19 oct 2012
An Israeli Ex-IAF Pilot on Board of Swedish Boat To Gaza
Yonatan Shapira
Spokesperson of Gush Shalom, Adam Keller, said in a press release that Israeli peace activist Yonatan Shapira, who had been a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force and refused to take part in the bombing of Palestinian cities, has arrived on board the Swedish boat "Estelle" which is making her way towards the coast of Gaza. When the Estelle passed near the shores of Greece, Shapira and other activists made their way in a motor boat, evading vessels of the Greek Coast Guard which sought to bar their way.
"Along with the Greek Coast Guard we saw a ship which seemed very much like an Israeli Navy vessel, though it did not fly a flag" said Shapira. He was received with cheers by activists already on board. Shapira had taken part in a similar sailing last year, being taken off by Israeli Navy Commandos near the Gaza shore and spending time in police detention, but not charged with any criminal offence.
Spokesperson of Gush Shalom, Adam Keller, said in a press release that Israeli peace activist Yonatan Shapira, who had been a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force and refused to take part in the bombing of Palestinian cities, has arrived on board the Swedish boat "Estelle" which is making her way towards the coast of Gaza. When the Estelle passed near the shores of Greece, Shapira and other activists made their way in a motor boat, evading vessels of the Greek Coast Guard which sought to bar their way.
"Along with the Greek Coast Guard we saw a ship which seemed very much like an Israeli Navy vessel, though it did not fly a flag" said Shapira. He was received with cheers by activists already on board. Shapira had taken part in a similar sailing last year, being taken off by Israeli Navy Commandos near the Gaza shore and spending time in police detention, but not charged with any criminal offence.
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Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor has sent a letter calling on the United Nations to stop the Estelle from reaching her destination. To this activists on board respond: "If this means that Israel has decided to cede control over Palestinian territorial waters to the UN, this would actually be a step forward.
The UN and many other representatives of the International Community have for years characterized the siege of the Gaza strip as inhuman and incompatible with International Law. Ship to Gaza Sweden assumes that that UN will not take over the implementation of this policy, by itself preventing a peaceful vessel from delivering humanitarian supplies. Ship to Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla have never opposed lawful inspections of cargo and vessel by representatives of the UN, as well as by national authorities in the ports and waters we have passed through. We welcome further inspections of this kind by |
the UN, once we have anchored at Gaza City. What we refuse to accept is something which also the UN and the majority of The International Community oppose: The illegal siege of the Gaza Strip, with its devastating humanitarian results.
The Estelle has now set course to Gaza and, weather permitting, is due to get there on Saturday.
Adam Keller, Spokesperson of Gush Shalom, who is in ongoing contact with the Estelle activists, says that Israel's Prime Minister and Defense Minister still have some forty-eight hours' grace to make a wise and courageous decision, avoid another show of Israeli brute force in international waters and let the Estelle dock at the Port of Gaza – while implementing a thorough UN inspection of her cargo, to which the activists specifically consent.
The Estelle has now set course to Gaza and, weather permitting, is due to get there on Saturday.
Adam Keller, Spokesperson of Gush Shalom, who is in ongoing contact with the Estelle activists, says that Israel's Prime Minister and Defense Minister still have some forty-eight hours' grace to make a wise and courageous decision, avoid another show of Israeli brute force in international waters and let the Estelle dock at the Port of Gaza – while implementing a thorough UN inspection of her cargo, to which the activists specifically consent.
5 oct 2012
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The documentary that should make every decent Israeli ashamed
Guy Davidi, the Israeli director of '5 Broken Cameras,' in Bi'lin
No moments of reprieve in the probing documentary by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, "5 Broken Cameras," which chronicles the struggle in the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil'in. The soldiers arrive in the dead of night. They kick, they smash, they destroy. They break in, rudely awakening an entire house and its inhabitants, including children and babies. One officer pulls out a detailed document and declares: "This house is declared a 'closed military zone.'" He reads the order - in Hebrew and in a loud voice - to the sleep-dazed, pajama-clad family. |
This young man successfully completed his officers' training course. Perhaps he even believes, deep down, that someone has to do this dirty work. And he reads out the order solely to justify why the father of the household, Emad Burnat, is forbidden to film the event on his own video camera.
There are no moments of respite or reprieve in the probing documentary by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, "5 Broken Cameras," which was screened, among other places, at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque last weekend after collecting a number of international prizes and having been shown on Channel 8.
This documentary should make every decent Israeli ashamed of being an Israeli. It should be shown in civics classes and heritage classes. The Israelis should know, at long last, what is being done in their name every day and every night in this ostensible time of no terror. Even in a West Bank village like Bil'in, which has made nonviolence its motto.
The soldiers - the friends of our sons and the sons of our friends - break into homes in order to abduct small children, who may be suspected of throwing stones. There is no other way to describe this. They also arrest dozens of the organizers of the popular weekly protest at Bil'in. And this happens every night.
I have often been to this village, to its protests and to its funerals. Once or twice I joined the Friday demonstrations against the separation fence that was built on its land to enable Modi'in Ilit and Kiryat Sefer to rise on its olive groves. I have breathed the tear gas and the stinking "skunk" gas. I have seen the rubber bullets that wound and sometimes kill, and the violent behavior of the soldiers and the police toward the demonstrating inhabitants.
Yet nevertheless, what I saw in this film shocked me more than all those hasty visits. The apartment buildings of Modi'in Ilit are swallowing up the village, just like the wall that was built here on their land. The inhabitants decided to embark on a struggle for their property and their existence. With a mixture of naivete, determination and courage - and, now and then, some exaggerated theatricality - the residents undertake various gimmicks, with the help of a handful of Israeli and international volunteers.
This struggle has even won a partial victory: Only in its wake did the High Court of Justice order the dismantling of the wall and its relocation to a different place. Even the High Court, which usually automatically accepts the positions of the security establishment, understood that a crime was being committed here. Together with Bil'in and, to a large extent, inspired by it, more villages began to conduct a determined popular struggle every Friday - which continues to this day - against the wall, half an hour's drive from our homes.
This documentary proves that, for the locals, the reality of the occupation is that there is no such thing as nonviolent struggle. For the information of those who preach nonviolence (from the Palestinians ): The Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the Border Police will ensure that it becomes violent. Just one thrown stone, despite the pleas of the demonstration organizers, will suffice; just one verbal altercation will also suffice to open the most advanced weapons arsenal in the world - to pull the pin, to release the gas, the rubber bullet and the skunk gas, and sometimes the live fire, and to cut off the impossible dream of a nonviolent struggle.
