March 21, 2009

Since last week, when the first major crack in the edifice of Israeli lies have shown, the deluge of information about the brutalities in Gaza, this time coming from IOF soldiers themselves, has not stopped, but intensified; it is no longer possible for Israelis to continue denying that which the rest of the world has realised a long time ago – that the Gaza war, like that in Lebanon in 2006, has been a conglomeration of war crimes, brutality, extreme cruelty, and the terrifying banality of evil; that Israel as a society is doomed; that Zionism as a racist and colonial project belong in the dustbin of history; that this latest episode of bestiality is but a reminder of what Israel has become – a racialised, undemocratic, apartheid state, being increasingly nazified by its continued occupation of various Arab lands, by its increasing militarism, and by its undying complicity and commitment to the project of subjugating the Middle East, so eagerly undertaken by the old empire, Britain, and the new but bedraggled empire of the USA. Israel’s role as the guard dog of western imperialism in the region has transformed it into an inhuman, fascistic military colony, refusing to admit and face its historical and current vices. Blow I have collected the various revelation by IOF soldiers, and the continued Israeli denial of Palestinian realities and identity. There is not even the slightest sign of recognition of the grave nature of the crisis facing Zionism within the political and cultural elites of Israel, who continue to uncritically and unfailingly back the atrocities, as do the rest of the western nations, playing on behalf of Israel; a sepially disgusting example of this servility is the case of Canada’s denying entry to George Galloway, a well known British MP, leader of the Respect party, and a long term opponenet of UK involvement in the criminal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Israeli atrocities in Gaza:

Testimonies on IDF misconduct in Gaza keep rolling in: Ha’aretz

Further testimonies emerged this weekend of army units adopting lax rules of engagement during Operation Cast Lead. The reports followed Thursday’s publication in Haaretz of soldiers’ accounts of ethical violations in the Gaza offensive. On Saturday, Channel 10 showed a documentary that included a security briefing by a company commander on the eve of the Gaza invasion.
“We’re going to war,” he told his soldiers. “We’re not doing routine security work or anything like that. I want aggressiveness – if there’s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we’ll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we’ll take it down.”

“There will be no hesitation,” the commander continued. “If it’s us or them, it’ll be them. If someone approaches us unarmed, shoot in the air. If he keeps going, that man is dead. Nobody will deliberate – let the mistakes be over their lives, not ours.”
A number of officers told Haaretz this weekend that the testimonies did not surprise them, as “anyone with eyes in his head knows that these things happened during the fighting in Gaza.”
The soldiers who testified about misconduct “placed a very unpleasant mirror before us,” said one officer.
“The chief of staff is deflecting discussion now,” said another. “It’s much easier to find the rotten apples, but there are many much more basic and deeper questions. It’s not just an ethical issue, it’s also a question of professionalism. The soldiers’ accounts show there are professional difficulties in fighting in such complex territory – that we’re just not doing it all that well.”

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