A British soldier's view of Operation Cast Lead
Daniel Yates 12:10pmMany thanks to Daniel Yates for contributing this article to Coffee House. Daniel was a British soldier with the Intelligence Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is writing under a pseudonym.
- Pete Hoskin
Having completed numerous combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, I watched the television footage of Israeli soldiers deploying on Operation Cast Lead with a jolt of familiarity. I saw the emotions that I have felt in the past. I was eager to do my job properly, I had confidence in my abilities and those of my comrades, but I was also apprehensive. That apprehension was not just the fear of what harm may have come to me or my mates, but also the worry that my judgement would fail if I was called upon to make the snap decision to take another’s life. The pressure of these conflicting emotions coupled with the stress of battle is immense. The majority of us called upon to withstand them are young men, some as young as 18.
That is why the casual bandying around of terms like ‘war crimes’ so enraged me when I heard it directed at British soldiers during protest in London. I feel no different when it is levelled at Israeli soldiers. I accept that soldiers enjoy no immunity from the law and that our actions must be scrutinised but that judgement must be a measured weighing of factors, not a knee jerk emotive statement such as that made by Ban Ki-Moon nor a trial by media. I believe that I and other soldiers understand the stress, friction and confusion that combat brings in a way that media commentators and UN bureaucrats never can.
Urban warfare is complicated, disorientating and utterly confusing even in conventional operations. When an enemy, such as Hamas, is willing to dress in civilian clothing, attack from legally protected sites and use civilians as human shields it becomes fiendishly difficult.
The destruction of the UN School, cited by Ban Ki-Moon, is a case in point. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) maintains that its soldiers came under fire from that position. They returned fire; that is what soldiers under contact do. It would appear that light artillery guns or mortars were used. These are emphatically not the ‘smart’ weapons that civilians fondly imagine all war to be fought with. It is commonplace fact of war that such munitions do not always land were they are supposed to.
The urban environment can seriously hinder even the most sophisticated of radio communications, leading to command and control becoming fractured. The assertion by the UN that they provided the IDF with the grid references of their locations is valid. However, it is a fact that often information is not always passed down the chain of command, this is more likely to occur due to the fog of war rather than any malicious intent.
The IDF have also faced accusations that they have attacked ambulances. Again, I cannot speak for the veracity of these claims nor do I seek to diminish the serious nature of such attacks. The British Army’s enemy in Iraq, Jaish Al Mahdi routinely used vehicles marked as ambulances to transport arms, ammunition and fighters around Basra. Like Hamas, Jaish Al Mahdi received training and equipment from Iran.
During the course of Israeli operations in Gaza the whole of the media seems to have become expert in the use of white phosphorous. Most commentators either do not know, or have refused to acknowledge, that the use of white phosphorous is not illegal. The Geneva conventions do restrict the use of white phosphorous in certain circumstances, but it is used almost daily by British forces in Afghanistan.
The IDF have stated that, during this operation, they fired a total of 200 shells containing phosphorous. 20 of these shells were fired in urban areas and the use of those 20 is being investigated in line with these restrictions.
White phosphorous is used because it provides an instant smokescreen, other munitions can provide a smokescreen but the effect is not instant. Faced with overwhelming enemy fire and wounded comrades, every commander would choose to screen his men instantly, to do otherwise would be negligent.
Much has been made of Israel’s ‘disproportionate and excessive’ use of force in Gaza. Footage of Gaza released today does show devastating damage to individual buildings, but this is no Stalingrad. A fact often unappreciated by those with no military experience is that the selective use of overwhelming force, aimed at key targets, actually shortens conflict and saves lives. In Basra in 2003 the USA and the UK chose to use extreme force against locations that had been fortified by the Ba’ath Party, in order to spare our troops and the people of Basra the horror of a drawn-out street battle. It appears that the IDF made the same choice in Gaza.
I do not argue that any soldier should be outside of the law, any army that allows such a thing is not worthy of the name. I do believe, however, that the least the world can do for young men returning from combat is to offer them the basic right to have their actions considered on the basis of events and the context in which they occurred.
Previous
Richard
January 24th, 2009 12:29pm Report this commentWell done Daniel. I found your piece most intersting......
