the arrest of many Hamas militants and politicians in the West Bank. As usual, it’s about land read the background facts in post # 19 which Zionists + their lackeys wont ,mention: :http://www.politicalforum.com/latest...rusalem-2.html Post #19 http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...k-9596120.html read and learn. =====
says you. the most recent conflict was caused by murderous thugs who killed three innocent teenage boys.
Let's look at some of the facts before jumping to conclusions. Literally the day before the 3 teens were kidnapped, an Israeli airstrike killed a man and a 10 year old boy in Gaza. So, why don't we consider this airstrike the start of the recent conflict? Moreover, the teens were kidnapped near Hebron, not in Gaza, and not by Hamas. If anything Israel's recent massacre in Gaza is to stop the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, and to exploit Palestinians resources, including natural gas.
Hi Khalil, good to see you here. Recently Israel has started trying to get people to believe it was Hamas again http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-funded-kidnapping-of-3-boys-says-ringleader/
Go there and get an education. http://www.politicalforum.com/middl...ces-arrest-kidnapper-three-israeli-teens.html
Hamas and their supporters seem to have totally forgotten Einstein's definition of insanity. they actually think that firing rockets will eventually elicit a different response other than overwhelming retalitation consistently meted out by the Israelis
You seem to be missing the point here... You are trying to persuade ignorants that NEVER heard of Einstein.
Plus more on the War Israel is Waging Against Palestinians " The following article from The Forward by JJ Goldberg tells us how the Israeli government lied about what it knew and when it knew it, and about how it manipulated reports of the circumstances of the kidnapping and murders to create a full scale attack on Hamas, despite Hamas having done what it could to avoid confrontation with Israel. Please read it carefully and then understand how little you can believe in the media when it comes to Israel/Palestine. Personally, Im shocked and angered at what this story reveals about Israeli behavior, how the Netanyahu government conspired to rile up public opinion to blame the kidnapping of the Israeli teens on Hamas though it knew that Hamas had nothing to do with it, and to justify a war with Hamas (presumably to force the Palestinian Authority to break its newly shaped reconciliation with Hamas). I commend JJ Goldberg for writing this account and the Forward for publishing it. Rabbi Michael Lerner RabbiLerner.tikkun@gmail.com It is then followed by other articles about the war Israel is waging against Palestinians ==== "Bloody Gaza Onslaught Built on Foundation of Politics and Lies Israeli Military Dragged Into New Quagmire by Politicians By J.J. Goldberg (a weekly columnist of long and distinguished pedigree) The Forward, Published July 10, 2014, issue of July 18, 2014 Read more: http://forward.com/articles/201764/...t-on-foundation-of-polit/?p=all#ixzz374CXcrLV <http://forward.com/articles/201764/bloody-gaza-onslaught-built-on-foundation-of-polit/?p=all#ixzz374CXcrLV> In the flood of angry words that poured out of Israel and Gaza during a week of spiraling violence, few statements were more blunt, or more telling, than this throwaway line by the chief spokesman of the Israeli military, Brigadier General Moti Almoz, speaking July 8 on Army Radios morning show: We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard. Thats unusual language for a military mouthpiece. Typically they spout lines like We will take all necessary actions or The state of Israel will defend its citizens. You dont expect to hear: This is the politicians idea. Theyre making us do it. Admittedly, demurrals on government policy by Israels top defense brass, once virtually unthinkable, have become almost routine in the Netanyahu era. Usually, though, theres some measure of subtlety or discretion. This particular interview was different. Where most disagreements involve policies that might eventually lead to some future unnecessary war, this one was about an unnecessary war they were now stumbling into. Spokesmen dont speak for themselves. Almoz was expressing a frustration that was building in the army command for nearly a month, since the June 12 kidnapping of three Israeli yeshiva boys. The crime set off a chain of events in which Israel gradually lost control of the situation, finally ending up on the brink of a war that nobody wanted not the army, not the government, not even the enemy, Hamas. The frustration had numerous causes. Once the boys disappearance was known, troops began a massive, 18-day search-and-rescue operation, entering thousands of homes, arresting and interrogating hundreds of individuals, racing against the clock. Only on July 1, after the boys bodies were found, did the truth come out: The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas West Bank operations. The initial evidence was the recording of victim Gil-ad Shaers desperate cellphone call to Moked 100, Israels 911. When the tape reached the security services the next morning neglected for hours by Moked 100 staff the teen was heard whispering Theyve kidnapped me (hatfu oti) followed by shouts of Heads down, then gunfire, two groans, more shots, then singing in Arabic. That evening searchers found the kidnappers abandoned, torched Hyundai, with eight bullet holes and the boys DNA. There was no doubt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately placed a gag order on the deaths. Journalists who heard rumors were told the Shin Bet wanted the gag order to aid the search. For public consumption, the official word was that Israel was acting on the assumption that theyre alive. It was, simply put, a lie. Moti Almoz, as army spokesman, was in charge of repeating the lie. True, others backed him up, including Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. But when the truth came out on July 1, Almoz bore the brunt of public derision. Critics said his credibility was shot. Hed only been spokesman since October, after