Anyone who watches this film understands that it is very difficult to face the wall, the settlement project and the soldiers - all of which scream "violence" - and remain nonviolent. Nearly impossible.
Five times Burnat's cameras were destroyed. Three times by the soldiers, once in a traffic accident opposite the separation wall, and once by the ultra-Orthodox and violent settlers - the "hilltop youth," who break into homes even when the court prohibits this. "You are not allowed to be here," says an ultra-Orthodox settler to a villager trying to get to his stolen land.
The truth is that Burnat's cameras were damaged many more times; the film depicts only those incidents in which the equipment was rendered totally unusable. The cameras' ruined parts are displayed as evidence.
But something much deeper has been broken here. A reality has been broken by broken cameras. These cameras documented a reality unfamiliar to most Israelis. They documented a slice of life, about which most Israelis prefer to be oblivious. In so doing, they have also proved that, in a place where hardly any courageous journalism remains, there are at least courageous and impressive documentaries. In a place where hardly any journalists remain, there are important documentary filmmakers like Burnat and Davidi.
After the vast majority of the local media decided not to report on the occupation any more, films like "5 Broken Cameras," Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's "The Law in These Parts," and Mir Laufer and Erez Laufer's "One Day After Peace" - all the harvest of just the past few months - are filling the role intended for the media, and excellently.
Anyone who some day wants to learn what was happening here during these cursed decades will hardly find what he is looking for in the newspaper and television archives. He will find it in the documentary movie archive, which is rescuing Israel's honor.
"5 Broken Cameras" has already been shown in many countries, at festivals and commercial screenings. Davidi and Burnat documented the routine of the occupation. The IDF and Border Police come out looking bad. Even understatement and restraint cannot but describe them except as storm troopers.
Burnat's voice, which accompanies the film, is one of the most restrained voices you have heard concerning the occupation, without rabble-rousing and without hatred. This is how they look in reality. Go see this film and form your own impressions.
There have been other films about Bil'in and while this one is relatively small scale, it is extremely personal. Burnat's wife, who wants to keep him away from the camera and danger, and his young son, who has grown up in this reality, star in it along with the leaders of the struggle. There is only one person killed here: Bassem Abu-Rahma, a charming young man, loved by the children, who called him the Elephant - the needless victim of an alleged murder by a soldier in April 2009.
However, it is the non-deadly routine depicted in the movie that is so appalling. The camera breakers in it are breakers of the rule of law and of democracy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has boasted to the world about how enlightened Israel is, apparently has not seen this film. Otherwise, he would not be able to talk about enlightenment.
Anyone who behaves this way in his dark backyard cannot boast about what happens in his enlightened show window, with all that high tech and democracy. Anyone who knows what is happening in Bil'in and the other villages understands that a state that behaves in this way cannot be considered democratic or enlightened. Someone has to make Netanyahu watch this film, just so he will understand. .
This week I drove to Bil'in with one of the two directors, Guy Davidi (Burnat was away on another trip overseas ). Davidi once lived in the village for several months, but prior to our trip hadn't visited for over a year.
Ostensibly, nothing had changed. A Palestinian village drowsing in the afternoon. However, one thing was different: A large hill planted with olive trees has been liberated. In the place where the security fence had been, there is now only a dirt track. The barrier was removed and the hill was returned to its owners. The olive trees are dying after years of neglect, and the soil is scarred by all the earthworks carried out there. But still, some of the territory has been liberated.
The security fence has been replaced by a high concrete wall, but this has been moved several hundred meters to the west. Behind it, cranes continue to build Kiryat Sefer (aka Dvir ). In the liberated territory, they are already building a tiny playground for the village children. Only remnants of the burned tires and dozens of IDF gas-canister shells lying on the ground from the ongoing weekly demonstrations here testify that the struggle has not ended. It has not been completely successful. But if there were any justice, it would have been.
There are no moments of respite or reprieve in the probing documentary by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, "5 Broken Cameras," which was screened, among other places, at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque last weekend after collecting a number of international prizes and having been shown on Channel 8.
This documentary should make every decent Israeli ashamed of being an Israeli. It should be shown in civics classes and heritage classes. The Israelis should know, at long last, what is being done in their name every day and every night in this ostensible time of no terror. Even in a West Bank village like Bil'in, which has made nonviolence its motto.
The soldiers - the friends of our sons and the sons of our friends - break into homes in order to abduct small children, who may be suspected of throwing stones. There is no other way to describe this. They also arrest dozens of the organizers of the popular weekly protest at Bil'in. And this happens every night.
I have often been to this village, to its protests and to its funerals. Once or twice I joined the Friday demonstrations against the separation fence that was built on its land to enable Modi'in Ilit and Kiryat Sefer to rise on its olive groves. I have breathed the tear gas and the stinking "skunk" gas. I have seen the rubber bullets that wound and sometimes kill, and the violent behavior of the soldiers and the police toward the demonstrating inhabitants.
Yet nevertheless, what I saw in this film shocked me more than all those hasty visits. The apartment buildings of Modi'in Ilit are swallowing up the village, just like the wall that was built here on their land. The inhabitants decided to embark on a struggle for their property and their existence. With a mixture of naivete, determination and courage - and, now and then, some exaggerated theatricality - the residents undertake various gimmicks, with the help of a handful of Israeli and international volunteers.
This struggle has even won a partial victory: Only in its wake did the High Court of Justice order the dismantling of the wall and its relocation to a different place. Even the High Court, which usually automatically accepts the positions of the security establishment, understood that a crime was being committed here. Together with Bil'in and, to a large extent, inspired by it, more villages began to conduct a determined popular struggle every Friday - which continues to this day - against the wall, half an hour's drive from our homes.
This documentary proves that, for the locals, the reality of the occupation is that there is no such thing as nonviolent struggle. For the information of those who preach nonviolence (from the Palestinians ): The Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the Border Police will ensure that it becomes violent. Just one thrown stone, despite the pleas of the demonstration organizers, will suffice; just one verbal altercation will also suffice to open the most advanced weapons arsenal in the world - to pull the pin, to release the gas, the rubber bullet and the skunk gas, and sometimes the live fire, and to cut off the impossible dream of a nonviolent struggle.
Anyone who watches this film understands that it is very difficult to face the wall, the settlement project and the soldiers - all of which scream "violence" - and remain nonviolent. Nearly impossible.
