Israeli soldier: We bombed civilian targets in Gaza for entertainment

[polly7]

By Middle East Monitor
Source: Middle East Monitor
May 8, 2015

An Israeli soldier said that he and his colleagues bombed civilian targets in the Gaza Strip during last year’s war on the enclave for entertainment.

During an interview with French Le Monde newspaper in Jerusalem yesterday, the soldier who identified himself as Arieh, 20, said: “I was called to service early on July 2014 and was deployed to the Gaza Strip but until that time the operation [Operation Protective Edge] was not announced yet. Only some soldiers speculated that there will be war, but later our commander told us to imagine a 200 metre radius and to immediately shoot anything moving inside this circle.”

“We bombed civilian targets for entertainment,” he said, adding that “one day at about 8am we went to the Al-Bureij; a highly dense residential area in central Gaza, and the commander told us to select a random target and shoot it, at the time we did not see any Hamas fighters, no one shot at us, but the commander told us jokingly: ‘We have to send Bureij a morning greeting from the Israeli army’.”

Arieh is one of about 60 Israeli soldiers who agreed to testify in a report prepared by Israeli human rights organisation Breaking the Silence.

The 237-page report concluded that the Israeli army left “unprecedented harm” among Palestinian civilians during the war through random firing and the application of loose rules of engagement

Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/israeli-soldier-we-bombed-civilian-targets-in-gaza-for-entertainment/

[oberliner]

1. A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan:

"What causes the documented high level of civilian casualties -- 3,000 - 3,400 [October 7, 2001 thru March 2002] civilian deaths -- in the U.S. air war upon Afghanistan? The explanation is the apparent willingness of U.S. military strategists to fire missiles into and drop bombs upon, heavily populated areas of Afghanistan."

When U.S. warplanes strafed [with AC-130 gunships] the farming village of Chowkar-Karez, 25 miles north of Kandahar on October 22-23rd,killing at least 93 civilians, a Pentagon official said, "the people there are dead because we wanted them dead." The reason? They sympathized with the Taliban1. When asked about the Chowkar incident, Rumsfeld replied, "I cannot deal with that particular village."2

http://cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm

[guillaumeb]

4. so Israel is following the US lead?

The US dropped 2 nuclear devices on Japan. Will Israel follow THAT lead as well?

[oberliner]

5. Every army in the world

Throughout all of recorded history.

Good that Israel has organizations that help bring this sort of thing to light.

Here's to a world without war.

[guillaumeb]

6. agreed with that.

[Little Tich]

7. Perhaps Rumsfeld should be called to the Hague and explain himself to the ICC. n/t

[libodem]

2. What kind of God

Do these people believe in? Shocking.

[Jefferson23]

3. "A morning greeting from the Israeli army." Thank goodness some are willing to talk about it.

If you look at what other governments do, like the US..then the report will be more palatable...just sayin'.

[oberliner]

8. Amen - Israel is pretty unique in this regard

There are Israelis who are actually willing to talk about the sort of thing that most countries pretend doesn't happen.

[King_David]

9. Agreed

[Judi Lynn]

10. Amazing, not in a good way. Thank you for this thread, the OP, the comments. n/t

[polly7]

11. You're welcome Judi Lynn.

Thanks from me also to the posters for their comments.

It really is amazing, isn't it? I hadn't read Jefferson23's post on it this yet (my paste thing just stopped working so I can't post the link, but it's the "If You Spot Someone Shoot" thread), and didn't even realize these 60 soldiers had testified and exposed these horrors. Good for them, I'm so impressed.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. It's time for Israel to go vefore the ICC.

Last edited Sun May 10, 2015, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Perhaps they can explain why they like killing Palestinians so much.