Gill
January 24th, 2009 12:57pm Report this commentI have also read that the massive damage to certain buildings can result from secondary explosions since Hamas booby- trapped many houses and buildings to trap Israeli soldiers. Then when these buildings were attacked the explosives and missiles stored there exploded causing (disproportionate) damage.
givrnup
January 24th, 2009 12:57pm Report this commentWithout taking sides,and my military background is of no concern: the use of phosphorous in an urban area IS ILLEGAL no excuses. when you see children burning from it you know why.
Peter
January 24th, 2009 1:09pm Report this commentThe war crimes were committed by the Israeli government which knowingly engaged a resistance force in an urban environment and must have known for sure that there would be great civilian loss of life, as there was. Whether Hamas are nice or not they do have the general support of the beseiged Gazan people. An armed response to them was always criminal. Hamas rockets : 10 Israeli dead. IDF forces : 1500 dead.
Ashley C
January 24th, 2009 1:11pm Report this commentA fascinating - and much appreciated - insight from someone with *actual* knowledge of the nature of conflict; Quite different, of course, from the commentariat, all so eager to complain, criticise and condemn with nothing but their political prejudices guiding them.
Thank you for this balanced account of a complex situation. War is awful, but I have huge respect for all soldiers - whether they be American, British or Israeli - who put their lives on the line fighting unconventional and terrifying enemies, having to deal with human shields, booby traps, ambushes, and most significantly, an enemy with no regard for the meaning and sanctity of life itself.
Keep up the good work boys - we are proud of you.
Augustus
January 24th, 2009 1:31pm Report this commentIt is patently unfair on Israel to have accused it of employing white phosphorus in a sinister and illegal manner, and thereby implying a breach of international law. The media who have done so; such as The Guardian, The Times, Christian Science Monitor, CCN etc., did so simply on the accusation of the NGO Human Rights Watch, itself a politically biased organization. The International Red Cross has stated that it has 'no evidence to suggest that white phosphorus was being used illegally or improperly by Israel".
However, it was recorded that white phosphorus was used as a weapon specifically against civilians during the conflict. On Tuesday, 13th January, a mortar shell fired from Gaza into Israel contained white phosphorus. A clearly illegal escalation in the type of explosives Palestinians use on Jewish civilians. Human Rights Watch should be challenged to condemn that attack, and it should also be challenged to retract its false claims about Israel's use.
Sally Roberts
January 24th, 2009 1:36pm Report this commentA fascinating account which puts the situation very much into proportion and makes a refreshing change from the anti-Israel bias so prevalent in the media! Your point about false ambulances is a particularly interesting one!
Bob.India
January 24th, 2009 2:10pm Report this commentExcellent piece Daniel Yates. It's nice to read something that has the ring of real truth and the stamp of authentic knowledge and experience. Needless to say, Daniel will now be excoriated by the BBC fed Hamas groupies and useful idiots and his writing charged with having no relevance to the wanton actions of IDF child murders and war criminals. Sigh.
Chuck Unsworth
January 24th, 2009 2:35pm Report this commentAnd this is to ignore the numerous civilian deaths and injuries. I, too, have soldiered on active service and in urban situations in the Middle East. What I would say is this. It's not just a question of Law, it's also a question of Morality.
The Nuremberg trials, and others at The Hague, and various international agreements have set legal precedents. However, there is also the concept of the Just War to consider.
So far the Israelis have, in my view, failed to provide sufficient justification for the extent of damage and death inflicted on the Palestinians. Nor have they shown that any of their actions - over the past decade or so - have been militarily or politically effective. We read of just one woman casualty - apparently damaged by phosphorous burns - from her hospital bed declaring her undying hatred of Israel and her intention to become a suicide bomber. We can be certain that this is a common view. By injuring or killing one individual Israel turns their entire family and clan into hate-driven foes. Israel is deluded if it believes it can simply eradicate its enemies by lethal force. It has not done so yet, and it now has the entire Moslem world to contend with.
Let us also understand that IDF assertions as to their actions and the munitions they have used are just that - IDF assertions. And we should remember that Stalingrad was beseiged during the course of a conventional war between nations. Which nation were the Israelis attacking?
Collateral damage is without doubt the greatest incentive to one's enemies to continue warfare - by whatever means.
Thus the war continues.
