Amira Hass on civilian victims of Israeli fire in the Gaza war (2008-9)

In her piece she refers to "Breaking the Silence", the Israeli group that publishes testimony drawing on personal experiences of former Israeli soldiers.

This UK Channel 4 segment offers interviews with three former Israeli soldiers who fought in the Gaza War, all members of Breaking the Silence".

US Response to Gaza: April 21, 4:30 pm at MIT

Goldstone Commission member draws fire

[Cross-posted with Informed Comment: Global Agenda]

Desmond Travers, one of the four members of the Goldstone Commission, has drawn fire for noting that an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire, initiated in June 2008, was being respected by Hamas, at least until Israel punctured the ceasefire early November 2008.* In an interview in Middle East Memo, a London-based website that focuses on the Middle East and seeks to promote “fair and accurate coverage” of the Middle East, Travers claims that only two rockets were fired into Israel the month before Israel’s Gaza operation began. Travers is correct, but he should have been more precise. While the ceasefire technically expired in December 2008, in early November Israel broke the ceasefire by launching a raid into Gaza.

Here is what Travers said to interviewer Dr. Hanan Chehata:

HC - Israel claims that its attack on Gaza was based on self-defence. In your opinion is their claim of self-defence enough of a reason to justify their attack on Gaza last year?

DT – No, I reject that entirely. No, my first sentence is that Israel, like every other country, has a right to defend itself. However, it should be borne in mind that the number of rockets that had been fired into Israel in the month preceding their operations was something like two. The Hamas rockets had ceased being fired into Israel and not only that but Hamas sought a continuation of the ceasefire. Two had been fired from Gaza, but they are likely to have been fired by dissident groups.

HC – For how long had there been a ceasefire?

DT - From June [2008]. And Hamas sought an extension of the ceasefire with Israel and Israel said no. To be honest, Israel might have had a very good reason to refuse an extension of the ceasefire because we all know, in the counter-insurgency world, that ceasefires are opportunities for insurgents to re-arm and re-equip but unfortunately they have never offered that as an explanation, but it is possible, if I’m trying to be fair to them [the Israelis].

Travers is correct. The ceasefire was working. According to Israeli data, including “The Six Months of the Lull Arrangement,” a study prepared by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (released in December 2008), from June 2008 until November 4, 2008 a ceasefire (“lull” in the Israeli report) produced a significant reduction in missile and rocket from Gaza into Israel. Israel significantly reduced its attacked into Gaza during that period as well. Israeli compiled figures, indicate that 20 rockets and 18 mortar shells were fired from Gaza. 17 of the rockets and 15 of the mortar rounds reached Israel. Of those that reached Israel, the numbers per month, from June to October were 9, 6, 11, 3 and 2, respectively. To quote the report (at p. 7):

[During the period of the ceasefire] “Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire and its operatives were not involved in rocket attacks. At the same time, the movement tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations and to prevent them from violating it. Hamas took a number of steps against networks which violated the arrangement, but in a limited fashion and contenting itself with short-term detentions and confiscating weapons.

On November 4, Israel launched a raid into Gaza, which it justified as being necessary to pre-empt a Hamas operation. At least six Hamas members were killed. Hamas denies that it was preparing an operation, and it retaliated by firing rockets into Israel. Thus did the ceasefire end.

Even after the November incident, Hamas was wiling to extend the ceasefire, but with several provisos, notably an end Israel’s crippling blockade of the strip. Israel rejected the Hamas conditions and the ceasefire expired in Decemver. Arguably, when Hamas refused to extend the ceasefire, it was a gift to Israel “on a gold platter,” to borrow the metaphor of the Egyptian Foreign Minister (see my “The Gaza War: Antecedents and Consequences” for more details).

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched the Gaza war with the tragic and troubling results that are elaborated in the Goldstone Report.

*For instance, see the comments of Alan Dershowitz who accuses Travers of having an "anti-Israel agenda" and defying the historical record. Dershowitz has recently drawn fire himself for allegedly calling Judge Richard Goldstone a "moser", a Jew who informs on other Jews. Dershowitz later stated that he did not know what the Yiddish term meant, a claim that strains credulity.

