Last Thursday night, the New York Times Lede blog posted a video that had been put up on YouTube by B'Tzelem, an Israeli human rights organization. I'm going to flip the order and give you the description of the video first, and then the video itself. Then I have a comment to make after the video.
Updated | Friday | 2:44 p.m. A video uploaded to YouTube by an Israeli human rights group on Wednesday shows an Israel Defense Forces officer pointing a gun at a Palestinian who appears to be unarmed. The group, B’Tselem, says it was filmed on June 18 at a gasoline station in Beit Ummar, a town in the West Bank.
The video shows an Israeli officer — a first lieutenant, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz — yelling at a Palestinian man. The officer shoves the man, raises his gun, and for a moment, brings the muzzle to the man’s face. The officer then lowers the gun, takes a few steps back, and raises it again.
According to Haaretz, an unidentified representative for the Israel Defense Forces said the incident would be investigated.
On Friday, Capt. Barak Raz of the I.D.F. confirmed that the incident was under investigation.
“This is not the type of behavior we expect, not of our soldiers and certainly not of our commanders, both professionally and ethically,” Captain Barak said.
As my colleague Robert Mackey has reported, the group B’Tselem distributes video cameras to Palestinians so that demonstrations and rights abuses in the Palestinian territories can be documented.
Reached by e-mail on Thursday, a spokeswoman for B’Tselem, Sarit Michaeli, said the video posted this week had indeed been filmed by a volunteer. The video, Ms. Michaeli explained, shows a resident of Beit Ummar being detained by soldiers on suspicion of throwing stones. When a male relative of the young suspect tried to intervene, Ms. Michaeli said, the officer pointed his gun at the man.
Let's go to the videotape.
I watched this video this evening with a friend who had a very interesting comment:
It’s difficult to know for sure, but it seems a reasonable interpretation of the video that the officer overreacted and earned himself a reprimand or the like.
But what’s most interesting is not the officer but the Palestinians. All of them, including the one with a gun pointed at his head, seem utterly unconcerned that the officer might shoot. They are well aware, contrary to the propaganda of the anti-Israel radicals, that even officers who violate disciplinary rules (like this one appears to) are never going to randomly shoot Palestinian civilians, even in the heat of an argument. Would you talk this way to a soldier or policeman if you had a serious fear he would shoot you?
Compare that video to some of the videos we've seen of Syria over the past several months. Notice how people in Syria (and for that matter Bahrain where we saw similar videos) scatter when the gunfire starts.
Richard Kemp speaks to British - Israel Conference
I trust that many of you remember Richard Kemp, the British army officer who famously said
"During its operation in Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare."
In March, Kemp spoke at the British - Israel Conference, but for some reason his speech has only been published now. Here is some of it.
Lieutenant Paul Mervis was a Jewish soldier.
He grew up in London, and was educated at King’s College School Wimbledon. He spent a gap year in Israel, studying Hebrew. During his service in Afghanistan, His sister Hannah and brother Jack sent him a provisions parcel with matzah and dried chicken soup so that he could mark the Passover festival while on duty. Paul carried a 1936 issue Soldier’s Siddur which had previously belonged to Sergeant Dave Newman, a Jewish soldier who fought in the Battle of El Alamein in World War II.
It would have been equally possible for Paul to have opted to join the Israeli Defence Forces to realise his soldierly ambitions, as do so many young British Jewish men and women. In fact he did undergo training with the IDF during his gap year before joining the British Army.
But had he joined the IDF, instead of developing into a brave, dedicated military leader concerned for the welfare of his men and taking every conceivable step to protect the civilian population, would Paul Mervis have become a callous, brutal thug, haphazardly dropping white phosphorous into the houses of innocent civilians? Would Paul Mervis have deliberately and without qualms killed women and children? Would Paul Mervis have blown up schools, raked ambulances with machinegun fire?
No. No. No. Because that image of the Israeli Defence Forces is horribly false.
This malevolent portrayal of the Israeli Defence Forces is carefully and systematically planned, cultivated, developed, expanded and relentlessly driven forward. It is the key part of what amounts to nothing less than a pernicious and increasingly dangerous global conspiracy of propaganda aimed at the total delegitimization of the state of Israel. A conspiracy that has so far exceeded in its international scope, anything dreamt of even by that master of propaganda, Dr Josef Goebbels himself, spreading the idea that Israel is so evil that it has no right even to exist, aiming for the point where that idea becomes an acceptable, mainstream argument in our societies.
JJ Goldberg tried to give a lesson in what being Jewish is all about, and discovered that not everyone liked it.
One comment sort of took my breath away, I must admit. A faithful reader named Howard informs me that I am “an enemy of G-d, Torah and Judaism.” This comes as a shock. I take the Good Book pretty seriously, as those who know me are aware, and I go to considerable lengths to stay on the right side of the Big Guy. It would be a drag to discover that all my efforts were so unappreciated.