Arthur
January 24th, 2009 2:45pm Report this commentTop article. I could not have put things better, or more robustly, myself.
Bob.India
January 24th, 2009 2:56pm Report this commentWell done Daniel Yates. It's nice to read a piece that has the ring of truth and the stamp of real knowledge and experience. Needless to say, it will now be excoriated by the BBC fed Hamas groupies and useful idiots and the content charged with having no relevance to the wanton actions of the indiscriminate IDF baby killers and war criminals. Sigh
ed hall
January 24th, 2009 3:16pm Report this commentThank you. A welcome antidote to the "anti-zionists" posing as armchair warriors.
Tiberius
January 24th, 2009 4:11pm Report this commentA very informative piece, but I fear it won't change the view of those who do not want to see.
bill
January 24th, 2009 4:20pm Report this commentDaniel
Thanks for writing this piece. Few people have any idea of what soldiering involves, but they are very glad that people are able to lay their lives on the line for their country right or wrong.
Whether we agree with what is being fought for is beside the point; politicians decide that for us and act in our name.
Troops are always entitled to, and nearly always get, the full support of those that they are fighting for. Don't ever think otherwise.
David Lindsay
January 24th, 2009 4:29pm Report this commentThe solution is simple.
Get out of Afghanistan.
ahmid
January 24th, 2009 4:41pm Report this commentwhat a sensible attitude
Max Kaye
January 24th, 2009 5:31pm Report this commentA sensible view from someone with firsthand experience - and no in-built anti-Israel bias.
Ricky Martin
January 24th, 2009 6:02pm Report this commentPeter
January 24th, 2009 1:09pm
Where did you get your figures of 1500 dead from? Hamas? Who declared "victory" after the devastation (and the kneecapping and beheading of some 40 Fatah operatives?) The two Norwegian doctors? Both former members of the Maoist Red Brigades. It's now been reported that Gazans have told Italian journalists that just over 400 actually died and the figures were inflated as part of the Hamas-Iran black propaganda exercise. I know who I'd prefer to believe...a terrorist organisation whose favourite reading material is "Mein Kampf" or a an accountable Israeli state with a parliament and an opposition and a free press. 400 is bad enough but remarkably low in the circumstances of urban warfare. My experiences in Iraq and NI make me believe this was a remarkable military victory.
YA
January 24th, 2009 6:38pm Report this commentDavid Lindsay:
"The solution is simple.
Get out of Afghanistan."
How about Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists getting out of Britain?
Oh and could you remove that "we are hamas" sewage-rats-loving crowd, as well.
You take yours and we take ours.
Simple solution, really.
Bob.India
January 24th, 2009 7:42pm Report this commentPeter. Would you deny that there is nowhere else but the urban environment of Gaza for the Israeli Government to militarily engaged Hamas, a "resistance force" that denies the right of existence to Israel (and now, apparently, also Fatah), has fired 6000 rockets into Israel over the past six years, has recently broken a laboriously negotiated ceasefire with Israel, is wholly funded by Iran, a sovereign nation that similarly denies Israel's right of existence and both of which are part of the unified worldwide islamist terror movement that similarly denies right of existence to western culture and religion (as recently denied by "Foreign Secretary", David Miliband)? Seems like there's a whole lot of denial going about!
Cogito Ergosum
January 24th, 2009 7:52pm Report this comment"white phosphorous" ??
The chemical element is PHOSPHORUS, and the allotrope in question is white phosphorus.
If you cannot get that right, what else have you got wrong?
Peter
January 24th, 2009 8:57pm Report this commentRicky Martin, its the UN OCHA which says 1300 Gazans have been left dead. Remarkable victory? I think not. Now everyone I know and speak to think that Israel is a criminal state that should be isolated. A remarkable mistake I think.
Bob.India
January 24th, 2009 10:18pm Report this commentPeter. Would you deny that there is nowhere else but the urban environment of Gaza for the Israeli Government to militarily engaged Hamas, a "resistance force" that denies the right of existence to Israel (and now, apparently, also Fatah), has fired 6000 rockets into Israel over the past six years, has recently broken a laboriously negotiated ceasefire with Israel, is wholly funded by Iran, a sovereign nation that similarly denies Israel's right of existence and both of which are part of the unified worldwide islamist terror movement that similarly denies right of existence to western culture and religion (as recently denied by "Foreign Secretary", David Miliband)? Seems like there's a whole lot of denial going about!
supagold
January 24th, 2009 10:59pm Report this commentCogito, a google search for "white phosphorous" gives ~969k hits. A search for "white phosphorus" yields only ~784k. I think it's pretty clearly an accepted usage.
