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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
“Pretty Dirty Deal”
The witness:
An officer in an elite unit
The Location:
Refugee Camp, Tul Karem
Date:
Chanukah, 2003
Description:
Tul-Karem’s refugee camp, the time, if I remember correctly,
Chanukah 2003, it was to execute there about 9 people. Sorry, I
don’t remember what pretence we were given for the mission. I do
remember, though, that the unmanned surveillance aircraft was to
identify the group (of 9). As they said, that was the condition for
the mission.
What’s the background, what’s the objective?
The
background? I don’t remember exactly what these guys were up to,
but I think they were shooting at various vehicles, and other
similar objects…There’s a location in the Camp, or two, where they
spend the night. That’s a pretty dirty deal. The objective is to get
to them and to fire. And all this, based on the mentioned above
pretense. The unit didn’t have to come up with any pretense. This
means the unit didn’t have to actually see any weapons or something
like it.
The
order was to start shooting automatic the moment you entered the
alley.
Regardless whether you saw any weapons or didn’t. No waiting..?
Fire
Automatically.
I
understood. Grenades and long bursts…?
Yes.
We practiced shooting automatic fire (continuous bursts).
Relatively, in a long battle plan, I think a week long, which is a
long battle plan. We practiced shooting automatic fire, in brief, a
lot of shooting was going to happen.
I
understood. Where did the order originate?
What
do you mean? That’s the brigade commander (an officer of the rank of
general), Efraim, isn’t it? Something like that.
In short, the Brigade Commander?
At
least.
Who signed off on the order?
It
was either the Brigade Commander or the Deputy Brigade Commander who
signed the order.
Were you present when the order was signed?
Yes.
Was it called an execution mission?
No. It was called a shooting mission or something
like it, if I remember correctly. It was carried out.
What happened?
One
of the soldiers fouled up. That is they… even before the entrance
into the refugee camp, in one of the streets there, they (our guys)
patrolled and some of the locals came out of one of the alleys and
surprised our team who then shot at the locals but missed. That
happened once. After that they pretended as if ….
What do you mean surprised them? Was he armed?
Yes.
And after we pretended as if we ‘pulled one of their guys out’. The
unit commander decided to withdraw, despite the fact that the
mission was discovered…. I can even draw a picture as I remember
vividly how it happened. They (the guys on the patrol) imagined as
if and so they rushed off, and again, that is a distance of half a
minute from there. The same soldier noticed another patrol, and
received a message that two armed (Palestinians) were approaching,
opened fire too early again , missed, and decided to get out of
there,
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