(Thumbnail Image from The Guardian)
The summer months have Israel in the hot seat. News outlets around the world are giving significant coverage to a new report by a group called ‘Breaking the Silence.’
In it, 26 anonymous Israeli soldiers testify that they committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year. 1400 Palestinians were killed in the operation.
This combined with another condemning war crimes report by Amnesty International has Israel battling a nightmare PR problem.
As we follow the mostly hostile coverage the question we ask now is the report of war crimes accurate?
The Young Turks has the perspective that because the claims come directly from Israeli soldiers – Israel better have a good explanation.
“Of course before the Israeli government and Israeli defense forces were like ‘oh oh oh yeah these human rights groups oh yea it’s just rumors and nonsense and don’t believe a word of it.’ Now when the soldiers say ‘uh it was me and I was ordered and here’s what I did’ it’s a little harder to refute.”
Reporting from Gaza, CNN’s Paula Hancock provides the Israeli military response to the allegations.
“The Israeli military has rejected the report saying the anonymous nature of the testimonies means they lack credibility. “I will not go into details of the testimonies since it’s not serious. There are no factual details, no places, no names of specific incidents, a specific houses, no specific dates” [Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich]
“The IDF would not comment on whether human shields were used in Gaza.”
Al Jazeera English correspondent Dan Nolan looks into what Breaking the Silence had to gain in releasing the report and then goes further to explain why Israel’s actions add up to war crimes.
“Breaking the Silence says it’s not aiming to provide evidence of Israeli war crimes but rather encourage a moral debate on what it calls a bleeding wound inflicted on Gaza. These testimonies show that Israeli did violate the number one principle in international laws of war – that is to distinguish between enemy combatants who are legitimate targets and innocent civilians and their property which never are.”
The Guardian support’s Nolan’s comments with a stunning investigation of their own.
The paper alleges Israel used unmanned armed drones against civilians during the operation – a serious allegation of war crimes. They describe how the drones can see - pinpointing people to attack from the air.
“Six members of [inaud] family were killed by an armed drone. They were having tea in their courtyard when they saw a drone in the sky above, watching them, then it fired. “The rocket landed here. It fell like a ball of fire from that direction. We came back outside. We found Mohammed lying here cut in half.”
Robin Shepard of The Jerusalem Post believes the hostile coverage stems from Israeli-haters, quote smelling blood and going in for the kill. She has an interesting theory as to why they’re emboldened.
“Obama’s comments calling for a freeze on the settlements have provided the pretext for a renewed assault on Israel in general using the American president's huge popularity as cover.”
Adding...
“Media hysteria will grow as each new assault on Israel's integrity helps legitimize and validate the next.”
Do you believe this wave of criticism is simply anti-Israeli sentiment, or do these war crime allegations seem legitimate?
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