And what brought this acrimony on JJ Goldberg (no relation to Jeffrey Goldberg although he does quote him) is an attempt to defend Richard Goldstone.
Again, for the millionth time, Goldstone is no mystery. He is a devoted Jew and passionate, lifelong Zionist, former world chairman of ORT, no less, and a former honorary life member of the Hebrew University board of governors (until he was kicked off last year) who thought his credentials as a world-renowned human rights jurist would help him to win Israel a better hearing than it would otherwise have gotten. He wasn’t expecting Israel to refuse to cooperate, leaving him only with the other side’s evidence. Having signed up for the job, he signed onto a report that drew the relevant inferences from the available evidence. And its primary recommendation, if you read it, was that Israel and Hamas, both having committed apparent (this was not a judicial verdict) war crimes should conduct investigations. Israel did so. Hamas did not.
And, no, Jeff, he never said he was surprised that Hamas killed people. He’s not that naïve. He was disappointed that Hamas refused to conduct any sort of investigation. Most organizations, even terrorist organizations, make some pretense of concern for the opinions of mankind. So yes, Hamas caught him off guard. Then again, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Not even enemies of the Torah like me.
That's a load of hogwash. Goldstone was warned by just about everybody who had access to him that he was going to be used to skewer Israel. The Israeli government made it quite clear to him from the outset that there was no way it would cooperate with an investigation sponsored by the UN 'Human Rights Council.' And certainly that it would not cooperate with an investigation that only examined Israel's actions and not Hamas'. The man is so obtuse that he still cannot admit that his mandate was never legally changed.
It wasn't the recommendations that ticked people here off. The IDF routinely investigates anyway. It was the repeated claim - that Goldstone sort of repudiated in his Washington Post piece - that Israel deliberately sought to damage civilian infrastructure in Gaza. And it was the aspersion cast on Israel's courts in general and the IDF and the military justice system in particular that they were not capable of conducting impartial investigations.
The evidence in Israel's favor was there. It was presented to him by Israeli NGO's like NGO Monitor and Sderot Media, and much of it was publicly available on the internet (on this blog among many others). Goldstone chose to ignore it because it wasn't officially presented to his high and mighty butt by the Israeli government.
What on earth made Goldstone or anyone else think Hamas would investigate at all, let alone investigate credibly? What 'public opinion' or legal scholar would sway Hamas? The concept is too laughable to deserve a response.
But what JJ doesn't get at the end of the day is that for some of us, the libelous crap written by Goldstone and his cohorts is a matter of life and death. You see, we don't live in Manhattan. We live in Israel, where Hamas is constantly seeking ways to attack us. How much more restricted with the IDF's ability to defend us be the next time as a result of the Goldstone experience? Those who defend Goldstone are endangering their fellow Jews. For that, they are worthy of 'Howard's - and everyone else's - opprobrium.
Call this the chilling effect of the Goldstone Report.
The IDF has issued new maps for use by its troops in case of another war in the Gaza Strip. The maps designate some 3,000 buildings and sites in the 360-square kilometer strip as being 'off limits' as targets for IDF troops, regardless of how Hamas is using them. That's an increase from 1,800 sites that were off limits during Operation Cast Lead.
The list included hospitals, United Nations facilities, schools, power grids, flour mills, food storage centers and various homes and office buildings.
Senior IDF officers have told The Jerusalem Post that new maps being drafted by the Gaza Division in the Southern Command ahead of a possible future operation in Gaza now include more than 3,000 sites that are off-limits to attacks.
The list is composed by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, which receives the location and identification of each site, mostly from nongovernmental organizations and the Palestinian Authority. Each site is then reviewed by Military Intelligence and other security agencies.
“This is part of our preparations for a future conflict in Gaza,” a senior officer told the Post last week. “We hope that this will assist us in minimizing civilian casualties and damages to civilian infrastructure.”
To give you an idea of what this means, during Operation Cast Lead, the Hamas leadership - and probably kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit - were in a bunker underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. It was off limits to IDF troops.
It's amazing any 'Palestinians' get killed in these wars, given that they have so many places that are considered off limits for IDF action against terrorists.
Remember the IDF's KfirBrigade? The IDF is considering shutting down this elite combat unit because they are 'too loyal' to their rabbis.
The Kfir Brigade, where Havat Gilad soldier who was sentenced to 30 Days in Prison, Private Shimon Weizman, served might be dismantled.
Ynet learned that two more recruits, who where asked on Tuesday whether or not they are faithful to their commander or to their rabbi - responding that their loyalty lies with the rabbi first and foremost – might be dismissed from the brigade. Other recruits serving in the same brigade said they will not allow the brigade commander to behave this way, threatening to organize a mutiny if necessary.