Five times Burnat's cameras were destroyed. Three times by the soldiers, once in a traffic accident opposite the separation wall, and once by the ultra-Orthodox and violent settlers - the "hilltop youth," who break into homes even when the court prohibits this. "You are not allowed to be here," says an ultra-Orthodox settler to a villager trying to get to his stolen land.
The truth is that Burnat's cameras were damaged many more times; the film depicts only those incidents in which the equipment was rendered totally unusable. The cameras' ruined parts are displayed as evidence.
But something much deeper has been broken here. A reality has been broken by broken cameras. These cameras documented a reality unfamiliar to most Israelis. They documented a slice of life, about which most Israelis prefer to be oblivious. In so doing, they have also proved that, in a place where hardly any courageous journalism remains, there are at least courageous and impressive documentaries. In a place where hardly any journalists remain, there are important documentary filmmakers like Burnat and Davidi.
After the vast majority of the local media decided not to report on the occupation any more, films like "5 Broken Cameras," Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's "The Law in These Parts," and Mir Laufer and Erez Laufer's "One Day After Peace" - all the harvest of just the past few months - are filling the role intended for the media, and excellently.
Anyone who some day wants to learn what was happening here during these cursed decades will hardly find what he is looking for in the newspaper and television archives. He will find it in the documentary movie archive, which is rescuing Israel's honor.
"5 Broken Cameras" has already been shown in many countries, at festivals and commercial screenings. Davidi and Burnat documented the routine of the occupation. The IDF and Border Police come out looking bad. Even understatement and restraint cannot but describe them except as storm troopers.
Burnat's voice, which accompanies the film, is one of the most restrained voices you have heard concerning the occupation, without rabble-rousing and without hatred. This is how they look in reality. Go see this film and form your own impressions.
There have been other films about Bil'in and while this one is relatively small scale, it is extremely personal. Burnat's wife, who wants to keep him away from the camera and danger, and his young son, who has grown up in this reality, star in it along with the leaders of the struggle. There is only one person killed here: Bassem Abu-Rahma, a charming young man, loved by the children, who called him the Elephant - the needless victim of an alleged murder by a soldier in April 2009.
However, it is the non-deadly routine depicted in the movie that is so appalling. The camera breakers in it are breakers of the rule of law and of democracy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has boasted to the world about how enlightened Israel is, apparently has not seen this film. Otherwise, he would not be able to talk about enlightenment.
Anyone who behaves this way in his dark backyard cannot boast about what happens in his enlightened show window, with all that high tech and democracy. Anyone who knows what is happening in Bil'in and the other villages understands that a state that behaves in this way cannot be considered democratic or enlightened. Someone has to make Netanyahu watch this film, just so he will understand. .
This week I drove to Bil'in with one of the two directors, Guy Davidi (Burnat was away on another trip overseas ). Davidi once lived in the village for several months, but prior to our trip hadn't visited for over a year.
Ostensibly, nothing had changed. A Palestinian village drowsing in the afternoon. However, one thing was different: A large hill planted with olive trees has been liberated. In the place where the security fence had been, there is now only a dirt track. The barrier was removed and the hill was returned to its owners. The olive trees are dying after years of neglect, and the soil is scarred by all the earthworks carried out there. But still, some of the territory has been liberated.
The security fence has been replaced by a high concrete wall, but this has been moved several hundred meters to the west. Behind it, cranes continue to build Kiryat Sefer (aka Dvir ). In the liberated territory, they are already building a tiny playground for the village children. Only remnants of the burned tires and dozens of IDF gas-canister shells lying on the ground from the ongoing weekly demonstrations here testify that the struggle has not ended. It has not been completely successful. But if there were any justice, it would have been.
15 sept 2012
Meet the Israeli female super-spies who FLIRT their way into deciphering enemy secrets
When most people think of international spies, they probably imagine hyper-masculine figures such as James Bond or Jason Bourne.
But Israel's fearsome secret service has developed a new breed of super-spy - seductive young women.
And the highly trained agents say that 'any means is valid' when it comes to deploying their feminine wiles - though they would draw the line at sleeping with the enemy.
The world has never previously heard from the female spies of the Mossad, who have been crucial to some of the agency's greatest triumphs.
But now five of them have spoken out for the first time, telling Israeli magazine Lady Globes about their extraordinary lifestyle which makes them feel as if they are 'living in a movie'.
The most notable deployment of the women's unique talents came in 1986, when one agent seduced a turncoat former nuclear engineer and lured him into a trap so he could be taken back to Israel.
A current agent calling herself Yael tells the magazine that women often had an advantage over men, as they were more likely to be trusted by strangers.
'A man who wants to gain access to a forbidden area has less chance of being allowed in,' she says. 'A smiling woman has a bigger chance of success.'
Another spy, Efrat, echoes the sentiment, saying: 'We use our femininity because any means is valid.'
But she adds that there are things she and her comrades would not do: 'Even if we think that the way to advance the mission is to sleep with Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, no one in the Mossad would allow us to do it.
'Women agents are not used for sexual purposes. We flirt, but the line is drawn at sex.'
However, not all their work is glamorous, as 38-year-old Ella explains to Lady Globes.
'I leave a secure home, my husband and three small children sleeping safely in their beds with tears welling in my eyes and a growing lump in my throat,' she says.
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo told the magazine that around half of the agency's spies are women, and said that the fairer sex has some distinct advantages over male agents.
'Women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multitask,' he said.
'Contrary to stereotypes, you see that women's abilities are superior to men in terms of understanding the territory, reading situations, spatial awareness. When they're good, they're very good.'
But Israel's fearsome secret service has developed a new breed of super-spy - seductive young women.
And the highly trained agents say that 'any means is valid' when it comes to deploying their feminine wiles - though they would draw the line at sleeping with the enemy.
The world has never previously heard from the female spies of the Mossad, who have been crucial to some of the agency's greatest triumphs.
But now five of them have spoken out for the first time, telling Israeli magazine Lady Globes about their extraordinary lifestyle which makes them feel as if they are 'living in a movie'.
The most notable deployment of the women's unique talents came in 1986, when one agent seduced a turncoat former nuclear engineer and lured him into a trap so he could be taken back to Israel.
A current agent calling herself Yael tells the magazine that women often had an advantage over men, as they were more likely to be trusted by strangers.
'A man who wants to gain access to a forbidden area has less chance of being allowed in,' she says. 'A smiling woman has a bigger chance of success.'
Another spy, Efrat, echoes the sentiment, saying: 'We use our femininity because any means is valid.'
