Israeli soldiers admit 'murdering' Gazans

Chipahualca · #1 19th March 2009, 01:08 PM

http://english.aljazeera.com/news/ar...ng_Gazans.html

Israeli soldiers have confessed to wanton killing of Palestinian civilians and behaving immorally during the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The soldiers who fought in the Gaza war told a post-operation conference that they had killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed their property under permissive rules of engagement.

"When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story... I call that murder. Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself - how is this reasonable?", an Israeli soldier said.

The testimonies includes killing of a Palestinian mother and her two children by an Israeli sharpshooter and the case of an elderly Palestinian woman who was killed as she was walking 100 meters (yards) from her home.

When will this war criminal and megaterrorist regime be brought to justice ?

sebastian · #2 19th March 2009, 03:34 PM

what that article didn't report is that this report was published by a israeli military acadamy. i actually see this as a positive in the sense that bacause it was an israeli military acadamy that made this report, i feel this kind of shows some change in israeli thinking, at least from a the grass roots level. there are also israeli based human rights groups who are critical of the IDF's actions and lack of accountability. so in a way it shows there is a change coming. at least i hope so.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7952603.stm (also here for the people that still think anything which begins with 'al' is related to terrorism)

Chipahualca · #3 19th March 2009, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by sebastian

what that article didn't report is that this report was published by a israeli military acadamy. i actually see this as a positive in the sense that bacause it was an israeli military acadamy that made this report, i feel this kind of shows some change in israeli thinking, at least from a the grass roots level. there are also israeli based human rights groups who are critical of the IDF's actions and lack of accountability. so in a way it shows there is a change coming. at least i hope so.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7952603.stm (also here for the people that still think anything which begins with 'al' is related to terrorism)

Indeed, but at the same time it clearly depicts the holocaustic universe Israel has created for the palestinians. The international community must act swiftly on this threat to humanity. You cannot wait for Israel to change itself, this will take much too long.

Nathan45 · #4 19th March 2009, 07:15 PM

Look, apparently there are some bad apples in the israeli military. It's not like Ehud Olmert personally ordered the death of some palestinian grandmother. The Israelis are investigating these incidents themselves, or you wouldn't even know about it; it's clear they take the problem seriously.

Avatar · #5 19th March 2009, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Chipahualca

Indeed, but at the same time it clearly depicts the holocaustic universe Israel has created for the palestinians. The international community must act swiftly on this threat to humanity. You cannot wait for Israel to change itself, this will take much too long.

Try to take out Israel and there will be no middle east left.

S53 · #6 19th March 2009, 07:27 PM

^ What he said.

CCGirl · #7 19th March 2009, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by Nathan45

Look, apparently there are some bad apples in the israeli military. It's not like Ehud Olmert personally ordered the death of some palestinian grandmother. The Israelis are investigating these incidents themselves, or you wouldn't even know about it; it's clear they take the problem seriously.

This is important when talking about "bad apples".

killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed their property under permissive rules of engagement.

sebastian · #8 19th March 2009, 10:03 PM

i don't think anyone mentioned taking out israel, why do so many people think acting against injstice must equate taking out israel? me thinks you watch too many hollywood films.
Israel is part of the international community, it's still part of the UN that it hates so much and it must remain accountable for it's action a every other country should.
anyway, i'm still glad because the "we never do anything wrong" IDF are finally admiting what most people knew all along. this will allow change and is good.

Nathan45 · #9 19th March 2009, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by CCGirl

This is important when talking about "bad apples".

I'm sorry i don't take editorializing like that seriously from al-jazeera, what permissive "rules of engagement" are they talking about? Obviously shooting civilians in cold blood is not permitted under the rules of engagement.

CCGirl · #10 19th March 2009, 11:01 PM

Here is another source:

The Israeli army has been forced to open an investigation into the conduct of its troops in Gaza after damning testimony from its own front line soldiers revealed the killing of civilians and rules of engagement so lax that one combatant said that they amounted on occasion to “cold-blooded murder”.

Another disturbing element reported by the soldiers was the role of military rabbis in distributing booklets that framed the fighting as a religious war. “All these articles had a clear message: we are the Jewish people, we have come to the land by miraculous means, and now we have to fight to remove the Gentiles who are getting in our way and preventing us from occupying the Holy Land… a great many soldiers had a feeling throughout this operation of a religious war,” said one soldier.

source

Or:

JERUSALEM - Israel's military on Thursday ordered a criminal inquiry into its own soldiers' reports that some troops killed Palestinian civilians, including children, during the Gaza war by hastily opening fire, confident that relaxed rules of engagement would protect them.

"The climate in general, from what I understood from most of my men whom I talked to, was ... the lives of Palestinians, let's say, are far less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they're concerned, they can justify it that way," an infantry squad leader was quoted as saying.

Israel says the toll published by the Palestinians is inflated but has acknowledged loosening its rules of engagement in Gaza to minimize military casualties
source