"If you cannot get that right, what else have you got wrong?"
Carl
January 25th, 2009 12:46am Report this commentInt Corps - why not ask a soldier instead?
ToM
January 25th, 2009 4:43am Report this commentFirst of all, Cast Lead was anything but "combat" or "warfare" (as the "asymmetrical" casualty figures clearly demonstrate). It was a (WWII Wehrmacht-style?) police action against partisans (the unsung heroes of WWII, but the "terrorists", "militants", "insurgents", etc. of the opening skirmishes of WWIII) and at the same time a (now outlawed) reprisal against the civilian population that supports them. That's what it was.
Second, you're right Daniel, it is unfair to put all the blame for "war crimes" on the troops in action, though I would distinguish here between draftees and professional soldiers, who should be held to higher standards. In police actions against or involving civilians, it's almost impossible not to commit "war crimes". So it's ultimately the politicians and generals who order excessive military action against civilians like Cast Lead that should be held criminally accountable, not the soldiers in the field.
Archie
January 25th, 2009 6:57am Report this commentAstounding how many women support the Arab cause. Have they any idea of their lot under Sharia?
Sukumar Muralidharan
January 25th, 2009 7:17am Report this commentHamas are the legitimate elected government of Palestine. Israel's siege of the Gaza strip is an international humanitarian crime. That is the first point that the intrepid soldier seems to miss. Secondly, the destruction of Gaza's universities, all its mosques and police stations by airstrikes in the first few hours of the beginning of the ISraeli action needs to be accounted for. Surely, this brave soldier does not believe that the air force was fired upon from within the premises of the university or the mosques? Israeli war strategy speaks plainly and simply of a genocidal intent: to destroy if not an entire people, the entire basis of their existence as a community. Gaza is just the latest manifestation of the criminality inherent in the creation of Israel by a Anglo-Zionist conspiracy in 1948.
egh
January 25th, 2009 9:17am Report this commentThank you, Daniel. For fighting for us, and for writing about it so clearly.
YA: love your solution!!!
Marian C
January 25th, 2009 10:38am Report this commentThank you Daniel for having the guts and the courage to speak up/out and giving us a soldiers perspective of what is actually in 'Operation Cast Lead'.
I’m sure I am not alone in saying that we are all very proud of soldiers wherever they serve.
Paul - Somerset
January 25th, 2009 11:13am Report this commentWhat will the demonstrators (mostly secularist) say when, the logic of their "IDF bad - Hamas good" cant runs to the point where our lives become dictated by brutal governments having as their raison d'etre, the dreams of an obscure middle eastern trader.
dona S
January 25th, 2009 3:31pm Report this commentFor once a balanced viewpoint of experience. Re the ambulances, there are on Youtube many such videos of ambulances and UN vans being used as transport and cover. What I can not understand is, if Youtube has such videos , Why is it so hard for the press to investigate properly, has journalism become so sensational that it forgets it's obligations to truth?
Laz
January 25th, 2009 3:56pm Report this commentWow, what a breath of fresh air to read a balanced, considered view on this unfortunate conflict. Great piece Daniel.
Joe
January 25th, 2009 5:32pm Report this commentHamas are the legitimate elected government of Palestine. Israel's siege of the Gaza strip is an international humanitarian crime.
Sukumar Muralidharan
January 25th, 2009 7:17am
Sukumar Muralidharan,
Your analysis misses a crucial point. Hamas has been beligerant towards Israel. Both while in "opposition" and as the "governement" of Gaza, Hamas has perpetrated, or facilitated "military" and terrorist actions against Israel. Israel restirciting passage across its "border" to Gaza is an act a self defence to limit the ability of terrorist to cross into Israel from Gaza. In addition, Israeli actions aim to restict the flow of weapons into Gaza, which have only two purposes, kill Hamas's political enemies and target Israeli civilians.