Goldstone Commission member Desmond Travers

"5. What is your view of the claim by Israeli officials that the IDF is the most “moral” army in the world?

"Given the tactics, the weapons used, and the indiscriminate targeting, I think this is a dubious claim."

Bill Moyers interviews Judge Richard Goldstone

Judge Goldstone advises Israel to come to grips with the substance of the report

From his OPED

"In Gaza, I was surprised and shocked by the destruction and misery there. I had not expected it. I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects. I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works. These are not military targets. I have not heard or read any government justification for this destruction. 

"OF COURSE the children of Sderot and the children of Gaza have the same rights to protection under international law and that is why, notwithstanding the decision of the government of Israel, we took whatever steps were open to us to obtain information from victims and experts in southern Israel about the effects on their lives of sustained rocket and mortar attacks over a period of years. It was on the strength of those investigations that we held those attacks to constitute serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity."

The Obama administration's ill-advised attempt to marginalize the Goldstone report and to immunize Israel from accountability for its apparently reprehensible actions in Gaza has not worked.  Instead, the documented charges of war crimes will have to be addressed.  As a leading rightwing Israeli politician noted a few days ago, in a private discussion in which I participated, Israel must either act credibly on war crimes accusations, or watch while the international community does so.   

Israeli report--no surprise--argues that its war was proportionate and respected humanitarian law

With the UN investigation headed by Richard Goldstone poised to release its report [in August], the new Israeli document is obviously intended to dampen Goldstone's impact. While the report refers to ongoing investigations of Israeli actions stemming from the war, the tone of narrative suggests that Israeli soldiers and officers will likely be absolved of any serious charges.

While the report avows Israel's deep respect for humanitarian law and Israel's regret for civilians' suffering, Israel's actions since the war ended would seem to undermine its claims.

For instance, Israel's systematic destruction of irrigation systems and agricultural wells in parts of Gaza indicates that one purpose of Israeli policy is to undermine Gazan's ability to sustain more than a subsistence economy at best.

The treatment of the 2008 ceasefire is revealing because it blames Hamas for ending the ceasefire, but says nothing about Israeli actions in November 2008 that effectively ended the ceasefire. These actions are explicitly noted in a report released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry (follow link here).

In short, those of you who have been following events closely will find no particular surprises here, but the report does offer Israel's official version of events.

Update: "Nothing to hide" IDF shuns Rabbis for Human Rights and their push for an independent inquiry into Gaza war actions.

Exchanges of letters continue on the Margailit/Walzer essay on the IDF and the tagetting of civilians

'Israel: Civilians & Combatants': An Exchange - The New York Review of Books

Link to essay

Earlier exchange

Amira Hass reports that the Israeli army is working hard to insure that no more soldiers break the silence

With Goldstone commission expected to issue their report in August, damning reports already released by HRW and Amnesty, and a variety of legal actions in progress around the globe, officials of the "most moral army" (as Ehud Barak insists on labeling the Israeli army) are apparently working hard to keep soldiers who fought in Gaza quiet. Therefore, this is a good time to see what all the fuss is about and read "Breaking the Silence".

Hass observes that:

"The testimonies in the booklet prove again and again the reliability of the testimony by Palestinians. And vice versa: The Palestinian affidavits prove the authenticity of the soldiers' statements.

"The accumulating testimonies prove that it wasn't a matter of rotten apples but rather a conscious policy. Therefore the IDF and the government that sent it into action must prevent further such confirmations of the truth.

"It suits the IDF that after their release, soldiers travel to Peru and Colombia to bury their agonized memories or belated insights - as adults. The IDF prefers that its demobilized soldiers travel to Goa to get stoned out of their minds before Breaking the Silence activists reach them."

Extensive testimony from the UN Fact-finding commission on the Gaza war chaired by Richard Goldstone

You will find links for Arabic and English videos of testimony before the commission from 28-9 June and 6-7 July, 2009. The videos offer authentic accounts of episodes in the Gaza war, as well as some systematic details on the utilities and health sectors.

Breaking the Silence: 30 IDF soldiers disclose the gulf between declared policy and practice in the Gaza war

See BBC site for download of the book.

