Following the tragic erroneous shooting of 3 Israeli hostages by IDF soldiers, the IDF's immediate response was that the soldiers had deviated from the rules of engagement.
But those deviations aren't the main problem. The rules themselves are. 🧵
But those deviations aren't the main problem. The rules themselves are. 🧵
The hostages were shot despite doing everything they possibly could to show they weren’t a threat: they removed their shirts, shouted in Hebrew and waved a white flag. They were shot from tens of meters away, so it's hard to argue the soldiers' would have been in direct danger.
The “deviation from the rules” claim is weak at best. The IDF’s own internal investigation found that the force in question was instructed to shoot at any “fighting age male". No soldier who fought in Gaza in past campaigns would be surprised to learn this.
These instructions are in line with what we know from testimonies of soldiers who took part in previous ground invasions in Gaza. "If it’s a man 15 years or older, like anyone who looks like he could be a combatant, shoot him" one soldier who fought in Gaza in 2014 told us.
Of course it’s necessary to talk about the clear deviation from any basic norm that is embodied in the shooting of someone surrendering while waving a white flag. But this is being done while deliberately evading a public discussion of the instructions and policies themselves.
Example: how is it that an often used phrase like "if there's a doubt, there's no doubt" has been turned on its head in the Gaza context: in the past, the phrase was used to mean "err on the side of caution." Now, it means: "if you think you might be in any type of danger, shoot"
To ignore that not all civilians evacuate is to bury one's head in the sand. We’ve seen this before as well: "[the instructions that] come down to us from above. There aren’t supposed to be [civilians] there, whoever is there is sentenced to death," a soldier told us in 2014.
This kind of view reflects wanton ignorance by the IDF’s senior command, encouraged no doubt by cabinet and gov members who constantly claim that “there are no innocents in Gaza.” It's immoral, no matter how many “knock on the roof” missiles or fliers are dropped from above.
We have to ask ourselves: would we as Israelis have been so shocked and outraged if those shot were innocent Palestinians waving a white flag? Would we even have heard about such an incident? The sad truth is - probably not. If we had, many deaths could have been avoided.
If as a society, we continue to evade questions on how we are fighting, then innocent Palestinians will continue to be killed again and again. And yes, the lives of the hostages will also be put on the line. Nothing should be more important than protecting innocent civilian lives
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