Since last week, with the publication of IOF soldiers’ accounts of wide-spread and systemic brutalities committed in Gaza, the Israeli government and military authorities have done their best to contain the leak, an counter it with ‘an inquiry’ and with claims that those events were localised and isolated. The lie machine is working full time, like it did during the carnage itself. An onslaught of Israeli academics and artists, always ready to make Kosher every atrocity, is about to hit the west… This means that our action on BDS is all the more urgent and crucial. Expose the lies wherever you meet them! Support those courageous Israelis who are prepared to tell the truth and attack this muerderous regime! Support Gaza and Palestine!
Below you can read about a provocation by the Fascist right in Umm al Fahm, allowed to proceed by the police and the High Court, despite the clear evidence that it will lead to violence. It did!
28 hurt in clashes over rightist march in Arab town: Ha’aretz
28 people were wounded on Tuesday during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting a march by far-rightists near the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm. The far-rightists began the march at 10:00 A.M. and ended it about 45 minutes later. The clashes, however, continued for some two hours after the march had been concluded. Deputy police commissioner Shahar Ayalon and fourteen other policemen were wounded by stone-throwing demonstrators; twelve Umm al-Fahm residents were hurt in scuffles with police, according to Magen David Adom emergency services.
Amira Hass’ piece below is proof that Israelis knew damn well what their army and leaders have done in Gaza, but chose to remain silent and passive.
Time to believe Gaza war crimes allegations: Ha’aretz
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has difficulty believing the soldiers’ testimonies that they intentionally harmed Palestinian civilians, because the Israel Defense Forces is a moral army, he said on Sunday. On the other hand, he believes the soldiers because they “have no reason to lie.” Then again, Ashkenazi is convinced that if what they said is true, these are isolated incidents. Ashkenazi reacted like most Israelis – as though the reports, including those in Haaretz and Maariv, were the first about the Gaza offensive that were issued by someone other than the military spokesman or the military reporters, who rely on him for their information.
Soldiers: Drunk IDF reservists vandalized Palestinian cars: Ha’aretz
Reservists marked their last night stationed in the southern Hebron Hills by damaging confiscated Palestinian vehicles, their replacements told Haaretz on Monday. The reserve battalion in question was stationed at a small base near the Shekef settlement, and spent three weeks in the south Hebron Hills. They were responsible primarily for patrolling the green line. On their last night at the base, the reservists got drunk and vandalized some of the vehicles they had confiscated from Palestinian drivers, for transporting passengers who lacked permits to enter Israel, soldiers told Haaretz.
Clash in tense Israeli-Arab town: BBC
Israeli-Arab protesters have clashed with police as Jewish Israeli right-wingers marched in the majority-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.
Stun grenades and tear gas were used as hundreds of Israeli-Arab protesters threw stones, police said. Israeli-Arab residents of the town view the march as highly provocative and had vowed to stop it. The High Court gave permission for the march, but police had postponed it several times, fearing violence. About 2,500 police in riot gear were deployed as about 100 far-right activists marched in the town, waving Israeli flags.
Israel army rides out T-shirt row: BBC
Israeli officials have described as “tasteless” and inconsistent with army values a popular military pastime of printing violent cartoons on T-shirts.
An investigation in Haaretz daily says the customised shirts are often ordered when troops finish training courses. One example shows a pregnant Arab women in the cross-hairs of a sniper’s sight with the legend “1 shot 2 kills”. Another design shows a child being similarly targeted with the slogan “the smaller they are, the harder it is”. In both images the people being targeted appear to be carrying weapons. A third T-shirt design shows a dead Palestinian baby and the words “Better use Durex” (condoms). An army statement said the customised clothing was produced outside military auspices, but it pledged to stamp out the use of such imagery by soldiers. “The examples presented by the Haaretz reporter are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless,” the military statement said. “This type of humour is unbecoming and should be condemned.” But it admitted that until now there were no military guidelines governing “acceptable civilian clothing” made by its soldiers.
‘Callous attitude’
The Israeli military has faced heavy criticism for causing high levels of civilian casualties during its recent Gaza offensive. The army frequently says it takes care to avoid civilian casualties and blames Palestinian militants for putting them in harm’s way.
UN criticises Israelis over Gaza: BBC
UN human rights investigators have questioned the legality of Israel’s Gaza offensive in a wide-ranging report to the UN Human Rights Council.
One investigator, Richard Falk, asked how a military assault with modern weapons could have been made “against an essentially defenceless society”. The report found civilians appeared to “have taken the brunt of the attacks” with schools and clinics also hit. Israel has accused Council members of seeking to “demonise” it.