Goldstone human rights investigation of Gaza war continues; meanwhile, important reports from HRW and Amnesty

Human Rights Watch criticizes Israel for its failure to take sufficient steps to distinguish between civilians and combatants when using drone-launched missiles.

Amnesty International castigates Israel for its failure to properly investigate the alleged war crimes of its army, and also condemns Hamas for committing war crimes by firing indiscriminate rockets at civilian targets.

Amnesty's coverage of the unrest in Iran is also noteworthy and is available in Persian and English.

UN War Crimes Commission enters Gaza June 1, 2009

After Israel refused to grant the team headed by the highly respected Judge Richard Goldstone access to Gaza via Israel, the group entered Gaza today, June 1, 2009, via Egypt. Israel notes that "it is impossible to cooperate" with Goldstone because there is no way the findings may be objective, given the alleged inherent bias of the United Nations Human Rights Council that appointed Goldstone and the other members of his group. Thus, Israel impugns Goldstone and those working with him as incapable of drawing objective conclusions based on a careful weighing of audience.

""They have been instructed to prove that Israel is guilty and we will not collaborate with such a masquerade," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AP news agency."

This is a stupid defense that may fly with those consumed by paranoia, but it would be rather strange for a figure of Goldstone's stature to allow himself to be used as Israelis claim.

Behind the stonewalling there is little doubt that the real problem with Goldstone, for Israel, is the fact that any report that he puts is name on is very likely to be received as credible and fair minded. Since he has already expressed his concerns about the high numbers of civilian casualties in the Gaza war, Israel knew that there was a big risk that the war crimes accusations that have already been credibly placed would be validated by a man of international standing.

This is not to say that Hamas will be let off the hook either, since any serious report will have to take note of the group's intentional targeting of civilians.

Earlier post includes names of commission members. And see this very helpful posting from UN-Truth.

An exchange on the Margalit/Walzer piece

'Israel & the Rules of War': An Exchange - The New York Review of Books
Original piece.

The SG's Board of Inquiry report on 9 incidents in the Gaza war

The Secretary-General Off the Cuff

The full report has not been released but an extended summary, which Ban Ki-Moon claims is faithful to the full report, was prepared by the UN Secretariat. The summary is available here. Even in summarized form the report--examining a total of nine incidents--reveals pattern of intentional targeting of UN facilities by the Israeli army, which exercised inadequate regard for protected persons and sites. Several untruthful claims by Israeli officials are noted. In one instance it found Hamas gunmen responsible for firing, in another it did not determine responsibility.

See this informative Guardian report, and UN-Truth has a nice summary about the release of the Board of Inquiry report.

The Israeli reaction to the report was to accuse the investigators of bias and negligence. Citing Israel's own inquiry, the statement claims that the IDF did not intentionally fire on UN installations. "The State of Israel rejects the criticism in the board's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to the committee. The board of inquiry has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world."

Perhaps the most noteworthy component of the Israeli statement is in the final paragraph: "Israel views the publication of the report's findings as the end of the internal UN inspection process." In that regard, Ban Ki-Moon has indicated that there will no further investigations, in contrast to the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry.

Only "hearsay"?: IDF misbehavior in Gaza

The Israeli Military Advocate General is Brigadier General AvichaiMendelblit. He concluded that Israeli soldiers' reports of the intentional killing of civilians in Gaza and other possible war crimes are "hearsay". As Amos Harel notes, the investigation was extraordinarily quick, so quick that some of the claims were not explored at all. (A thorough report would have to examine the IDF's "Rules of Engagement" in the Gaza war. As I have noted here on several occasions the Israeli army's behavior all too often often causes excessive civilian casualties.)

Inspectors general typically report to the commanding general, and they are formally charged with performing independent investigations. An inspector general in the U.S. system has complete authority to question soldiers, officers and civilians who may have information pertinent to the case at hand. Their reports are not reviewed by any command authority prior to the submission of findings to the commander. In my experience, their reports are typically extensive and require quite some time to prepare in complex cases. In this instance, the Israeli Inspector General required less than two weeks, which is quite swift.

