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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 Meat Market at Dir-Al-Balah
Witness: Staff
sergeant, Armored troops
Place:
Dir-Al-Balah
Description:
I
was in Dir-Al-Balah. We were to enter Dir-Al-Balah…
Why get inside?
It
was after some mortars had been shot, and the order was: every
person you see on the street, shoot to kill. It was relatively early
night.
Who gave the order? What was his rank?
Either a platoon commander or a reserve unit battalion commander. We
got inside, and saw this man. My commander who was new and very
enthusiastic… he said “shoot”. We shot. And when we saw the man fall
the commander verified his kill with tens of heavy-gun bullets.
When you say, “We shot”, were you using the tank’s guns, or did you
shoot a shell?
No,
just the guns.
Fire from tank-guns. And then the commander verifies the kill… At
what distance?
70
meters.
When the kill verification was over… did the commander take the
heavy gun and shoot some more, or what?
He shot another heavy-gun bullet case. The guy was certainly hit by
bullets by then. He first falls, and then the commander empties a
bullet case on him.
Now, I would like to go back to the open fire orders.
It
was a time when the procedure would constantly change. Generally, in
the big operations we were involved… Every person that was on the
street was not supposed to be there. So every person that is on the
street – armed or unarmed – boom, we shoot.
And this was the order after mortars were shot?
Yes.
Do you know of your having killed somebody?
Yes.
For sure. I would open a newspaper every day and see how many were
killed. I wouldn’t understand.
And how was this treated?
Sort
of like a meat market.
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