But she adds that there are things she and her comrades would not do: 'Even if we think that the way to advance the mission is to sleep with Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, no one in the Mossad would allow us to do it.
'Women agents are not used for sexual purposes. We flirt, but the line is drawn at sex.'
However, not all their work is glamorous, as 38-year-old Ella explains to Lady Globes.
'I leave a secure home, my husband and three small children sleeping safely in their beds with tears welling in my eyes and a growing lump in my throat,' she says.
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo told the magazine that around half of the agency's spies are women, and said that the fairer sex has some distinct advantages over male agents.
'Women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multitask,' he said.
'Contrary to stereotypes, you see that women's abilities are superior to men in terms of understanding the territory, reading situations, spatial awareness. When they're good, they're very good.'
'We'd do anything for Israel, but we don't do that,' say Mossad's female secret weapons
Anna Chapman: The “real-life Bond girl” was arrested and deported from the United States in 2010, accused of being one of 10 Russian sleeper agents
For the first time in Israeli history, five agents have been allowed to give interviews.
When it's time for Ella, a 38-year-old wife and mother, to go to work, she slips out before her family wake up.
"I leave a secure home, my husband and three small children sleeping safely in their beds with tears welling in my eyes and a growing lump in my throat," says Ella, whose surname is an Israeli state secret and whose first name is probably something else entirely.
"Ella" is an agent of the Mossad, Israel's feared foreign secret service. For the first time in Israeli history, Ella and four colleagues have been allowed to give interviews.
Their rare comments in the Hebrew-language magazine Lady Globes were published this week as details emerged in The New Yorker of one of the Mossad's greatest triumphs, the exposé of a Syrian nuclear-weapons facility in 2007 that Israel later destroyed.
The role of female Mossad agents emerged in 1986 when "Cindy" lured smitten nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu from London to Italy, where he was drugged, kidnapped and shipped secretly to Israel and spent 18 years in prison.
The secret sisterhood admit that they often feel they are "living in a movie, on a constant high" but are at pains to dismiss the idea that they are merely sexual weapons.
"A man who wants to gain access to a forbidden area has less chance of being allowed in. A smiling woman has a bigger chance of success," Yael, a Mossad legend, tells Lady Globes.
"We use our femininity because any means is valid," says Efrat, another agent. "But even if we think that the way to advance the mission is to sleep with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, no one in the Mossad would allow us to do it. Women agents are not used for sexual purposes. We flirt, but the line is drawn at sex."
Only a tiny percentage who apply to join the Mossad are accepted. Of the thousands who apply, most are weeded out by the screening process. Half the candidates who begin the final two-year training course are rejected, including decorated graduates of Israel's top military-commando units.
"Someone who can't handle the pressure or whose interpersonal skills are not very good will be thrown off the course," Yael says. "There are some very talented people who begin sweating or stuttering or blanking out. That's a no-go."
In an equally rare departure from protocol, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo tells Lady Globes that there are an equal number of men and women field agents. "Women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multitask," Mr Pardo says, adding that women are better at playing a role and superior to men when it comes to "suppressing their ego in order to attain the goal".
"Women are gifted at deciphering situations. Contrary to stereotypes, you see that women's abilities are superior to men in terms of understanding the territory, reading situations, spatial awareness. When they're good, they're very good."
"As for overcoming fear, we're all afraid. Fear crosses gender lines," Mr Pardo says.
Behind enemy lines: Women spies
Anna Chapman
The "real-life Bond girl" was arrested and deported from the United States in 2010, accused of being one of 10 Russian sleeper agents. Far from leading a quiet life once back in Russia, she received a medal from then-President Dmitry Medvedev and praise from then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and now has a career as a television presenter and model.
Eileen Nearne
One of 39 British women parachuted into France as agents in "Churchill's secret army" during the Second World War, Nearne played a key role in preparing the French Résistance ahead of the D-Day landings in June 1944. She helped to recruit more than 14,000 agents for espionage and sabotage missions behind enemy lines, and was later awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government. She died in 2010, aged 89.
Mata Hari
Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands, Hari had gained fame as a dancer and courtesan before the First World War. She was accused by the French authorities of spying for Germany, court-martialled and executed by firing squad in 1917. A French intelligence report said she had admitted sending "general information" to the Germans but not military secrets.
For the first time in Israeli history, five agents have been allowed to give interviews.
When it's time for Ella, a 38-year-old wife and mother, to go to work, she slips out before her family wake up.
"I leave a secure home, my husband and three small children sleeping safely in their beds with tears welling in my eyes and a growing lump in my throat," says Ella, whose surname is an Israeli state secret and whose first name is probably something else entirely.
"Ella" is an agent of the Mossad, Israel's feared foreign secret service. For the first time in Israeli history, Ella and four colleagues have been allowed to give interviews.
Their rare comments in the Hebrew-language magazine Lady Globes were published this week as details emerged in The New Yorker of one of the Mossad's greatest triumphs, the exposé of a Syrian nuclear-weapons facility in 2007 that Israel later destroyed.
The role of female Mossad agents emerged in 1986 when "Cindy" lured smitten nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu from London to Italy, where he was drugged, kidnapped and shipped secretly to Israel and spent 18 years in prison.
The secret sisterhood admit that they often feel they are "living in a movie, on a constant high" but are at pains to dismiss the idea that they are merely sexual weapons.
"A man who wants to gain access to a forbidden area has less chance of being allowed in. A smiling woman has a bigger chance of success," Yael, a Mossad legend, tells Lady Globes.
"We use our femininity because any means is valid," says Efrat, another agent. "But even if we think that the way to advance the mission is to sleep with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, no one in the Mossad would allow us to do it. Women agents are not used for sexual purposes. We flirt, but the line is drawn at sex."
Only a tiny percentage who apply to join the Mossad are accepted. Of the thousands who apply, most are weeded out by the screening process. Half the candidates who begin the final two-year training course are rejected, including decorated graduates of Israel's top military-commando units.
"Someone who can't handle the pressure or whose interpersonal skills are not very good will be thrown off the course," Yael says. "There are some very talented people who begin sweating or stuttering or blanking out. That's a no-go."
In an equally rare departure from protocol, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo tells Lady Globes that there are an equal number of men and women field agents. "Women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multitask," Mr Pardo says, adding that women are better at playing a role and superior to men when it comes to "suppressing their ego in order to attain the goal".
"Women are gifted at deciphering situations. Contrary to stereotypes, you see that women's abilities are superior to men in terms of understanding the territory, reading situations, spatial awareness. When they're good, they're very good."
