The IDF, the “most moral army in the world” even if Netanyahu says so himself, needs a makeover. But the jury’s still out as to whether or not it can be done. How do you turn one of the best trained, best-equipped and fiercest armies in the world into
non killers,
non assassins and
non torturers
I know it seems a tall order.
Maybe the IDF can start small. Oh –it already has. It has killed 17,000 children in cold blood (one or two could have packed an Uzzi). And at least 10,000 children are lying dismembered and dead under the ruins of their homes, their apartment buildings destroyed by Israeli bombs, armed drones and missiles.
The IDF could just deliver food aid to the millions of starving Gazans. That chore wasn’t too big for UNRWA that did it successfully for the last 17 years. But it was too much to ask of the IDF– they just want to kill.
Instead Israel and the US created their own “charity” — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation– that just last week received another $30 million from the US government. The GHF food aid is passed out at centres where tens of thousands of Palestinians are forced to gather en masse. Since early June, more than 580 starving Gazans, including the elderly and disabled, have been mowed down by IDF snipers, or targeted by IDF tank shells aimed at the humiliated and skeletal Palestinians waiting for food at the four or five aid “depots” in Gaza.
Killing civilians seeking aid is a war crime
Look, I’m not criticizing the IDF for killing hundreds—and maiming thousands– of desperate Gazans just to keep order in the food lines. I understand that doling out a 2 or 5 kg bag of flour and a few tins can be boring. But the high-ups in Israel’s military and PM Netanyahu absolutely deny the IDF was told to kill aid-seekers—saying killing civilians is a “…IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians.” Good to know.
However, soldiers on the scene said that the crowds presented absolutely “no threat” to the IDF: one soldier described what he witnessed at an aid depot as a “killing field”.
Gaza’s “Killing Field”
So, according to the Israeli authorities, no one told the sharpshooters, the tank gunners, or anyone else to kill Palestinian civilians. But they didn’t tell them not to either!! Well that should settle any dispute.
Some other countries get their armies to save people and dispense food during natural disasters, like floods. Or even to work in care homes to save patients during COVID. Canada does those things.
But Israel trains its soldiers to kill, kill and kill Palestinians– the IDF kills in Israel proper, they kill at the checkpoints, they kill in the West Bank, in east Jerusalem. They kill in Lebanon, and in Syria. Recently they killed 950 in Iran.
Now 130 NGOs and charities are demanding GHF be disbanded in favour of the work of experienced aid organizations that don’t kill.
Five years ago no one could have imagined the horrors of Gaza in ruins, hundreds of thousands murdered and mass starvation thanks to Israel. Five years ago in Canada, no one could imagine losing their job, or their schooling, or their careers for speaking against Israel’s genocide. No one could have imagined a young mother in France, or journalists in the UK going to jail for daring to criticize Israel.
Now we see the future of where Israel, and all western privileged (white) countries are heading .
And it isn’t friendly.
Illustration at the top: “As seen from Gaza” by Swiss-based cartoonist Patrick Chappatte
Want to learn more about the 109 deaths just yesterday in Gaza, read this.
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