A fair anlysis of what is occuring in Gaza would acknowledge that Eygpt has a border with Gaza, as well which is kept closed, for precisley the same reason.
Secondly, in your skewed anlysis you negelect to mention that Gaza is supplied continuely with Humanitarian aid from Israel, and with electricity, the bills for which Hamas has neglected to pay.
Further, Hamas has always maintained that it is not bound by the Palestinian Authorities treaties with Israel, thus it violates, routinely, it's innternational obligation.
Consider, during both World War one and Two, the UK used its naval forces to establish a blockade on Germany, to deprive German of the material through which to sustain its army and the war. It is a normal, and accepted response to aggression to try an limit the enemies ability to wage war. Hamas declared this war and is reaping the fruits of the labours it sowed.
Consider also the UN response to reculcitrant nations, with increasing levels of ecconomic embargo. Why, in your annalysis, are the rest of the world allowed to used ecconomic pressure to limit their enemies ability to wage war, yet in Israel, you expect it to commit national sucide by allowing it enemies to arm themselves with ever sophisticated weapons of war whose intent and stated purpose os aggresive and beligerant, not defencive?
Alf Tupper
January 25th, 2009 6:45pm Report this commentSukumar.
"Surely, this brave soldier does not believe that the air force was fired upon from within the premises of the university or the mosques?"
This is given with a deep sense of irony, yes?
Daniel Yates whoever you are, your piece offers a much appreciated window on war zone reality. This should be published more widely, but we all know there is little chance of that when the country is full of idiots like nonCogito above - who hasn't got back about the phosphorous gaffe yet I note.
JB
January 25th, 2009 7:45pm Report this commentA balanced and refreshing article. Good work Daniel.
Cogito Ergosum
January 25th, 2009 9:36pm Report this commentTo Supagold 10:59pm:
A Wikipedia search for "phosphorous" yields "phosphorus".
QED.
Average Israeli
January 26th, 2009 6:00am Report this commentWow!! What a fantastic piece. Thank you for taking the time to point out these very crucial facts (which have been all too willingly ignored by the public).
Your bravery transcends your job as a soldier - and you're a very good writer!
Thank you.
Barry Shaw
January 26th, 2009 7:13am Report this commentFurther to Daniel Yates viewpoint I wish to add that the increasing clamour of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza clashes with footage and reports coming from Israeli soldiers and the media that most of the urban fighting where damage occured where in specific modern houses and buildings, not some widespread and primitive area with thousands of poor homeless.
These houses contained modern furniture and electrical appliances. Lots of them had kids computers. Most had cars or vehicles.
My point is that the noisy street demonstrations, speeches in Parliament, are in support of a middle-class 'humanitarian crisis' - a conflict in terms if you need one.
Yes, people have been displaced. Yes, properties need to be reconstructed. But this is a long way from being the humanitarian crisis that is being portrayed to the public.
Their money would be better spent on the truly needy of Africa and Asia.
Jeremy
January 26th, 2009 10:54am Report this commentI'm baffled why Israel doesn't get more media and public support. The terrorist activities and mindless hate that Israel has faced for decades has been felt by many of us in places like New York, London, Madrid, Bali and Mumbai. I live in Sydney and wonder when it will be our turn. One thing I'm certain of. If it does happen, it won't be the Israeli military or a Jewish suicide bomber. The time is long overdue for us to support a country that is actively fighting back against these mindless thugs who only know how to destroy and have no capacity to build anything.
Roni Forman
January 27th, 2009 10:02am Report this commentDaniel Yates,
Thankyou for seeing the situation as it is.The media a[[ear to notice only if the palestinians are attacked.
When they sent in suicide bombers and blew up our children, the world nevr said a world until we built a wall to stop save our civilians. When they sent rockets to our towns journalists were not interested, when we dares to retaliate to try and prevent this happening by a section of people whose stated aim was to dastroy us Israel became a pariah.
Roni Forman
Dan
January 27th, 2009 10:52am Report this commentThanks for publishing this good article.
To all those around the world who sit in the comfort of their homes and judge the Israelis from thousands of miles away:
Maybe you have forgotten or blind yourself from the fact that the entire area of Gaza has become Hamasland, entire area with an underground network of tunnels filled with arms and missles. Nearly every "Normal" civilian house has an entrance to a tunnle in their dining room. Are these people-civilians inocent ? If missiles are shot towards Israel from windows of "civilian" houses in Gaza do you really think there is another way of stopping it rather than bombing that house?
