Source

JERUSALEM, March 19 (Reuters) - Israel's military was rocked on Thursday by Gaza war veterans' accounts of soldiers' killings of civilians and allegations that deep contempt for Palestinians pervaded its ranks.

The soldiers, alumni of a military academy, gathered last month to discuss their experiences in the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended in January, a campaign that Palestinians and human rights groups have said warranted war crimes probes.

Disclosing details of the session, the institution's director said the soldiers pointed to an atmosphere within the military of "unbridled contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians".

"They talked about unwarranted fire on Palestinian civilians. There was also talk of vandalism to property," Danny Zamir, head of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military programme, told Israel Radio.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak responded to the accusations by repeating Israel's description of its armed forces as the most moral in the world. The military said its judge advocate-general had ordered an investigation of the alleged incidents.

Excerpts from the veterans' discussion appeared on Thursday on the front page of the left-leaning Haaretz daily. It said the airing of the "dirty secrets" would make it more difficult for Israelis to dismiss such allegations as Palestinian propaganda.

It has been rare for Israeli soldiers to speak out about the killing of Palestinian civilians in the operation that Israel launched in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December with the declared aim of halting militants' cross-border rocket attacks.

WRONG TURN

One of the soldiers, an infantry squad leader, recalled an incident in which he said an army sharpshooter killed a Palestinian mother and her two children who turned the wrong way after troops ordered them out of their house.

"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to their right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left ... The sharpshooter saw (them) approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them."

The squad leader said most of the men under his command felt "the lives of Palestinians ... is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers, so as far as they are concerned, they can justify it that way".

Zamir said he conveyed the veterans' accounts to the Israeli military. Israeli leaders have said Hamas bears ultimate responsibility for civilian deaths because its fighters operated in crowded Palestinian areas.

Another squad leader who attended the academy said at the gathering that a company commander had ordered an elderly Palestinian woman shot as she walked on a road about 100 metres (yards) from a house that troops had taken over.

Describing vandalism carried out by soldiers, the squad leader said: "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 (Israel Defence Forces) has fallen in the realm of ethics."

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has put the Palestinian death toll during the war at 1,434 -- 960 civilians, 235 fighters and 239 police officers. Israeli officials have disputed the figures. Thirteen Israelis were killed.

On Thursday, an Israeli think-tank, the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, challenged the conclusion that close to 1,000 civilians were killed. It said that a statistical analysis of PCHR's list of civilian casualties showed a disproportionate number of young men of fighting age.

The Israeli army has given no figure for Palestinian dead.

Zamir said that while veterans at the alumni session had not directly taken part in war crimes, "they felt uncomfortable because they could not prevent them". (Additional reporting by Ivan Karakashian; editing by Andrew Roche)

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At least some of the IDF recognize what is morally right and wrong.

I wish Obama would just force Israel to accept Internatial laws. Full retreat to the 'Green Line', pre-1967 war lines.

Here's to hoping one day Palestinians can live without Israeli terrorism.

btw, here's the Israeli Haaretz article about the murders by IDF.

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Source

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.

The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.

The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces' claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session's transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course's graduates.

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The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. "There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.

"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."

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.

"I don't think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way," he said.

Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.

The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader's soldiers complained that "we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist."

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."

More soldiers' testimonies will be published in Haaretz over the coming days.

saw this on the news, pretty terible imo, yet will action be taken?

thanx for posting, I've heard/seen many horrible stories about the soldiers targeting civilians on purpose , I'm waiting for the channel that aired the stories to upload them to their website then I'll send to u.

I suppose if the Palestinians didn't use woman, children, and the elderly as suicide bombers the soldiers wouldn't be as trigger happy.

The Palestinians only have themselves to blame, their militants purposely try to blend in with civilians and use them as shields. That's why they set up their rocket launchers next to apartment buildings.

RE: suicide bombers

There hasn't been a suicide bomber in what a year or more I think in PA/Israel.

RE: Hamas putting rocket launchers near buildings

Where do you think US tanks are in Iraq during the war and now? And that are is far less densly populated than Gaza.
When you are fighting a war in urban areas because that is the only land you have to fight back in, the only places to put your soldiers are unfortunately near civilian areas. There is no such thing as an open battlefield anymore, that's only in the movies.

Still no excuse to murder a woman and her little kids as they simply went the wrong direction. Show me one single time a suicide bomber use little kids as a front to attack IDF.

You're an ignorant person who believes too much of the Israeli propaganda.

"about 100 metres (yards)" Metres does not mean yards, and metres does not equal yards. What a dumb thing to say.

As for the topic, it's pretty sad to hear, but I can't say I'm surprised.

lol

and I can find dozens if pictures of idiot fellow americans dressing their kids up as little gangsters with guns n all.

my point was suicide bombers are always alone. Never with little kids.

And yes I know that photo was a joke. A joke in poor taste that really shows how sick and depraved these Palestinians really are. Makes me doubt there is even a concept of Palestinian civilian.

Here are just a few examples......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_suicide_bombers_in_the_Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

Umm Nidal, who sent three of her sons, including one 17 year old, on suicide attacks, said "I love my children, but as Muslims we pressure ourselves and sacrifice our emotions for the interest of the homeland. The greater interest takes precedence to the personal interest." She was later elected to the Palestinian legislature on the Hamas ticket.[10]

According to Human Rights Watch, On March 24, 2004, one week after capturing a bomb in the bag of 12-year-old Abdullah Quran, Hussam Abdo, a 16-year-old Palestinian (who initially claimed he was 14), was captured in a checkpoint near Nablus wearing an explosive belt. The young boy was paid by the Tanzim militia to detonate himself at the checkpoint. IDF soldiers manning the checkpoint were suspicious of him and told him to stay away from people. Later, an EOD team arrived and by using a police-sapper robot, removed the explosive belt from him.[20][21] Hussam explained that he was offered 100 NIS and sex with virgins if he would perform the task.

One child, Nasser Awartani, 15, of Nablus allegedly recruited four of his classmates, one of whom was claimed by the Shabak report on Awartani to be Hussam Abdo.

On June 16, 2004, two girls - aged 14 and 15 were arrested by the IDF for allegedly plotting a suicide bombing. According to an IDF statement, the two children were recruited by activists from Tanzim (Fatah's armed wing), guided by Hezbollah.[23]

On April 27, two Palestinian teenagers, both aged 15 (though other sources cite their ages as 12 and 13), were arrested at a checkpoint near Jenin after 11 explosive charges were found on them. One teenager was recruited by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The two told interrogators that they had been acting as couriers for terrorists, but security forces suspect they planned to get close to the soldiers and then detonate the charges.[34]

On October 11, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested by IDF forces. He told the soldiers he was forced to agree to commit a suicide bombing when two terrorists from Fatah's Tanzim faction threatened to murder him by spreading a leaflet accusing him of collaboration unless he agreed. They took pictures of him with a gun and the Qur'an and forced him to write his own will.[36]

On August 27, 2007, A 15-year-old Palestinian boy carrying 2 explosive devices on his body, was arrested in the northern Gaza Strip after he attempted to carry out an attack against soldiers operating in the area against Palestinians launching Qassam rockets on Israeli civilians across the border inside Israel

Yeah. There are going to be people who do stuff like that in ever army.

It's sad, stupid.... but wholly normal.