Saturday, March 21, 2009

Israel's crimes of war. The IDF an [im]moral force

Crimes of war rarely go unnoticed and undocumented. Two Israeli broadsheets 'Haaretz' and 'Maariv' provided accounts of riveting testimony
by IDF [Israeli Defence Force] 'grunts' testimony about unprovoked killing of civilian Gazans and deliberate and wanton destruction of private and public property during Israel 22 day war in the Gaza strip. Jerusalem's war minister Ehud Barak immediately discounted these eyewitness and on the ground accounts by saying they were the 'racontars' of a disgruntled minority, and what's more the Israeli military is a force of high moral standing. Well, what else can you expect from General Barak?
Much like US Vietnam vets who testified of similar crimes that the US military committed in Vietnam or US Iraqi vets publicly exposing similar crimes against the Iraqi civilian population, the IDF soldiers' revelation has sent tremours through Israeli society. How deep and how profound is open to question now. But make no doubt of it, the shock waves will resonate deep and wide and for longer than the Israeli government or elite can veil them in pious words and thin veils. And there is an element of religion to the war. Israel is crying from any bully pulpit that it can mount that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, burning with religious fervour, to carry out a holy war against Israel. Now what do we find from the soldiers' confessions? Extremist rabbis whipping up the troops frenzy to engage in a righteous and yes 'holy war' against Palestinian civilians. How moral then are the military chaplains? We are seeing the same old story since the dawn of the Torah...of the self proclaimed prophets of blood and gore urging destruction of the enemies of the Jewish people.
Jerusalem has a lot to explain. With an extreme right wing government in formation under Benjamin Netenyahu, it will be the same old same old and worse to come. Israel is fast slipping down the slope of many nations before it as it enters a dark age and decadent and immoral and inhuman policies.

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