You do blind yourself from the fact that the Israeli army telephoned hundreds of civilians, dropped thousands of leaflets from the air, urging the real inocent to get out of those houses as the airforce is going to bomb those houses. Name another army in the world who behaves as the IDF behaved. Those who listened were saved.
Gaza was never and is not beseiged by Israel. Food, electricity, medicine supply and even top medical treatment at Israeli hospitals by top Israeli medical staff is provided by Israel to the Gaza population. However, the Israelis must monitor the merchendise. They can not afford to supply the Gaza people with pipes or furtiles as they are used to assemble Kasam rokets etc.
So, please look at the mirror and ask yourself how would you behave/act if your home had been bombarded by thousands of rockets for 8 years by "civilians".
We all know the answer !
Reuven Kuchcik
January 27th, 2009 3:09pm Report this commentOne of the most balanced views I have yet read.
For those who believe Israel attacked a resistance force among a civilian population this is not quite right.
Some commentators here have stated that Hamas is the legitimately elected government of Gaza. Quite so. In that case their 7 year blitz on Israel via indiscriminate rocket attack constitutes an Act of War under international law and the people of Gaza who elected them are in the same position legally as the German populace in World War II who not only conspired to have the Nazis elected but supported them wholeheartedly in their aggression against neighbours.
Israel was well within its legal rights to defend itself against the GOVERNMENT of Gaza who just so happen to be an internationally recognised terrorist organization. Even the UN states this fact.
see alan Dershowitz's blog in the Jeruslalem Post.
Everything else stems from those simple facts. Hamas=Gaza and they attacked Israel. If they have legitimate grievance with Israel then their first response should be to talk to Israel as the PA have done to ameliorate the condition of their people and work toward a just solution. Instead they are bent on the destruction of Israel and killing all Jews worldwide. I really do not know what a proportionate response to such a government can be. Maybe Israel should have spent the last 7 years firing rockets indiscriminately into Gaza City? Would that be proportionate?
If you believe Israel is an illegitimate rogue state then anything they do will be used to confirm your prejudices including defending their own citizens.
Harold Oswald
January 27th, 2009 4:05pm Report this commentI won't resort to conspiracy theories as to "whether" the Hamas election was legitimate. Who "really" knows? We do know of internal power struggles and the propensity for violence against those who do not agree with them.
So what if some "innocents" were FORCED to stay in their homes to make for MORE casualties and more deaths that they could display on TV and in the media?
To misquote from the movie Casablanca "In case you haven't noticed, in Gaza [only insofar as far as Hamas govt is "concerned"] life is cheap."
But like most commenters here, I feel for the "true" innocent civilians. But war stinks, and as Yates writes, things happen. It's very easy for pundits behind TV cameras to analyze, but they're not in the trenches, and have no idea what it is like to feel "It's either my life or their lives." You can do your utmost to protect civilians, but when civilians are used as human shields, and you need to do what you can to protect yourself, the unfortunate outcome is that innocents will die.
Was it a just war? The war was meant to eradicate the means to shoot missiles/rockets at innocent Israeli civilians.
Look on youtube. You'll find a video of a GAZAN tv station, LIVE, commenting about how a rocket was just fired from their building. They joke about it, but if I were them, I'd run for my life.
Thomas
January 28th, 2009 12:45am Report this commentEX British soldier in Iraq .He is writing under a pseudonym Why?
Sounds a bit one sided
Sorry this was not a war…however you look at it..and you don’t need a military background to work it out.... its cold blooded massacre...
It’s a Jewish problem…and the elephant in the room is the occupation !
Want another view...Yonatan Shapira, Captain in the Israeli Air Force
Yonatan, along with 26 others, signed a declaration refusing to participate in aerial attacks on populated areas in the Palestinian Territories because of the belief that these attacks are illegal, immoral and do not serve the security of Israel.
