Never say never again

Does Waltz with Bashir herald a more conciliatory Israel?

FOR a country that already feels itself unjustly criticised, news that a group of its own soldiers have admitted to widespread civilian abuses during Israel’s recent incursion into Gaza must have been most unwelcome.

Breaking the Silence, a campaign group predominantly made up of Israeli soldiers, collected anonymous accounts from 26 troop, who claimed there was a policy of shoot first, ask questions later in operation throughout the IDF, and who admitted that Palestinians had been used by the army as human shields.

The report concluded that Israelis who justify such behaviour are “sliding together down the moral slippery slope”. It added: “This is an urgent call to Israeli society and its leaders to sober up and investigate anew the results of our actions.”

The claims made in the soldiers’ testimonies include using civilians as human shields to enter buildings ahead of soldiers, the precautionary demolition of large numbers of homes and buildings to secure clear lines of fire, the use of white phosphorus in civilian areas, the shooting of water tanks during a period of drought for Gazans, vandalism of property, sporadic direct engagement with Palestinian militants, and a generally aggressive, ill-disciplined attitude among some troops.

As might be expected, the Israeli government swiftly denounced the findings as little more than hearsay. Israeli military spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich said: “The IDF regrets the fact that another human rights organisation has come out with a report based on anonymous and general testimony without investigating their credibility. The IDF expects every soldier to turn to the appropriate authorities with any allegation. This is even more important where the harm is to non-combatants. The IDF has uncompromising ethical values which continue to guide us in every mission.”

During Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day conflict that ended on 18 January this year, around 1,400 Palestinians were reported killed, compared with 13 Israeli deaths, including 10 soldiers serving in Gaza. The UN estimated that more than 50,000 homes, 800 industrial properties, 200 schools, 39 mosques and two churches were destroyed or damaged during the campaign.

Despite its claims to the contrary, footage from the conflict clearly shows that the IDF regarded civilian areas as battlefields. In this regard, it demonstrated a ruthlessness in military operations that has characterised its war conduct since Israel’s formation over 60 years ago. But attitudes have moved in since then. Israeli officials continue to insist that while its troops went to great lengths to protect civilians, it was Hamas that was prepared to put its own people between it and the IDF.

However, Amnesty International has accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes, while an investigation by the Arab League found that that there was enough evidence to prosecute the IDF for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that “the Israeli political leadership was also responsible for such crimes”. It also concluded that Hamas was guilty of war crimes through the indiscriminate use of rocket attacks on civilians, the action that started the conflict.

At times, neutrals (of whom there are few, it seems) have been prompted to speak up on Israel’s behalf. Only once Operation Cast Lead was well underway did reports emerge that Hamas had developed a sophisticated rocket operation that had been firing – fairly unsuccessfully – on Israeli civilians for three years prior to the conflict. However, by that point, this information had little impact on public opinion, which had been left fairly aghast at the way in which the IDF had pursued its Hamas foes.

UK public opinion on Israel finds itself in a strange place, with liberals very much set against the state because of its treatment of Palestinians. However, such sentiment is often poorly articulated and many have allowed their criticism to tip over into anti-semitism. This is a shame, for two reasons. Firstly, it undermines real and legitimate concerns about the way Israel deals with Palestinians, who experience little other than grinding poverty, often exacerbated by frequent and arbitrary border closures and other economic strictures that the Israelis frequently place upon them.

Secondly, often inappropriate criticism takes no account of the Israeli point of view. The cause of such ruthlessness in warfare can be traced back to the Holocaust, and the most solemn and serious vows made by David Ben-Gurion and other early Israeli leaders that “never again” would Jews walk passively to their deaths. It’s easy to understand such sentiment but, incredibly, African dictators are often forgiven their human rights abuses and outrageous corruption (on the grounds that they are in charge of young states recently freed from the yoke of imperial Europe) by those very same people that are not prepared to put Israel’s conduct in any kind of historical context.

However, there are signs now that Israel is prepared to move beyond “never again”. Last year’s incredibly sophisticated Waltz with Bashir dealt with the IDF’s connivance in the Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese by Phalangist forces during the 1982 war in Lebanon. It was internationally acclaimed for its sensitivity and delicate portrayal of soldiers traumatised by war crimes. Although the film was only moderately successful in Israel at the time, it was recently voted the country’s third favourite film in a poll.

Events outside of Israel may lead to a more emollient attitude among both its people and its government. Ministers already know that they won’t get the same kind of latitude afforded them by the Bush administration now that Obama is in the White House. Meanwhile, the ongoing fallout from elections in Iran, still Israel’s greatest foe after Palestinian militants, will have given many Israelis pause for thought. Although matters appear to have been settled in favour of the ruling clerics, the existence of more progressive Iranian politics gives hope that differences between the two nations might one day be settled.

Despite many claims to the contrary, Israel operates the best functioning democracy in the Middle East, where – unlike neighbouring Egypt, for example – freedom of speech and debate are encouraged. Although there remains plenty of examples of the fortress mentality that has dictated the state’s foreign policy for decades, there are signs that the walls could be dismantled soon. Many Palestinians will also hope such demolition will lead on to the country’s physical barriers.