"As for overcoming fear, we're all afraid. Fear crosses gender lines," Mr Pardo says.
Behind enemy lines: Women spies
Anna Chapman
The "real-life Bond girl" was arrested and deported from the United States in 2010, accused of being one of 10 Russian sleeper agents. Far from leading a quiet life once back in Russia, she received a medal from then-President Dmitry Medvedev and praise from then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and now has a career as a television presenter and model.
Eileen Nearne
One of 39 British women parachuted into France as agents in "Churchill's secret army" during the Second World War, Nearne played a key role in preparing the French Résistance ahead of the D-Day landings in June 1944. She helped to recruit more than 14,000 agents for espionage and sabotage missions behind enemy lines, and was later awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government. She died in 2010, aged 89.
Mata Hari
Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands, Hari had gained fame as a dancer and courtesan before the First World War. She was accused by the French authorities of spying for Germany, court-martialled and executed by firing squad in 1917. A French intelligence report said she had admitted sending "general information" to the Germans but not military secrets.
4 sept 2012
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"You want to kill him but he’s crying": More Israeli soldiers’ confessions of crimes against children
In 2007, Israeli soldiers arrested 13-year-old Majid Jaradat for throwing stones during a demonstration in Sair village, near Hebron. Majed spoke about the violence of his arrest and detention in a video produced by Israeli rights organization B’tselem. But this was no isolated case. Many more such incidents are reported in a new publication from the Israeli veterans’ organization Breaking The Silence with shocking admissions from Israeli soldiers about the maltreatment of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation. The disturbing violations of children’s rights by soldiers took place in the occupied Palestinian territories between 2005-2011. My previous post Choose a kid at random, “aim at his body”: Israeli soldiers confess their violence, addressed the abuse of Palestinian children as human shields, the use of handcuffs for torture, and the lethal use of rubber bullets. |
This second post ul shooting to kill children who pose no danger — amount to war crimes. summarizes more examples of the abuse of children by Israeli forces from the Breaking The Silence report, many of which — including admissions of indiscriminate shooting and wilf
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13-year-old Majed Jaradat was abused by Israeli soldiers (Screenshot from B’tselem video documenting his narrative )
Abuse during arrest and detention. Beating a crying child with a Motorola |
After a stone-throwing incident, soldiers were ordered to stop a 15-year-old child. “His name was Daoud. We stopped our vehicle, ran out, he was in total shock. We took him to Gross Post, to the Jewish side, and he began to cry, scream, he was just streaming sweat and tears. We had nothing to do with him, suddenly you end up with a crying kid.
A second ago he was throwing roof tiles at the army post, and you’re dying to beat him to a pulp, and you’re alerted out there in that heat. You want to kill him but he’s crying. We didn’t know what to do, so we put him under watch.
Once someone who was with him went wild, did something to him and left. At some point when I was with him I tried to calm him down because he was tied, blindfolded, and crying, tears and sweat streaming out all over. I began to shake him, then the deputy company commander tried. He grabbed him and began to shake him: ‘Shut up, shut up, enough, cut it out!’
Then we took him to the police station at Givat Ha’avot and he continued to cry because the policemen didn’t take him in for interrogation. He was so annoying, this was insane. In all that mess, while he was crawling on the floor, the communications man took out his Motorola, his two-way radio and boom! – banged him on the head” (Hebron 2010).
Soldiers throwing stones at captive children
A soldier saw the abuse of detainees “so many times.” She remembers one of the first times she came to the commander’s office and “saw some five detainees, incredibly scary, and a few soldiers…” It was scary, because the detainees were children, around 14-15 years old. “Combatants came at those kids, threw stones at them, swore at them. And the kids sat as helpless as a human being can be, their hands shackled in those tight plastic bands that don’t let them move, blindfolded, total helplessness” (Nablus 2005-2006).
Indifferent
A child was arrested: “While we took him out of the jeep I remember hearing him shitting his pants… I also remember some other time when someone pissed in his pants. I just became so indifferent to it, I couldn’t care less. He shat in his pants, I heard him do it, I witnessed his embarrassment. I also smelled it. But I didn’t care” (Hebron 2010).
Violent “game”
A soldier confessed he detained adolescents, “You shackle them, blindfold them, put them at the army post’s sentry booth and then take them back.. Once we arrested someone and while driving, in the APC [Armored Personnel Carrier], someone played ‘kazabubu shlaflaf’ with him. When I say, ‘kazabubu,’ you have to say your name, and when I say, ‘shlaflaf,’ you must say your family name. So he began to play the game with him without explaining the rules.
He said: ‘Kazabubu,’ and hit him on the head. Not too tough, but it was simply humiliating. Less painful than humiliating. He would hit him and some would yell the answer at him, what he was supposed to say: ‘Say your name!’ and the like: ‘What’s your name!?’ Shouts like that. Such a game can take about seven minutes…” (Nablus 2009).
Shooting “Okay to shoot to kill. Regardless of their age”
We were instructed to take down anyone visibly armed in a riot or anyone with a Molotov cocktail even if it hasn’t been thrown yet. We should fire in his direction. If someone heats things up you can shoot either very close to him or to his legs or something like that. There is no one who tells you who is heating things up. All those fanatics see all the Palestinians there as heating things up.
Once we were with six guys inside an armored jeep in a real serious riot. The guy next to me fired at the ground to make the crowd run away, and then he goes: “Oops!” I look and see a kid bleeding on the ground and the crowd indeed was gone. He shot from inside the vehicle. He also said to us, like: “Don’t tell.” When Molotov cocktails are thrown at us we have the okay to shoot to kill. Regardless of their age (Nablus 2005-2006).
A second ago he was throwing roof tiles at the army post, and you’re dying to beat him to a pulp, and you’re alerted out there in that heat. You want to kill him but he’s crying. We didn’t know what to do, so we put him under watch.
Once someone who was with him went wild, did something to him and left. At some point when I was with him I tried to calm him down because he was tied, blindfolded, and crying, tears and sweat streaming out all over. I began to shake him, then the deputy company commander tried. He grabbed him and began to shake him: ‘Shut up, shut up, enough, cut it out!’
Then we took him to the police station at Givat Ha’avot and he continued to cry because the policemen didn’t take him in for interrogation. He was so annoying, this was insane. In all that mess, while he was crawling on the floor, the communications man took out his Motorola, his two-way radio and boom! – banged him on the head” (Hebron 2010).
