Israeli soldiers expose the criminal nature
of the Gaza massacre

Stand with the People of Palestine!

By Eddie Pages

The author is a member of March Forward!, an organization of veterans and service members who stand against war and racism.

Despite the Israeli government’s best efforts to bury it, the truth about the events that took place during the massacre of Gaza continues to rise to the surface. Twenty-six Israeli soldiers have come forward to share their stories and testify on many of the criminal events that took place between December 27 and January 21when the Israeli military carried out massive bombing campaigns and a ground offensive against the people of Gaza, killing 1,400. (Guardian, July 15)

The pictures they have painted of the massacre are not really new. Such atrocities have been the stock and trade of Israeli colonialism and occupation since 1948.

Like the U.S. soldiers who came forward to testify about crimes they had witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli soldiers share one thing in common with one another: All of them feel that what they were ordered to do was morally wrong. And just like the response of politicians and Pentagon brass in Washington to U.S. soldier testimony, the official line in Tel Aviv is that these soldiers are simply lying.

Israel claims that it did not use Palestinians as human shields. However, a soldier from the Egoz unit said that the military did use Palestinians in exactly this way in Gaza. When crossing roads and entering buildings, soldiers were ordered to place their rifles on the shoulders of civilians, who would serve as shields. The act is known as the “neighbor procedure” and has been banned by the Israeli Supreme Court since 2004.

Israel has stated that it only used white phosphorous—a chemical weapon that can produce extensive deep second- and third-degree burns when it comes into contact with human skin—to cover troop movements and not as a weapon. But a soldier reported having seen troops fire white phosphorus into buildings to detonate weapons caches inside them. (Huffington Post, July 15)

According to a report of Amnesty International, which collected and cataloged shells throughout Gaza, the white phosphorous shells were produced in U.S. factories. One of the Israeli soldiers, said, “There was no need to use weapons like mortars or phosphorous.” “I have the feeling that the army was looking for the opportunity to show off its strength,” said another.

Israeli soldiers have testified that the destruction of Gaza was justified to them by their commanders on the basis that Gaza would be easier to control “the day after” Israeli forces withdrew.

The Israeli government has tried to convince the world that Israeli soldiers were instructed not to do harm to civilians or civilian property. These lies, too, are being exposed by soldiers who have testified that commanders held zero concern for civilian life. One soldier testified that he was told, “If you are not sure—shoot.”

These stories make it clear that the atrocities committed against the people of Gaza were in fact institutionalized and sanctioned and not just the acts of “a few bad apples.”

Another soldier was quoted as saying, “You feel like a stupid little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them. A 20-year-old kid should not have to do these kinds of things to other people.”

Israeli soldiers in Palestine and U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan experience a huge disconnect between what they see and do on the ground and the claims made by senior officers and government officials.

The bourgeoisie in Washington and their military representatives—known as the officer corps—are never sent to kill or be killed. Enlisted soldiers—workers in uniform—are sent to do the dirty work of the ruling class. March Forward! applauds and stands with all soldiers—in the U.S. and across the world—who no longer carry out the crimes of imperialist war and occupation.

The Israeli attack on the people of Gaza was a blatant violation of international law. Article 33 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention reads, in part: “No protected person [civilian] may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”

Collective punishment is a war crime. The brutality inflicted on the people of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan is undeniably a form of collective punishment.

March Forward! demands an immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade, an end to U.S. aid to Israel, self-determination for the Palestinian people, and an end to all imperialist wars. We encourage all soldiers, Israeli and U.S., to speak out against the crimes we are being ordered to commit and to refuse all illegal and immoral orders.

March Forward! stands with the people of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan struggling to free themselves and shake off the shackles of colonialism!

This is not our war!
MarchForward.org