What they should have said is that their first loyalty is to God and His Torah.
The IDF has a concept of an order that is 'prima facie illegal' (bilti chuki ba'alil) and soldiers are taught that when they are given such an order, they are not to obey it (it's a legacy of the Nuremberg trials where many Nazis claimed they were 'just following orders'). It seems to me that for a Jewish state, an order that is clearly against the Torah ought to fit the bill.
The picture at the top is of a kid from the same town from which I immigrated to Israel who was thrown out of his unit for refusing to participate in the Gaza expulsion in 2005.
During his trip to Israel this past summer, Michael Totten saw how the IDF trains its soldiers to fight in civilian areas while not harming civilians. The doctrine is called purity of arms.
God only knows how Hezbollah trains its fighters, but I have a pretty good idea what the Israelis are up to because Abe Lapson, an IDF director of combat engineering, hosted me at the urban warfare training center in the northern Negev near the border with Gaza.
They built a scale model city out there in the desert where Israeli soldiers engage in sophisticated combat exercises. They fight each other in these exercises, so it’s always a challenge. Trained Israeli soldiers are far more dangerous than any army—even Hezbollah—the modern Arab world has yet produced.
I saw the skyline of the “city” as we approached on a road through desert, and from a distance it almost looks real. Up close it’s different.
“It almost looks like a set for a video game,” I said.
Lapson chuckled and said, “But it’s real.”
I could see everything from the control tower. The buildings are smaller and farther apart on the outskirts than they are in the center, just like a real village or town in the West Bank, Gaza, or Lebanon. And I have to say they did a pretty good job with the realism. Pyrotechnic teams set off explosions. Vehicles emit different colors of smoke depending on what kind of damage they’ve supposedly taken. Walls have simulated blast holes because doors and windows are often booby-trapped, forcing soldiers to create alternate entrances.
The Israelis here shoot blanks at each other, and they wear sensors on their torsos and limbs that tell them when and where they’ve been “shot” and whether or not they are “dead.”
“We’ve even argued about how much garbage we should put on the ground for realism,” Lapson said.
The casbah and the refugee camp are the most dangerous places. They’re built in a hodgepodge manner and are usually crowded. It’s hard to find adequate cover because roofs often cover the paths. None of the Israeli soldiers standing above can provide overwatch protection.
Of course, the fake casbah and refugee camp are easier to fight in than the real ones. In the real world there are people, donkeys, clothes lines, vendors, and noise, not to mention live ammunition and traps.
I’ve never been to a Hezbollah training camp, although I did ask Hezbollah officials if I could see one before they blacklisted me for “writing against the party.” They refused. Still, I’m certain they don’t have dummies representing civilians who aren’t to be touched.
The Israelis do, though. They place mannequins on the grounds dressed in the clothes of civilians and peacekeepers as well as enemy soldiers and terrorists.
“The other side includes both hostiles and civilians,” Lapson said, “and the hostiles will often embed themselves among the civilians. We go over a large number of what-if scenarios. We imbue an ethical and moral backbone in all our soldiers from the very beginning, and we have humanitarian officers with our infantry troops. We take extra precautions, even when it puts our own troops in danger.”
You could argue, I suppose, that the Israelis pulled a con job on me, that they planted these civilian-clothed mannequins as part of some Soviet-style propaganda campaign, but there’s no evidence that’s what happened. Totalitarian regimes sometimes use Potemkin stage pieces and actors to fool foreign journalists. Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple) had just such an experience when he visited North Korea. Israel, though, is the sort of place that only behaves this way in the feverish minds of conspiracy theorists.
“We train our soldiers to respect sacred buildings,” Lapson said. “We have a lot of respect for the holy places of all peoples and all cultures. This is something we integrate into our training. We train our soldiers with extra sensitivity even though we know it can be used against us by our enemies.”
“What do you do if someone is firing at you from a mosque?” I said.
“That’s a decision that’s made by the higher ranks on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “It’s always case-by-case even though it slows down the pace of the fighting. It’s very slow when we have house-to-house combat. It’s already slow, but when we have to stop and judge each individual case on its merits, we have to slow down the fighting even more.”
I have mixed feelings about this. I'm all in favor of abiding by the Geneva Convention and not targeting civilians, but the IDF goes much further than the Geneva Convention requires - much further than any army in the World goes - to avoid civilian casualties on the other side. That carries a price as we saw in Jenin in 2002 - we take much higher casualties than necessary among our own soldiers. Meanwhile, the other side uses its civilians as human shields, knowing that we will continue to play by the rules.
The rules also need updating, as I have discussed before. They are designed for battles between uniformed forces and not for fighting terrorists.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