Soldiers throwing stones at captive children
A soldier saw the abuse of detainees “so many times.” She remembers one of the first times she came to the commander’s office and “saw some five detainees, incredibly scary, and a few soldiers…” It was scary, because the detainees were children, around 14-15 years old. “Combatants came at those kids, threw stones at them, swore at them. And the kids sat as helpless as a human being can be, their hands shackled in those tight plastic bands that don’t let them move, blindfolded, total helplessness” (Nablus 2005-2006).
Indifferent
A child was arrested: “While we took him out of the jeep I remember hearing him shitting his pants… I also remember some other time when someone pissed in his pants. I just became so indifferent to it, I couldn’t care less. He shat in his pants, I heard him do it, I witnessed his embarrassment. I also smelled it. But I didn’t care” (Hebron 2010).
Violent “game”
A soldier confessed he detained adolescents, “You shackle them, blindfold them, put them at the army post’s sentry booth and then take them back.. Once we arrested someone and while driving, in the APC [Armored Personnel Carrier], someone played ‘kazabubu shlaflaf’ with him. When I say, ‘kazabubu,’ you have to say your name, and when I say, ‘shlaflaf,’ you must say your family name. So he began to play the game with him without explaining the rules.
He said: ‘Kazabubu,’ and hit him on the head. Not too tough, but it was simply humiliating. Less painful than humiliating. He would hit him and some would yell the answer at him, what he was supposed to say: ‘Say your name!’ and the like: ‘What’s your name!?’ Shouts like that. Such a game can take about seven minutes…” (Nablus 2009).
Shooting “Okay to shoot to kill. Regardless of their age”
We were instructed to take down anyone visibly armed in a riot or anyone with a Molotov cocktail even if it hasn’t been thrown yet. We should fire in his direction. If someone heats things up you can shoot either very close to him or to his legs or something like that. There is no one who tells you who is heating things up. All those fanatics see all the Palestinians there as heating things up.
Once we were with six guys inside an armored jeep in a real serious riot. The guy next to me fired at the ground to make the crowd run away, and then he goes: “Oops!” I look and see a kid bleeding on the ground and the crowd indeed was gone. He shot from inside the vehicle. He also said to us, like: “Don’t tell.” When Molotov cocktails are thrown at us we have the okay to shoot to kill. Regardless of their age (Nablus 2005-2006).
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An ambush for kids
Once in a while one of our vehicles would be hit by Molotov cocktails on Mount Eval, in Nablus. After a few such incidents we laid an ambush. If a kid was about to throw a Molotov cocktail, you’re allowed to shoot him. “Shoot to kill?”, asks the interviewer. “Absolutely, that’s procedure, replies the soldier. “The moment you even see the lighter spark.” He explains that the soldiers try to provoke the kids by driving a jeep up and down. The jeep goes by and suddenly they see a group of kids coming, “I think they were holding some bag.” A soldier aims his M-24 [marksmen’s rifle] at one of the kids. He asks the officer if it’s okay to release the safety catch. The officer tells him it’s fine. “[S]uddenly – boom! – the marksman’s rifle let off a shot. |
We see the kids scatter in all directions, running like hell, and we have no idea what happened because we know he was aiming and we don’t know whether the kid was hit or not.”
Interviewer: You said they were holding a bag. Did they aim at the one holding the bag?
Soldier: That’s a spot that Molotov cocktails are often thrown from.
Interviewer: But a Molotov cocktail is a bottle, not a bag.
Soldier: But you always have to assume that that’s what’s in the bag. You get it?
Interviewer: What ages were these kids?
Soldier: Little – 13, 14, 15. (Nablus 2009)
“Free game”
Molotov cocktails were regularly thrown from Jilazoun refugee camp in the direction of Beit El settlement. None of them ever really reach Beit El. “It was always kids throwing, and for a while we would lay ambushes there, and once in a while a Molotov cocktail would be hurled at one of our forces, and they’d be chased. One of my friends was sitting at Beit El in a sort-of marksman’s post, and a kid came out and threw a Molotov cocktail, and he shot him. The moment they light up the bottle, they’re free game.
Interviewer: Did the kid mean to throw it at the force?
Soldier: No, he was the furthest away, he wasn’t endangering my friend who shot him with his marksman’s rifle.
Interviewer: And he killed him?
Soldier: Yes.
Interviewer: How old was the kid?
Soldier: Young, 16 years old. (Ramallah 2008)
“ We had lots of X’s [Note: Marked on the side of a soldier’s rifle, indicating the number of people he’s killed] at that time. The battalion loved it. There was an ambush around there where a kid coming up with a Molotov cocktail had his leg blown off. They laid ambush exactly at that spot. Kids came, the soldiers were there, the kids lit a bottle, and they were shot in the leg (Ramallah 2008).
No shame to capture violations on camera
A soldier tells about two other soldiers who there were excited by their first action in Hebron in which a Palestinian boy was detained for throwing stones. The boy denied he had done so. The two excitted soldiers “had their pictures taken with him.” In response to the question if the boy objected, the soldier said, “No, he was blindfolded, he didn’t know” (Hebron 2007-2008).
During a training, a driver showed me pictures of two kids they had caught, shackled, and kicked. “He showed me the video he took on his cell phone. Sitting shackled, and some soldier walks by and – pow – kicks them in the back or something (Jalame, Jenin 2008).
There was this saying: “We have a detainee.” [The soldier talks about child detainees]. Soldiers wanted to have their picture taken. Usually they were not allowed to do so, but sometimes they did. It was done, but it wasn’t actually permitted. As though it didn’t happen, but everyone did it. People would video tape themselves, they made clips. “Say ‘Advanced Company’ is the bomb, come on, say it!” Finally, some action (Gaza Strip 2008).
Interviewer: You said they were holding a bag. Did they aim at the one holding the bag?
Soldier: That’s a spot that Molotov cocktails are often thrown from.
Interviewer: But a Molotov cocktail is a bottle, not a bag.
Soldier: But you always have to assume that that’s what’s in the bag. You get it?
Interviewer: What ages were these kids?
Soldier: Little – 13, 14, 15. (Nablus 2009)
“Free game”
Molotov cocktails were regularly thrown from Jilazoun refugee camp in the direction of Beit El settlement. None of them ever really reach Beit El. “It was always kids throwing, and for a while we would lay ambushes there, and once in a while a Molotov cocktail would be hurled at one of our forces, and they’d be chased. One of my friends was sitting at Beit El in a sort-of marksman’s post, and a kid came out and threw a Molotov cocktail, and he shot him. The moment they light up the bottle, they’re free game.
