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Israel ‘rewrote the rules to ensure soldiers’ safety’
‘Zero risk’ policy for IDF put Palestinian lives at risk in Gaza, Israeli commander admits
An Israeli military commander who served during Operation Cast Lead - the 22-day bombardment and invasion of Gaza just over a year ago - has admitted that the Israelis adopted a policy of engagement which put Palestinian civilians at considerably greater risk than is normal in war.
Anxious to avoid the heavy military casualties of the 2006 Lebanon war, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) allegedly abandoned the military doctrine that it is the duty of soldiers to run risks to themselves in order to preserve civilian lives. Instead, they adopted a policy of zero risk to themselves.
The IDF also jettisoned a second military doctrine - that of "means and intentions" - according to the unnamed commander. This is the principle that a suspect must be seen to be carrying a weapon and show clear signs of intending to use it before a soldier can open fire.
A more junior Israeli officer, supporting the commander's story, claimed that instead of using intelligence to pick out Hamas fighters among the Palestinian population in Gaza, "Here you do the opposite: first you take him down, then you look into it."
The commander's story, reported in today's Independent, is supported by the casualty figures from Operation Cast Lead. Only 13 IDF soldiers died during the three-week engagement, while the death toll among the Palestinian population of Gaza has been estimated at between 1,100 and 1,400, with as few as 50 of the dead being Hamas fighters according to some reports.
The revelation comes in the same week that Israel admitted that two senior officers involved in Operation Cast Lead had been disciplined for misuse of white phosphorus shells.
There is now increasing pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, who become prime minister after the Gaza conflict, to bow to UN pressure and set up an independent inquiry into the war. Michael Sfard, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer, told the Independent that the senior commander's testimony if it can be proved was "a smoking gun".
A mystery is why the commander's testimony has only come to light now. He is said to have told his story to Yedhiot Ahronot, Israel's biggest daily newspaper, for a special report on Operation Cast Lead last year. But though the article was ready for publication five months ago, it has never been published. Yedhiot Ahronot has not explained the delay. ·
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normtrub... ummmm.. YOU STOLE THEIR LAND!!!!!You identify yourself as a zionist, well your country, Israel, was stolen from it's rightful inhabitants by the use of TERRORISM!!! and you whine because of a few crude rockets?!? Don't get me wrong, I am against the killing of non-combatants, I don't support ALL the tactics used by the various groups operating in Palestine, but settlers in the west bank are armed combatants. Also, I support the right of ANYONE to fight oppression and Israel oppresses Palestinian christians muslims and jews. Most of your country are european. go back to europe!
And what a disgusting strategy for a zionist to imply that a) any nation can get the U.N. to do anything that Israel and it's puppet U.S.A does not like and b) that the American puppets in power in the middle east will speak for justice for the Palestinians.
DUNGERGUND and ERIC. So the world 'doesn't have the balls' to to face tiny Israel eh? What a complement. 'The Israelis flout every resolution'. No matter that the Arab nations plus their muslim allies have an automatic majority in the General Assembly. Where are the UN resolutions condemning of the killings of hundreds of thousands in Darfur? The killings of millions in the Congo and in Tibet and the 70,000 Chechnyans that the Russians killed?
ERIC, I have no problems with investigating war crimes of anyone as long as they are true and those making the claims identify themselves and offer proof. What Genocide is Israel being accused of? The Palestinian population of the west Bank and Gaza has quadrupled since 1967. What alleged crimes has Israel and us Zionists made against the Palestinians? Maybe the 8,000 rockets that Hamas fired on Southern Israel with the intention of to force the Jews out of Sderot and its surrounds? Would that not be ethnic cleansing? Yes we forever mention the Gas chambers so the world will continuously be reminded of the cruelty of Jew haters. Obviously many haven't learned from this historic lesson!
@normtrub: Imagine that someone would have the audacity to report Israeli war crimes Eh!!!
You zionist types make me sick. Why is it that you are forever mentioning the Nazi gas chambers and you scream bloody murder if someone mentions even the possibility of Israeli genocide or ethnic cleansing when these crimes are even more heinous considering the history (aforementioned gas chambers) of those committing these offences.
You zionists are also quick to report ALLEGED Palestinian crimes!! Why can't alleged Israeli crimes be reported??
The double standard of you and your ilk is obvious to EVERYONE with an open mind and a desire to filter out the truth
Of course an armchair general like yourself â??normtrubâ??, would now that the Israelis and Jews are the only people that suffered on earth since the Lord created it. Get over your "victim complex". Israel is as "white as white" in your completely biased opinion when most of us know that they continually flout UN Resolution after UN resolution. We all know the International Community doesn't have the "balls" to face the Israelis, You boys must be enjoying every minute. As with Iraq and Afghanistan, the true stories emerge a long time afterwards as do the half-baked easy to make apologies. How the settlements coming along Norm ? You got yourself a place yet ? Till the Next war.
I'm sorry; I probably don't comprehend. This is WAR; right? This isn't a tea party or a football match, right? This is a situation where for eight years Rockets have been falling on Israel and now they retaliate...or am I missing something here?
I live in a Third World Country. If our neighbour dropped one bomb on us we'd be on them like white on rice, and we wouldn't be all that concerned who got killed when we dropped our bombs.
I'm sure if we went to war we'd adopt a zero risk to our soldiers.
So you mean, British soldiers are sent to war, and supposed to die before they kill a civilian? Take fire before returning it? And you're debating assisted suicide?
An unnamed commander and an unnamed junior officer! How convenient for the Independant! So Israel allegedly abandoned the military doctrine of the duty of soldiers to run risks to themselves in order to save civilians. I suppose thats why Israel dropped thousands of leaflets warning civilians of impending attack and the thousands of SMS messages doing the same. How do you arrive at the alleged number of only 50 Hamas fighters killed while most observers and commentators have arrived at numbers such as 750 - 10000 Hamas fighters killed. On what evidence do you insinuate that this story was given to Yediot achronot over a year ago. To believe the Indepedant on any reporting about Israel would be akin to believing that Nazis not Jews died in the Gas chambers in WW2