Crimes, not infractions
By Alexander Yakobson
Haaretz, December 9, 2004
In the wake of suspicions that naval commandos killed a wanted Palestinian after he was injured and disarmed, the chief of staff declared that "whether we are sending double messages to soldiers on issues of the ethics of warfare" must be examined.
Here is an example that Lt. Gen. Ya'alon would do well to examine. Some of his statements following the incident in which 13-year-old Iman Alhamas was shot to death near the Girit military post created the impression that in his eyes, the most serious aspect of the incident was the failure to tell the truth during the military investigation that was conducted in its aftermath.
This is a dangerous impression. Indeed, there is still some lack of clarity regarding who knew what during each stage of this dreadful incident, but the fact is that the company commander, after already knowing that a girl had been shot to death, told his soldiers to kill anyone entering the prohibited area - even a 3-year-old child.
What chance is there of convincing someone of the ethical flaw in failing to tell the truth during an army investigation if he believes it is right to kill a 3-year-old intentionally? The message from the IDF command should state that certain acts will be unequivocally defined as war crimes and not as disciplinary infractions, and will be punished with maximum severity.
Once there was a chief of staff who sent the following educational message - which, of course, was never explicitly stated, but was well understood - to IDF soldiers: he was strict about matters of discipline, and took very seriously all violations except for one, the premeditated murder of an Arab. When it comes to this offense, he was full of consideration and leniency. This message was effectively communicated in a series of pardons granted by that chief of staff to soldiers who murdered Arabs.
The current chief of staff should not be suspected of harboring such an approach, and clemencies of this sort would not stand up to High Court challenges in Israel today. However, there is a gap between the official commands and declarations, and what is happening on the ground. Reality is always worse. Thus it is very dangerous to stammer when issuing commands and declarations.
To what extent should one regard abuse and other grave acts as a natural result of the occupation? Part of this phenomenon is indeed linked to the reality of an ongoing occupation regime, such as everything connected with the checkpoints on roads in the territories; but such acts are mainly the inevitable result of all war and combat, regardless of the question of the war's justification.
The fight against infiltrators and reprisal raids of the past were not any more humane than the IDF's operations today - indeed, they were less humane. The American soldiers in Iraq were not tarnished by decades of occupation.
Among these soldiers are those who have been tainted by the war and its horrors. Jordanian soldiers who carried out various brutal acts during Black September were certainly not occupiers. Their army is disciplined and even humane relative to others in the region.
Soldiers in an international force, including European countries, that was sent by the United Nations to Somalia to save the country's children from starvation became entangled in warfare with local gangs and lost comrades in arms. Soldiers from this international force killed many civilians and some of them murdered, tortured and raped.
Argentine prisoners were murdered by British soldiers in the Falklands - not because of the occupation and not due to any particular contempt for the Argentine people, but rather due to war and the passions it arouses.
There is no warfare without war crimes, and there is no warfare among civilians that does not involve civilian casualties. This is not a reason to treat the perpetrators lightly. On the contrary, it is a reason to punish them as severely as a modern country of laws will allow, in order to disseminate an unequivocal message and reduce the phenomenon as much as possible.
