Thread by @BtSIsrael

42 IDF reservists who were sent to fight in Gaza since Oct. 7 signed a letter of refusal to continue serving. While many in Israel debate the legitimacy of refusal, barely any are dealing with the reality those soldiers described to @lizarozovsky of @haaretzcom last week🧵

“The vibe is 'You can fire wherever you want. You have to get permission, but there will be permission. It's only bureaucratic.' I can count on one hand the times when we were told: 'You can't fire there.'"
Michael, Infantry Control Officer
haaretz.com/israel-news/20…

"You see them taking down vehicles, buildings, people [...] Many people, including me, have the experience of 'Wow, it's insane,' and there are those who say, 'We're showing them, screwing them, taking revenge.' That's the vibes you hear in the war room."
Michael

After a week or two, he realized that "every time you see it, it's a building that's falling. If people were in it, then they're dead. And even if there aren't any people inside, everything that's there – televisions, memories, pictures, clothing – is gone.”
Michael

"I remember a day when I heard '50% evacuated from northern Gaza. 'That same day, I saw a building in the area fall and thought: ‘but 50% are still there.' At the same time there are also bombings in the south, and we know nobody was evacuated from there."
Michael

The CO said the house had to be torched to not leave IDF equipment behind and reveal combat methods. Yuval, a soldier in the unit, wasn't convinced, arguing that equipment can be removed, and that no special combat methods are revealed by looking at a house where soldiers stayed.

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"I said if we're doing that, I'm going. And they really did burn down the house and I left [...] and didn't return."
Yuval, Paratroopers

"Slowly but surely, you realize we're unable to hit a specific important person and begin to look for other targets, whom nobody has ever heard of, and suddenly we tell ourselves they're also important."
A., Military Intelligence

In November, A. received intel that a target was home with his family. The house was bombed.
The target was outside and survived, but two women staying there were killed and several others were wounded.

"You feel you're doing something without any military rationale, with a risk of causing very serious harm to people who are undoubtedly innocent, only because you have to demonstrate an achievement."
A., Military Intelligence

These are just a small fraction of the testimonies reservists gave as their reasons for refusal. It is our duty as Israelis to not look away from the policies which these soldiers have been sent to carry out in our name. To confront them head on, and end the madness.