a long career as a blunt-talking field commander with no media experience. Others felt professional frustration. His was personal. Nor was that the only fib. It was clear from the beginning that the kidnappers werent acting on orders from Hamas leadership in Gaza or Damascus. Hamas Hebron branch more a crime family than a clandestine organization had a history of acting without the leaders knowledge, sometimes against their interests. Yet Netanyahu repeatedly insisted Hamas was responsible for the crime and would pay for it. This put him in a ticklish position. His rhetoric raised expectations that after demolishing Hamas in the West Bank he would proceed to Gaza. Hamas in Gaza began preparing for it. The Israeli right settler leaders, hardliners in his own party began demanding it. But Netanyahu had no such intention. The last attack on Gaza, the eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, targeted Hamas leaders and taught a sobering lesson. Hamas hadnt fired a single rocket since, and had largely suppressed fire by smaller jihadi groups. Rocket firings, averaging 240 per month in 2007, dropped to five per month in 2013. Neither side had any desire to end the détente. Besides, whatever might replace Hamas in Gaza could only be worse. The kidnapping and crackdown upset the balance. In Israel, grief and anger over the boys disappearance grew steadily as the fabricated mystery stretched into a second and third week. Rallies and prayer meetings were held across the country and in Jewish communities around the world. The mothers were constantly on television. One addressed the United Nations in Geneva to plead for her sons return. Jews everywhere were in anguish over the unceasing threat of barbaric Arab terror plaguing Israel. This, too, was misleading. The last seven years have been the most tranquil in Israels history. Terror attacks are a fraction of the level during the nightmare intifada years just six deaths in all of 2013. But few notice. The staged agony of the kidnap search created, probably unintentionally, what amounts to a mass, worldwide attack of post-traumatic stress flashback. When the bodies were finally found, Israelis anger exploded into calls for revenge, street riots and, finally, murder. Amid the rising tension, cabinet meetings in Jerusalem turned into shouting matches. Ministers on the right demanded the army reoccupy Gaza and destroy Hamas. Netanyahu replied, backed by the army and liberal ministers, that the response must be measured and careful. It was an unaccustomed and plainly uncomfortable role for him. He was caught between his pragmatic and ideological impulses. In Gaza, leaders went underground. Rocket enforcement squads stopped functioning and jihadi rocket firing spiked. Terror squads began preparing to counterattack Israel through tunnels. One tunnel exploded on June 19 in an apparent work accident, killing five Hamas gunmen, convincing some in Gaza that the Israeli assault had begun while reinforcing Israeli fears that Hamas was plotting terror all along. On June 29, an Israeli air attack on a rocket squad killed a Hamas operative. Hamas protested. The next day it unleashed a rocket barrage, its first since 2012. The cease-fire was over. Israel was forced to retaliate for the rockets with air raids. Hamas retaliated for the raids with more rockets. And so on. Finally Israel began calling up reserves on July 8 and preparing for what, as Moti Almoz told Army Radio, the political echelon instructed. Later that morning, Israels internal security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told reporters that the political echelon has given the army a free hand. Almoz returned to Army Radio that afternoon and confirmed that the army had received an absolutely free hand to act. And how far, the interviewer asked, will the army go? To the extent that its up to the army, Almoz said, the army is determined to restore quiet. Will simply restoring quiet be enough? Thats not up to us, he said. The army will continue the operation as long as its told. The operations army code-name, incidentally, is Protective Edge in English, but the original Hebrew is more revealing: Tzuk Eitan, or solid cliff. That, the army seems to feel, is where Israel is headed. Read more: http://forward.com/articles/201764/...t-on-foundation-of-polit/?p=all#ixzz374C7CfC2 http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/israeli-lies-to-justify-attacks-on-hamas-exposed-sadly .....
RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) - A top Hamas official said members of his militant group kidnapped three Israeli teenagers whose deaths in June provoked a spiral of violence that led to the war in Gaza, the first acknowledgement of the movement's involvement. Hamas, which controls Gaza, has up to now refused to confirm or deny Israeli accusations that it masterminded the abduction and killing of the three young men, one of them a joint U.S.-Israeli citizen, in Hebron. "There was much speculation about this operation, some said it was a conspiracy," Saleh al-Arouri told delegates at the International Union of Islamic Scholars in Istanbul on Wednesday, according to a recording of the meeting posted online by organizers. "The popular will was exercised throughout our occupied land, and culminated in the heroic operation by the Qassam Brigades in imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron," he said, referring to Hamas's armed wing. "This was an operation from your brothers in Qassam undertaken to aid their brothers on hunger strike in (Israeli) prisons," he added. http://news.yahoo.com/senior-hamas-official-says-group-abducted-israeli-teens-104952838.html
Slowly but surely your belligerence against Israel is fading out... You are now slowly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... I may even say that there is somewhat a sign of emancipation.
As long as India and their diverse religions (ONE BILLION people) are alive and Well and as long as China the non religious (ONE BILLION people) are alive and well, there is a chance that Islam might get a realistic jolt and understand that this is not an easy job to decimate people because they are not Muslims.