Interviewer: Did the kid mean to throw it at the force?
Soldier: No, he was the furthest away, he wasn’t endangering my friend who shot him with his marksman’s rifle.
Interviewer: And he killed him?
Soldier: Yes.
Interviewer: How old was the kid?
Soldier: Young, 16 years old. (Ramallah 2008)
“ We had lots of X’s [Note: Marked on the side of a soldier’s rifle, indicating the number of people he’s killed] at that time. The battalion loved it. There was an ambush around there where a kid coming up with a Molotov cocktail had his leg blown off. They laid ambush exactly at that spot. Kids came, the soldiers were there, the kids lit a bottle, and they were shot in the leg (Ramallah 2008).
No shame to capture violations on camera
A soldier tells about two other soldiers who there were excited by their first action in Hebron in which a Palestinian boy was detained for throwing stones. The boy denied he had done so. The two excitted soldiers “had their pictures taken with him.” In response to the question if the boy objected, the soldier said, “No, he was blindfolded, he didn’t know” (Hebron 2007-2008).
During a training, a driver showed me pictures of two kids they had caught, shackled, and kicked. “He showed me the video he took on his cell phone. Sitting shackled, and some soldier walks by and – pow – kicks them in the back or something (Jalame, Jenin 2008).
There was this saying: “We have a detainee.” [The soldier talks about child detainees]. Soldiers wanted to have their picture taken. Usually they were not allowed to do so, but sometimes they did. It was done, but it wasn’t actually permitted. As though it didn’t happen, but everyone did it. People would video tape themselves, they made clips. “Say ‘Advanced Company’ is the bomb, come on, say it!” Finally, some action (Gaza Strip 2008).
31 aug 2012
Choose a kid at random, "aim at his body": Israeli soldiers confess their violence
This video, shot by the Research Journalism Initiative, shows Israeli soldiers using Palestinian children as human shields in Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the occupied West Bank in 2007.
Two more such incidents - in Tulkarm and Hebron - are reported in a new publication from the Israeli veterans’ organization Breaking The Silence with disturbing testimonies from Israeli soldiers about the maltreatment of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation.
Children are exposed to a harsh daily reality of constant friction with occupation forces, arrests, violence, intimidation and harassment. They are wounded or killed because soldiers ignore them at the scene of events, or by targeting them directly, sometimes at random. The disturbing actions the soldiers describe — some undoubtedly amounting to war crimes — took place in the occupied Palestinian territories between 2005-2011. This post is the first of two which summarize shocking examples of the abuse of children by Israeli forces.
Two more such incidents - in Tulkarm and Hebron - are reported in a new publication from the Israeli veterans’ organization Breaking The Silence with disturbing testimonies from Israeli soldiers about the maltreatment of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation.
Children are exposed to a harsh daily reality of constant friction with occupation forces, arrests, violence, intimidation and harassment. They are wounded or killed because soldiers ignore them at the scene of events, or by targeting them directly, sometimes at random. The disturbing actions the soldiers describe — some undoubtedly amounting to war crimes — took place in the occupied Palestinian territories between 2005-2011. This post is the first of two which summarize shocking examples of the abuse of children by Israeli forces.
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Using children as human shields
Two soldiers testified how children were used as human shields. In Tulkarm in 2005, the “neighbor procedure” was used in an arrest mission. Usually a resident of the neighboring house is summoned and required to enter the wanted person’s home and call all its inhabitants to come outside. “We got all the people out. No one was the wanted person. We feared he was still there, inside. So at first neighbors were used, then some kid. Bilal, I even recall his name. I remember because I got very angry over this. And they kept sending him into that house to check that no one was inside, open all the doors, turn on all the lights, open all the windows.” “So there’s a school there. We’d often provoke riots there. We’d be on patrol, walking in the village, bored, so we’d trash shops, find a detonator, beat someone to a pulp, |
you know how it is,” said a soldier relating incidents in Hebron in 2006-2007. “Search, mess it all up. Say we’d want a riot? We’d go up to the windows of a mosque, smash the panes, throw in a stun grenade, make a big boom, then we’d get a riot,” he continued.
Once, “We fired a lot of rubber ammo. A lot. Every time we’d catch Arab kids, hold them like this, with stones, like retards. You know, so that the others would throw stones at them, not at us.” When asked if the children were turned in human shields, the soldier replied “Yes.” The kids cannot run away, he explains, because they will be badly beaten. “You catch him, push the gun against his body, he can’t make a move, he’s totally petrified.”
Use of handcuffs for torture
In 2009, the Israeli army’s Kfir Brigade was ordered to take over a school in the town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank and turn it in into a detention facility. Anyone between 17 and 50 years had to be arrested to collect information for the Shabak (Israel Security Agency), however, even 14-year-old children were brought in.
People arrived blindfolded and shackled. “There are soldiers who know what the point of the [plastic] handcuff is, and then there are others, who think that it is meant as a device to stop blood flow from the wrist to the fingertips. [T]hey think it should be on so tight that no blood can get through.”
Many people were very tightly shackled “and they were begging to be released just a bit. Eventually, after they cried and complained, the company commander ordered them released, and after a while [about seven hours] they even had their hands in front instead of behind their backs. It takes time for hands to turn blue. Not everyone had blue hands, but many people already turned numb.”
The operation lasted from morning until noon the next day. Detainees had to stay the whole time blindfolded and shackled in the sun. When they asked to go to the bathroom, they were beaten to pulp and cursed at for no reason by the soldiers who took them there. A 15-year-old child was taken the bathroom “to piss and a soldier slapped him, took him down to the ground while he was shackled and blindfolded. Just like that, because he is an Arab.”
“Choose someone, aim at his body.”
A soldier who served during 2006-2007 in Nablus explains that when children hit you with stones, you don’t get out of the jeep. “You shoot through the loophole.” Asked “Do you choose some kid at random?” a soldier replied “Yes. Choose someone, aim at his body.”
“I remember one time we put a kid down. We didn’t kill him but someone hit the kid in the chest and he fell and probably lost consciousness, or at least, it was pretty close. About 10 meters.”
The soldier stated that his brigade was not instructed in how to use rubber ammunition. “There are rules. They tell you to shoot four. There’s this cluster of rubber bullets, pieces with four parts, packed in a kind of nylon. You can break it in two, so it’s stronger and flies further. As soon as it’s four it’s less strong and flies less far. We’d usually break it in half. [W]e figured it out ourselves. It’s something that’s common knowledge in the army.”