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BI8AyL9Xtpc
or another MP Gerald Kaufman
"My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza"
or another
Alexei Sayle
"As a Jew, it's very moving to see so many people who are so outraged at Israel's actions," ... "Israel is a democratic country that is behaving like a terrorist organisation"
Joseph Abdel Wahed
January 28th, 2009 12:46am Report this commentNearly one million indigenous Jews (myself included) were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world (and Muslim Iran)between 1945 and 1970. No UN security council meeting; no protest from Human Rights organizations; no divestment of Arab/Muslim corporations; no boycott by British university professors and Trade Unions.
Nothing! Silence! No trial; no jury; no justice.
But, if one Palestinian is killed, oh my God the whole hypocritical world goes on a rampage. For over sixty years Palestinians focused on destroying Israel. Where did the over $58 billion in UN and other aid go? It was wasted on corrupt politioicans and Swiss accounts.
I was 12 years old in 1947, living in Cairo when the UN voted for the partition of this region into Jewish Palestine and Arab Palestine If the Palestinians had agreed, they would have been the most properous Arabs in the region. Instead, their culture of violence led them to teach their children to hate the Jews and Israel. "Kill the Jews" was Arafat's strident plea.
What a waste of human resources.
Israel is the triumph of the human spirit---medical technology, educational achievements,information/computer technology, pharmaceutical gains and scientific progress.
All this, while many unfortunate Arabs are still living in the 7th century. And despite all their oil wealth, some Arab leaders refuse to help their Palestinian "brothers and siters".
Give me a break.
Thomas
January 29th, 2009 12:28am Report this comment"A sensible view from someone with firsthand experience - and no in-built anti-Israel bias"
"Int Corps - why not ask a soldier instead?"
indeed...
Israeli soldiers recall Gaza attack orders
“Fire on anything that moves in Zeitoun” – that was the order handed down to Israeli troops in the Givati Shaked battalion, who reduced the eastern Gaza City suburb to little more than rubble in a matter of days.
According to Israeli soldiers who took part in the three-week offensive, the destruction of the area, a known Hamas stronghold, was designed to send a wider message to Gazans. “We pounded Zeitoun into the ground,” an Israeli soldier who was deployed in the area, told The Times.
“We knew everything was booby-trapped, we knew that they would try to kidnap us and if they did that was the end, we were finished . . . so we took no chances. We pounded them with fire; they never had a chance.”
One soldier from Givati Shaked told an Israeli daily newspaper that “revenge is our first impulse” after a friend of his was killed during an operation in Gaza last year.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5601177.ece
Vessla
January 29th, 2009 6:41am Report this commentDaniel,
Well written, great perspective, and well received! I fear that my current administration of change will not be as benevolent toward our Israeli brothers as they should - to our own peril. God bless you and your beautiful bride for your resolve and vision! - Your American brother-in-law and fellow shadow warrior
I'm too frightened of radical Zionists to put my name on here.
November 7th, 2009 11:31am Report this commentJust to put all this argument into perspective, I would like to quote a very brave humanitarian Jew who I will not name:
"Like many Americans and many Jews,
I grew up with a positive view of Israel as a Peace-Seeking democracy. Israel symbolized to me the one protection that Jews had against the type of persecution that had plagued families like mine throughout history [her grandparents had been in Hitler's concentration camps]. I saw the Jewish state as a tiny and victimized country that simply wanted to live in peace but couldn’t because of its aggressive, Jew-hating Arab neighbors.
In 2003, during a backpacking trip through the Middle East, I began to meet Palestinian refugees from 1948. I didn’t know who the Palestinians were, or where Palestine was, and through my new acquaintances I began to hear a narrative about the history and present of Israel/Palestine that was entirely different from the one I had learned growing up in the United States.
My first reaction was disbelief, and anger. Families told me stories of past and present military attacks, house demolitions, land confiscation, imprisonment without trial, and torture. It seemed that these actions were not carried out for the protection of Jewish people, but rather for the creation and expansion of a Jewish state at the expense of the rights, lives, and dignity of the non-Jewish people living in the region.
It was hard for me to believe that Israel could act so unjustly. Not believing what I heard, I decided to do some research to prove myself right. Immediately, I was shocked to find how much I didn’t know about the situation on the ground. Not knowing who or what to believe anymore, I decided to go to see the situation with my own eyes.
Since I returned, I’ve dedicated my life to informing fellow Americans and others about what I found, and what they can do to support a just peace for all peoples in Israel/Palestine."
Back to top