Many international organisations have raised concerns about possible war crimes during the three-week offensive, which ended on 18 January. An Israeli rights group has also criticised Israel for hitting medics and impeding medical evacuations. The Israeli military says it is investigating specific claims of abuses and argues that it did its utmost to protect civilians during a conflict in which militants operated from populated civilian areas.
‘One-sided’ fight
Because Mr Falk, a UN human rights investigator, was unable to enter the Palestinian territories, his latest findings focus on the legality of Israel’s January operation in Gaza in general, rather than on specific cases or claims that disproportionate force was used.
We have all read the callous and false allegations by Israel that Palestinians are using children as human shields. Here is, for a change a report about the IOF doing this…
Israel army ‘used human shields’: BBC
United Nations investigators have accused the Israeli army of using an 11-year-old boy as a human shield during its recent Gaza offensive.
Their report says troops ordered the boy to walk in front of them for several hours under fire, entering buildings and opening suspect packages. The UN team responsible for protection of children in war zones says it found “hundreds” of similar violations. Israel has denied the charges, saying morals are “paramount” in its army. Israel’s ambassador to the UN criticised the report as “unable or perhaps unwilling” to address attacks against its civilians by Palestinian militants. The lead investigator, Sri Lankan lawyer Radhika Coomaraswamy, said the incident with the boy in the Gaza neighbourhood of Tel al-Hawa on 15 January was a violation of Israeli and international law.
Her report also accuses Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children, bulldozing a home with a woman and child still inside, and shelling a building they had ordered civilians into a day earlier. She cited the case of one family where the father was ordered out of his home and shot. Soldiers then fired on the family inside, killing one child and wounding the mother and three children. She added that her report contained “just a few examples of the hundreds of incidents” that had been verified by UN officials in the Gaza Strip.
Guardian investigation uncovers evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza: The Guardian
The Guardian has compiled detailed evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the 23-day offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year, involving the use of Palestinian children as human shields and the targeting of medics and hospitals. A month-long investigation also obtained evidence of civilians being hit by fire from unmanned drone aircraft said to be so accurate that their operators can tell the colour of the clothes worn by a target. The testimonies form the basis of three Guardian films which add weight to calls this week for a full inquiry into the events surrounding Operation Cast Lead, which was aimed at Hamas but left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including more than 300 children. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) refused to respond directly to the allegations made against its troops, but issued statements denying the charges and insisted international law had been observed. The latest disclosures follow soldiers’ evidence published in the Israeli press about the killing of Palestinian civilians and complaints by soldiers involved in the military operation that the rules of engagement were too lax.
Must be the anti-semites in the Guardian again… How could soldiers in the ‘most moral and humane army in the world’ (Ehud Barak) even consider such practices…
Blow is a disgusting reaction to the accusations about war crimes. The writer has, for many years, been the IOF spokesperson, and is part of the ‘moral offensive’ by the murderous IOF and Israeli regime in the west, trying to drown the accusations under as much media coverage as they can get…
Don’t judge Israel’s ‘war crimes’: The Guardian
These films are very disturbing. Anyone, like myself, who believes in the justice of Israel defending itself should nevertheless call for an independent and thorough investigation. If any of what we saw in the film is true, those responsible should be severely reprimanded.
Targeting paramedics is forbidden, no question about it. However, I find it hard to believe that any Israeli soldier would do such a thing intentionally. Using Palestinians as human shields was prohibited by the Israeli supreme court. The fact that the British did it in Palestine in 1936-39, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, is not an excuse. And drones are used precisely to make the greatest effort to distinguish between terrorists and uninvolved civilians. The insinuation that as we have the the technological capability to see everything, if civilians are hurt it means that they were targeted on purpose, is hard for me to swallow. Again, this should be thoroughly investigated.
However, we have been through this before. Israel has faced rushed accusations based on versions of the story told by Palestinians that turn out to be only partially true – and more often than not are exposed as lies and fabrications.
Uri Dromi speaking aboit ‘lies and fabrications’… he should indeed know about the topic, having done nothing else in the last forty years!