Since the inspector general is usually a respected member of the organization that he or she is investigating, it is probably not surprising that investigators often describe crimes and misdemeanors as exceptions to organizational norms. It is relatively uncommon to read an official report that reveals broad patterns of abuse, and the authors of such exceptional reports risk being ostracized. A U.S. example is Major General Antonio Taguba, who was tasked to investigate the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. His report revealed that what happened at AbuGhraib was not merely the misbehavior of a few poorly trained soldiers, but was the product of serious command failures in Iraq. Taguba was privately castigated for his findings and retired without fanfare. In contrast, General Mendelblit is unlikely to be canned for his findings, which stop just short of calling the soldiers' allegations risible.

Instead, his investigation is cited by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to show: "These testimonies were exhaustively examined and investigated by Military Police and the Military Advocacy and, to my satisfaction, have been proven to be unfounded and lacking in any factual base."

Despite these official denials, allegations of IDF misbehavior during the Gaza war are not receding. The UN has appointed Richard Goldstone, a respected South African jurist, to lead an investigation. Goldstone, has experience with war crimes cases in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, is be assisted by British international law expert Christine Chinkin, Pakistani lawyer Hina Jilani and retired Irish army Colonel Desmond Travers, a veteran of tough service in the Middle East as well as in the Balkans. (I have known Travers for 30 years and I have a deep respect for his fairness and his professionalism.)

Also of note: Israeli behavior in the Gaza war has apparently affected Israeli exports to Europe, which have declined dramatically.

Report on IDF use of WP by Human Rights Watch

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel phosphorus use criticised

See Human Rights Watch report, which may be downloaded here.

The "most humane" army

Soldiers often extol their moral purpose, their selflessness and their ethics while vilifying their enemies as deviant and immoral. In this sense, Israeli soldiers are no more chauvinistic than those who serve under other flags. Any respectable army includes training on military ethics, including the Laws of Warfare. This training would include standards for the treatment of prisoners, the protection of civilians and the conduct of soldiers in hostile areas.

Yet, Israeli civilian and military leaders often claim that the Israeli army is not just ethically informed but exceptionally moral and humane. As the accumulation of reports of IDF misbehavior and war crimes during the Gaza war once again demonstrate, refering to the IDF as "the most humane army in the world" is an oxymoron.

Ashkenazi: IDF is a ‘moral’ army | JTA - Jewish & Israel News: "'I don't believe that soldiers serving in the IDF hurt civilians in cold blood, but we shall wait for the results of the investigation,' Ashkenazi said, adding that the IDF 'is the most humane army in the world.'"

The Israeli army: realities versue hype

Richard Falk's important report on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian territories. The report is noteworthy for its attention to war crimes allegations in connection with Israel's assault on Gaza, December 27, 2009-January 18, 2009. Many of these issues have been addressed here in various postings.

Also worth pondering is Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's widely quoted claim in connection with revelations from Israeli soldiers about the intention murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza:

"I still say we have the most moral army in the world. Of course there may be exceptions but I have absolutely no doubt this will be inspected on a case-by-case basis," he said.

By "most moral" Barak means the "most ethical" army in the world.

My own view, which reflects my observations of the Israeli army in action in Lebanon and in the occupied territories, as well as my studies and review of primary and secondary materials on the IDF in action, is that the Israeli army frequently operates with rules of engagement that do not respect the immunities of protected persons, i.e., non-combatants, and that permit the wanton destruction of private property (the Gaza campaign is the most recent illustration). Moreover, Israeli soldiers who engage in looting, who abuse prisoners and who use disproportionate or indiscriminate firepower are seldom seriously punished, if they are punished at all. Therefore, I would argue that Barak's claim is not accurate, although it may have PR value.

Does this mean the other side behave like angels? Not at all; but it is past time to understand that the Israeli army is hardly the most ethical or moral army in the world.

I would add that Israeli military actions have often made more enemies for Israel, while solidififying anti-Israeli solidarity. I first wrote about this many years in my early articles on Lebanon, as well as in my book Amal and the Shi'a, and especially the chapter on "Making Enemies in Lebanon".

Murders in Gaza

IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement - Haaretz - Israel News

See this commentary also.