A report by the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence (Breaking the Silence) based on testimonies of soldiers who participated in the slaughter of Gaza, between 27 December 2008 and January 18, makes it clear that atrocities were committed as the use of civilians as human shields, the entrance to blood and fire in homes without regard for its inhabitants or the use of white phosphorus, a banned substance.
The dissemination of evidence of Israeli soldiers who participated in the slaughter in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and January 18 has come to make clear the brutal methods used by the Zionist army and racism that is showing. These statements include, for example, that were used Palestinian civilians as human shields and that the officers instructed them to shoot without worrying about the consequences.
The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence (Breaking the Silence), which groups former soldiers who denounce the brutality with which the military acts against the Palestinians, issued a report highlighting that "the accepted practices within the Army led to a permissive environment in the chain of command, which enables soldiers to act without any moral doubts. "
According to the report Breaking the Silence, this situation has caused "have destroyed hundreds of houses and mosques were no military targets, has been used to address phosphorus in residential areas, death of innocent victims using light weapons and the destruction of private property. "
This report is based on anonymous testimony of 54 Israeli soldiers who took part in the slaughter of Gaza.
"The testimonials are proof of the immoral way in which they conducted the war meets the established systems, not individual attitudes of the soldiers," said Mikhael Manekin of Breaking the Silence.
Army denies
The Israeli army denied the accusations, saying in a statement that according to his own investigations, "it is clear that the soldiers of the Israeli military have operated in accordance with international law and the orders they received, even though they fought under difficult and complex. "
addition to this, the military added that "most of the testimonials are anonymous and lacking in detail to enable the Army to investigate, confirm or reject these allegations.
Among the testimonies, the figure of a soldier who tells how the Palestinian civilians were used as human shields in houses regarded as suspicious.
"In every house that we approached, we sent to neighbors within" he said.
In other testimony, one soldier says his officer explained that "sometimes, the forces [Israeli] go into a place with the barrel of a gun on the shoulder of a civilian, moving into a house and used as human shields."
According to the soldiers, the instructions were to shoot first and ask questions later. "We have not been instructed to shoot at everything that moved, but that overall, we were told` if you feel that you are in danger, shoot, '"said one of them.
This is the second time that the Israeli military is facing accusations from his own ranks after the massacre in Gaza. In March, revealed that soldiers defenseless Palestinian civilians died during the offensive, but the testimony was rejected by the Army, concluded that they were based on hearsay.
Despite this denial, many Israeli NGOs call for independent inquiry into what happened in Gaza.
In another report published in July, Amnesty International accused the Israeli army and Hamas of "war crimes", saying that the Zionist military "did not distinguish between civilian and military targets" and that used civilians, including children as human shields .
According to the report of medical services Palestinians, the Israeli offensive killed more than 1,400 dead and 5,000 injured Palestinians.
Barak: "We are the most ethical"
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday asked the soldiers to have any criticism, information or reservations about the conduct of the army to come directly to him instead of telling organizations independent.
"The criticism directed against the Army by one organization or another is inappropriate. The Israeli army is one of the most ethical army in the world and acts in accordance with the highest moral code, "said Barak was quoted by the daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot."
Yehuda Shaul, responsible Breaking the Silence, said that the Gaza offensive 'was the first time the Israeli army used a system of genuine civil war. " Before entering the soldiers, aircraft bombed the places to invade, then fired their artillery shells and then came the tanks. All this happened in areas populated by civilians. "This was the only way to have few casualties," said Shaul.
The Amir is the only reservist soldier who wanted to give his name. "We spent a week of maneuvers before the invasion and immediately we realized that was not a campaign like the others, but a war. We were allowed to shoot against all and this operation became Cast Lead [name of the Israeli army used to describe the slaughter] into something else. "
In any case, the soldiers who appear in the report Breaking the Silence does not argue against the need for the operation against Gaza, justified by Israel as a means of addressing the launching of homemade rockets from the Palestinian territory, but reject specific actions. Two soldiers, for example, denounced the order from a superior to kill a Palestinian who was walking along a road and that it posed no danger to anyone.
