Let’s take a look at what some interviewees have said about Operation Cast Lead.
“We weren’t told outright to shoot anything we saw moving but this was the implication . . . I understood from the briefing that it’s better to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“We were fired at and we fired back toward suspect spots. What is a suspect spot? It means you decided it was suspect and could take out all your rage on it.”
“Because in training you learn that white phosphorus is not used, and you’re taught that it’s not humane. You watch films and see what it does to people who are hit, and you say, ‘There, we’re doing it too.’ That’s not what I expected to see. Until that moment I had thought I belonged to the most humane army in the world.”
“The guys would simply break stuff. Some were out to destroy and trash the whole time. They drew a disgusting drawing on the wall. They threw out sofas. They took down a picture from the wall just to shatter it. They really couldn’t see why they shouldn’t . . . We were allowed to do anything we want. Who’s to tell us not to?”
“When you enter a house on a mapping action, the family look at you but here you didn’t know if this was a terrorist’s house at all. So the assumption is that everyone is a terrorist and then it’s legitimate to do just anything we please.”
Others reported widespread use of civilian human shields forced to break into neighboring homes suspected of being booby-trapped or of containing armed men, which is a recognized war crime, as is the use of white phosphorus in a congested civilian area.
Another recounted how an unarmed old man carrying a torch was gunned down on the orders of his superior who refused to allow deterrent fire as the man approached. “His was a scream I will never forget as long as I live,” said the interviewee.
The report’s many detractors say it is unreliable due to the anonymity of witnesses but, in fact, it merely confirms earlier revelations from graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin Pre-Military Academy who spoke of the cold-blooded murder of Gaza civilians.
As a result, the academy’s director, Danny Zamir, was smeared and vilified as someone who aids Israel’s enemies. As expected the IDF was exonerated by a judge who closed a military police investigation into accounts of human rights violations by troops in Gaza.
