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Over
the last year ‘Breaking the Silence’ has collected testimonies given
by hundreds of IOF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers who served in
the territories during the last conflict. These testimonies reveal
the impossible reality those soldiers have to face, and the terrible
moral price this reality demands. Selected collections from those
testimonies have been published in testimonial collections produced
by ‘Breaking the Silence’.
The
present collection is not just one more testimonial-collection,
revealing the brutal routine of the territories’ reality, or the
constant moral degradation and erosion of soldiers’ values. The
collection focuses on IOF orders, rules of engagement and
operational procedures. It presents a grave picture of evidently
illegal orders given frequently, and in different times and places:
firing at civilians who pose no risk, revenge operations,
intentionally shooting at rescue-forces, and more. This collection
reveals the depth of the military administration’s moral corruption,
and the dimness of moral sense, which has spread to the highest
ranks. The testimonies in this collection concerns various units
that were operative in the territories in different times and at
different places, and is thus an evidence for the magnitude of the
moral decay, and for the depths to which flawed norms have diffused.
It
is also apparent that the IOF’s self-inspection system has failed to
fulfill its duty. This also applies to the civilian and
parliamentary inspection mechanisms, which, during the last
confrontations, have consistently refrained from criticizing the
army’s mode of conduct in general, and its rules of engagement in
particular. This brings out sharply an urgent need to create a
platform on which the information we have gathered here can be
presented, in order to examine what this information teaches, as
well as the IOF’s mode of conduct during the last confrontations. A
civilized and decent society cannot survive without a continuous
inspection and criticism of the most powerful organization operating
within it. ‘Breaking the Silence’ is therefore calling for the
establishment of an independent public inspection committee, which
will enable a responsible disclosure and examination of the facts.
Listening and taking responsibility is the very least that is
required of society and its representatives in a civilized and
decent society founded on basic moral values.
The Yossy Bachar Horror Show
Witness: Staff sergeant,
Paratroops
Place of incident: Nablus
Date: end of 2003
Description:
There
was an operation where we were supposed to enter the city. We called
it “Yossi Bachar’s Horror Show”. Aviv Kohavi was replaced by Yossi
Bachar. You know, every new brigade commander wants to leave an
impression, wants to make a big entrance. He got us into this
completely useless operation… and in the end of this operation there
was this part when we put ‘New-Jerseys’ roadblocks, those plastic
roadblocks. So we were putting these New-Jersey’s roadblocks, and
the battalion commander gave an order… because we put these
New Jerseys to block the traffic… in Nablus…
Getting to the point, we put these New Jerseys and the kids there,
those who throw stones all the time, would come and move them away.
There was a mess. We couldn’t… In the beginning we would put the
New Jerseys and the local residents would move them away, so we put it again, and
then there were riots and stone throwing and it became a complete
mess. Then the battalion commander gave the order: “Whoever touches
the roadblock, the New
Jerseys, must be shot in the legs.” Live ammunition. Shoot his legs.
We were, I was, supposed to do it. In my Army vehicle there was
talk, and we asked whether he was out of his mind; a person touches
the roadblock – are we to shoot him in the legs? [We thought] he was
just making noise.
Apparently, this specific battalion commander. thought very highly
of setting personal example. In a roadblock he came to – I was not
personally there, but the guys from the commanding crew [soldiers
who join the commander on operations]… And actually this was a known
case: the man drove his jeep next to some New Jersey, and saw this
kid touching it – apparently at some distance – and aimed at the
kid's leg. But, you know, instead of hitting the kid in the legs he
hit him in the chest, and killed him. For touching a New Jersey. If
you’ll excuse me, I do not think of touching a New Jersey as a
reason for death.
How do you know the kid is dead?
Hear
say. But the kid is dead. This is a well-known story. We got back to
base from this operation, we talked, and then the guys who were with
the commanding crew say: “Hey guys, *** killed a kid, a kid
murderer, kid murderer, he killed a kid.” They told us the story.
People who saw it happen. I’m pretty sure. I cannot think that
someone went and checked his pulse, but not many kids survive a
bullet in the chest.
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