An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian boy tell CBS News they have personal experience of the IDF forcing civilians to check buildings for explosives.

CBS News spoke recently with an Israeli soldier who has questioned the military’s tactics. Tommy — not his real name, as he agreed to speak with CBS News on the condition of anonymity — fought in Gaza for the IDF, and his account of the tactics used raises some serious questions.

“We’ve burned down buildings for no reasons, which is violating the international law, of course,” he told CBS News. “…And we used human shields as protection.”

Tommy said his commander ordered his unit to use Gazan civilians to search buildings for explosives instead of dogs.

“They were Palestinian,” he said. “We sent them in first to see if the building was clear and check for booby traps…They were trembling and shaking.”

“We talked to our commander, and we asked him to stop doing it,” Tommy said, but they were ordered to continue. He told CBS News it was policy.

    • DandomRude@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      5 days ago

      Why give this guy shit? If he was just following orders, he wouldn’t have talked to CBS after the fact and you wouldn’t be reading this. It’s something, right?

      • octopus_ink@slrpnk.netEnglish
        6·
        5 days ago

        It’s something, but it still applies to his commanders and everyone who followed the orders. (including him - though it wasn’t my intent to single him out)

        Maybe in his case it would be a valid defense, especially since he publicly spoke out about it. It didn’t go over well at Nuremberg, but I think it’s clear there will be no prosecutions for Israelis over this.

        • peoplebeproblems@midwest.socialEnglish
          3·
          5 days ago

          I only have surface level knowledge, but only ~150 people were convicted. Out of probably like 100k arrests.

          I’m fairly certain those willing to testify and identify the war criminals giving them orders were given some leniency, otherwise there was just simply too many.

          He hasn’t named names, just told the abuses, and hasn’t himself called for prosecution of his superiors. We already knew these crimes were being committed. We now have a first had witness. But it’s not enough. As far as I’m concerned, he admitted guilt, and until they start identifying exactly who made them commit war crimes (“his commander” needs a name) they are complicit.

  • peoplebeproblems@midwest.socialEnglish
    121·
    5 days ago

    Uh that’s not a defense.

    You’d sort of know that if you had heard about WW2?

    I do believe the punishment was execution. And if you got executed by your commander for refusing it, I guess your option was to execute your commander before they did.

    So, yeah, you don’t get a pass for being an inhuman piece of shit!