Another soldier said that one of his superiors, during a speech, he said that "the best translators of Arabic are the grenades" and that in the days leading rabbis circulated texts in which the Palestinians compared to the Philistines of Biblical times.
The dissemination of evidence of Israeli soldiers who participated in the slaughter in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and January 18 has come to make clear the brutal methods used by the Zionist army and racism that is showing. These statements include, for example, that were used Palestinian civilians as human shields and that the officers instructed them to shoot without worrying about the consequences.
The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence (Breaking the Silence), which groups former soldiers who denounce the brutality with which the military acts against the Palestinians, issued a report highlighting that "the accepted practices within the Army led to a permissive environment in the chain of command, which enables soldiers to act without any moral doubts. "
According to the report Breaking the Silence, this situation has caused "have destroyed hundreds of houses and mosques were no military targets, has been used to address phosphorus in residential areas, death of innocent victims using light weapons and the destruction of private property. "
This report is based on anonymous testimony of 54 Israeli soldiers who took part in the slaughter of Gaza.
"The testimonials are proof of the immoral way in which they conducted the war meets the established systems, not individual attitudes of the soldiers," said Mikhael Manekin of Breaking the Silence.
Army denies
The Israeli army denied the accusations, saying in a statement that according to his own investigations, "it is clear that the soldiers of the Israeli military have operated in accordance with international law and the orders they received, even though they fought under difficult and complex. "
addition to this, the military added that "most of the testimonials are anonymous and lacking in detail to enable the Army to investigate, confirm or reject these allegations.
Among the testimonies, the figure of a soldier who tells how the Palestinian civilians were used as human shields in houses regarded as suspicious.
"In every house that we approached, we sent to neighbors within" he said.
In other testimony, one soldier says his officer explained that "sometimes, the forces [Israeli] go into a place with the barrel of a gun on the shoulder of a civilian, moving into a house and used as human shields."
According to the soldiers, the instructions were to shoot first and ask questions later. "We have not been instructed to shoot at everything that moved, but that overall, we were told` if you feel that you are in danger, shoot, '"said one of them.
This is the second time that the Israeli military is facing accusations from his own ranks after the massacre in Gaza. In March, revealed that soldiers defenseless Palestinian civilians died during the offensive, but the testimony was rejected by the Army, concluded that they were based on hearsay.
Despite this denial, many Israeli NGOs call for independent inquiry into what happened in Gaza.
In another report published in July, Amnesty International accused the Israeli army and Hamas of "war crimes", saying that the Zionist military "did not distinguish between civilian and military targets" and that used civilians, including children as human shields .
According to the report of medical services Palestinians, the Israeli offensive killed more than 1,400 dead and 5,000 injured Palestinians.
Barak: "We are the most ethical"
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday asked the soldiers to have any criticism, information or reservations about the conduct of the army to come directly to him instead of telling organizations independent.
"The criticism directed against the Army by one organization or another is inappropriate. The Israeli army is one of the most ethical army in the world and acts in accordance with the highest moral code, "said Barak was quoted by the daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot."
Yehuda Shaul, responsible Breaking the Silence, said that the Gaza offensive 'was the first time the Israeli army used a system of genuine civil war. " Before entering the soldiers, aircraft bombed the places to invade, then fired their artillery shells and then came the tanks. All this happened in areas populated by civilians. "This was the only way to have few casualties," said Shaul.
The Amir is the only reservist soldier who wanted to give his name. "We spent a week of maneuvers before the invasion and immediately we realized that was not a campaign like the others, but a war. We were allowed to shoot against all and this operation became Cast Lead [name of the Israeli army used to describe the slaughter] into something else. "
In any case, the soldiers who appear in the report Breaking the Silence does not argue against the need for the operation against Gaza, justified by Israel as a means of addressing the launching of homemade rockets from the Palestinian territory, but reject specific actions. Two soldiers, for example, denounced the order from a superior to kill a Palestinian who was walking along a road and that it posed no danger to anyone.
Another soldier said that one of his superiors, during a speech, he said that "the best translators of Arabic are the grenades" and that in the days leading rabbis circulated texts in which the Palestinians compared to the Philistines of Biblical times.