An investigation by a group of former Israeli soldiers has uncovered new evidence of the military’s conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago. According to the group Breaking the Silence, the witness statements of the 15 soldiers who have come forward to describe their concerns over Operation Cast Lead appear to corroborate claims of random killings and vandalism carried out during the operation made by a separate group of anonymous servicemen during a seminar at a military college. Although Breaking the Silence’s report is not due to be published for several months, the testimony it has received already suggests widespread abuses stemming from orders originating with the Israeli military chain of command. “This is not a military that we recognise,” said Mikhael Manekin, one of the former soldiers involved with the group. “This is in a different category to things we have seen before. We have spoken to a lot of different people who served in different places in Gaza, including officers. We are not talking about some units being more aggressive than others, but underlying policy. So much so that we are talking to soldiers who said that they were having to restrain the orders given.” Manekin described how soldiers had reported their units being specifically warned by officers not to discuss what they had seen and done in Gaza. The outlines of the evidence gathered comes hard on the heels of the disclosure by the Oranim Academy’s pre-military course last week of devastating witness accounts supplied by soldiers involved in the fighting, including the “unjustified” shooting of civilians.
Government suspends links with Muslim Council of Britain over Gaza: The Guardian
The government has suspended ties with Britain’s largest Muslim group and demanded that one of its leaders should be removed from office for allegedly supporting violence against Israel. The news comes on the eve of the launch of a major government strategy aimed at fostering closer ties with Muslims to help counter the threat of Islamist terrorism. The launch tomorrow (…) from around the world to discuss strategy after Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Hazel Blears, secretary of state for communities and local government, wrote (…)
Gaza war crime claims gather pace as more troops speak out: The Observer
Fresh allegations have come to light that gung-ho leadership inculcated a culture of disregard for Palestinian casualties
An investigation by a group of former Israeli soldiers has uncovered new evidence of the military’s conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago. According to the group Breaking the Silence, the witness statements of the 15 soldiers who have come forward to describe their concerns over Operation Cast Lead appear to corroborate claims of random killings and vandalism (…)
Palestinian brothers: Israel used us as human shields in Gaza war: The Guardian
Euros do not buy the Palestinians political rights: Electronic Intifada
Israeli forces arrest West Bank political leaders: Electronic Intifada
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association strongly condemns the arrests of 10 Palestinian political leaders which were carried out by the Israeli Occupying Forces in a West Bank raid in the early hours of Thursday, 19 March 2009. Addameer views these arrests as a form of collective punishment in direct response to the failure of prisoner exchange talks between the Israeli government and Hamas which collapsed in Cairo on 18 March 2009. [MORE]Israeli authorities ban Palestinian Cultural Festival: Electronic Intifada
As an organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq condemns the repressive actions taken today [Saturday 21 March 2009] by the Israeli authorities in banning peaceful cultural activities organized as part of the Palestinian Cultural Festival marking the declaration of Jerusalem as the “Capital of Arab Culture 2009.” [MORE]The crimes we witnessed in Gaza: Electronic Intifafda
We crossed into Gaza through the Rafah land crossing on 2 February 2009. Minutes after Palestinian officials stamped our passports, we were startled by a loud explosion. “Don’t worry,” said one of the officials, unflinching. “They’re only bombing the tunnels. It’s normal here.” Radhika Sainath writes from the US. [MORE]
Three teenage boys say they were made to kneel in front of tanks to deter Hamas attacks
Israel has been accused of using Palestinian human shields during its invasion of Gaza, a breach of the Geneva conventions that prohibit intentionally putting civilian lives at risk.The Guardian has interviewed three Gazan brothers who described how they were taken from their home at gunpoint, made to kneel in front of tanks to deter Hamas fighters from firing and sent by Israeli soldiers into Palestinian houses to clear them.
“They would make us go first, so if any fighters shot at them the bullets would hit us, not them,” said 14-year-old Al’a al-Attar. His brothers, Ali, 15, and Nafiz, 16, described how when the three of them were being led through built-up areas in their home town of Attartra, the soldiers would order them to suddenly stop ‑ then fire their rifles over the brothers’ shoulders and between their legs. The use of “human shields” is prohibited under article 28 of the fourth Geneva convention, which states: “The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.” Israel has ratified the convention and is therefore bound by it.
(…)uncovered new evidence of the military’s conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago. According to the group Breaking the Silence, the (…)
Israeli minister calls for new Gaza invasion: The Guardian
Israel’s deputy defence minister has called for a new invasion of Gaza and the capture of land close to the border, despite growing domestic and international concern about the conduct of the previous war. “We need to conquer the areas from which mortar shells are being fired,” Matan Vilnai told an Israeli conference on the Gaza war last night. “The mortar shell is the main (…)(…)Israel’s deputy defence minister has called for a new invasion of Gaza and the capture of land close to the border, despite growing (…)
Two wars is never enough for any Israeli minister… It is always the next war which will be successful, and will correct the ‘mistakes’ of the last one, meaning – not enough Palestinians died in the last round of carnage! Unbelievably, Vilnay was the Minister of Culture until few years ago! Who was it that said:” when I hear the word culture, my hand moves towards my gun holster!”?…