Israeli soldiers’ group welcomes furor over Gaza war testimonies - Breaking the Silence calls for a revived public debate over the IDF’s Gaza war combat policies, after the controversial publication of a booklet of soldiers’ testimonies.
By Ariel David | May 13, 2015 | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.656177
A group of army veterans that published a collection of soldiers’ testimonials critical of the Israel Defense Forces’ conduct in the Gaza war is welcoming the furor that has been following the report’s publication.
Members of Breaking the Silence said Tuesday that even though many of the reactions to the report had been critical, the group felt it was succeeding in its goal of opening a public debate on what it claims was the army’s reckless disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians during last summer’s conflict.
“People do want to listen, even if there were angry reactions - we want to initiate a discussion on our morality and on the way we fought in Gaza,” said Avner Gvaryahu, a spokesman for the group.
“We want Israeli society to take responsibility,” he said at a presentation of the report held in a Tel Aviv conference hall. “We placed a mirror to the face of Israeli society, and the reflection is not a pretty one.”
The report released last week includes the testimonies of over 60 IDF soldiers and officers who fought in or provided combat support for Operation Protective Edge last July and August. Breaking the Silence says the testimonies indicate that to reduce risks for its soldiers, the IDF operated according to lax engagement rules, opening fire on Palestinian civilians and property even when they posed no evident or immediate threat.
The testimonies show that soldiers were told that any Palestinians remaining in the Gaza Strip neighborhoods that the IDF entered should be considered enemy combatants, said Avihai Stollar, the group’s chief researcher.
The army used fliers, phone calls and other techniques to warn civilians that it was about to enter certain areas of the coastal strip, and “the instructions the soldiers received were: ’we warned the civilians beforehand and anyone who remained in these neighborhoods is an enemy,’” Stollar said.