Interviewer: “As soon as this pack of rubber bullets is broken in half, it becomes lethal.
Soldier: “Really? Well, that’s what we did.”
Interviewer: “We did, too. As soon as the ‘tampons’ are separated, they’re lethal. The nylon must not be removed.”
Soldier: “Not removed?!”
Interviewer: “No.”
Soldier: “We barely fired a whole cluster, I mean four. It’s like you want to save ammo, too.”
Violence against Palestinian children
The booklet presents numerous examples of shocking violence against children.
“At first you point your gun at some five-year-old kid, and feel bad afterward, saying it’s not right. Then you get to a point where… you get so nervous and sick of going into a village and getting stones thrown at you. But it’s obvious, you’re inside the village, you’ve just passed the school house, naturally the kids will throw stones at you. Once my driver got out, and without blinking, just grabbed some kid and beat him to a pulp. And that kid was just sitting in the street and looked like some other kid, or wore another kid’s shirt, or perhaps he was that kid but that’s not the point” (Nablus in 2005).
“We’d go on two night patrols in the designated area. I was driving and suddenly I see some Arab boy, about 18 years old, with his face mangled, really bad. He had a black eye, his lip was torn, in really bad shape. So I stop, offer him water, and he points at my jeep and say the license plate number was 06543, so he goes: “No, 0666 hit me.” I don’t understand what he wants from me and then the other jeep arrives. The sergeant in it says: “See how I handled him?” (Bethlehem 2006-2007).
“Kids would throw stones at us, we’d catch some kid who happened to be there and beat him to a pulp. Even if he didn’t throw stones. He would know who did. ‘Who is it? Who is it?’ Finally he’d tell us who did it.” The soldiers gives an example of the heavy beating of 10-year-old child which is suspected of throwing stones. “That commander had no mercy. Really. Anyway the kid could no longer stand on his feet and was already crying. He couldn’t take it anymore. He cried. The commander shouted: ‘Stand up!’ Tried to make him stand but he couldn’t. He really couldn’t. From so much beating he just couldn’t stand up. The commander goes: ‘Don’t put on a show,’ and kicks him some more.” In response to the question “If I were a Palestinian, what would I get beaten up for?”, a soldier replies “It was enough for you to give us a look that we didn’t like, straight in the eye, and you’d be hit on the spot. We got to such a state and were so sick of being there, you know what I mean” (Hebron 2006-2007).
“There was another instance of a 14-year old, an illegal alien. He was detained, kept on the side, so he stood there and hummed to himself. This annoyed one of the guys. He went up to him and said: ‘Something amusing you?’ The kid said: ‘Yes, gotta keep my spirits up.’ ‘Spirits up, eh?’ and the soldier slapped his face” (Tulkarm 2008).
A commander who wanted to to detain a child, “tore him away from his dad’s leg and we put the kid in the jeep. I did nothing at that point. At the end of the day, something has to make these kids stop throwing stones on the road because they can kill. That specific kid who actually lay there on the ground, begging for his life, was actually nine years old. I think of our kids, nine years old, and a kid handling this kind of situation, I mean, a kid has to beg for his life? A loaded gun is pointed at him and he has to plead for mercy? This is something that scars him for life” (Qalqiliya 2007).
Following a riot at Qalandiya, there was an ambush put up in an abandoned house in Ramallah. “Soldiers got out with army clubs and beat people to a pulp. Finally the children who remained on the ground were arrested. The order was to run, make people fall to the ground. There was a 10-12 man team, 4 soldiers lighting up the area. People were made to fall to the ground, and then the soldiers with the clubs [a 30 centimeters long wooden club] would go over to them and beat them. A slow runner was beaten, that was the rule. We were told not to use it on people’s heads. I don’t remember where we were told to hit, but as soon as a person on the ground is beaten with such a club, it’s difficult to be particular” (Ramallah 2006-2007).
My next post will contain examples related to arrests and detention of Palestinian children, the order to shoot in case of suspicion of Molotov cocktails, and the practice of documenting abuse.
Once, “We fired a lot of rubber ammo. A lot. Every time we’d catch Arab kids, hold them like this, with stones, like retards. You know, so that the others would throw stones at them, not at us.” When asked if the children were turned in human shields, the soldier replied “Yes.” The kids cannot run away, he explains, because they will be badly beaten. “You catch him, push the gun against his body, he can’t make a move, he’s totally petrified.”
Use of handcuffs for torture
In 2009, the Israeli army’s Kfir Brigade was ordered to take over a school in the town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank and turn it in into a detention facility. Anyone between 17 and 50 years had to be arrested to collect information for the Shabak (Israel Security Agency), however, even 14-year-old children were brought in.
People arrived blindfolded and shackled. “There are soldiers who know what the point of the [plastic] handcuff is, and then there are others, who think that it is meant as a device to stop blood flow from the wrist to the fingertips. [T]hey think it should be on so tight that no blood can get through.”
Many people were very tightly shackled “and they were begging to be released just a bit. Eventually, after they cried and complained, the company commander ordered them released, and after a while [about seven hours] they even had their hands in front instead of behind their backs. It takes time for hands to turn blue. Not everyone had blue hands, but many people already turned numb.”
The operation lasted from morning until noon the next day. Detainees had to stay the whole time blindfolded and shackled in the sun. When they asked to go to the bathroom, they were beaten to pulp and cursed at for no reason by the soldiers who took them there. A 15-year-old child was taken the bathroom “to piss and a soldier slapped him, took him down to the ground while he was shackled and blindfolded. Just like that, because he is an Arab.”
“Choose someone, aim at his body.”
A soldier who served during 2006-2007 in Nablus explains that when children hit you with stones, you don’t get out of the jeep. “You shoot through the loophole.” Asked “Do you choose some kid at random?” a soldier replied “Yes. Choose someone, aim at his body.”
“I remember one time we put a kid down. We didn’t kill him but someone hit the kid in the chest and he fell and probably lost consciousness, or at least, it was pretty close. About 10 meters.”
The soldier stated that his brigade was not instructed in how to use rubber ammunition. “There are rules. They tell you to shoot four. There’s this cluster of rubber bullets, pieces with four parts, packed in a kind of nylon. You can break it in two, so it’s stronger and flies further. As soon as it’s four it’s less strong and flies less far. We’d usually break it in half. [W]e figured it out ourselves. It’s something that’s common knowledge in the army.”
Interviewer: “As soon as this pack of rubber bullets is broken in half, it becomes lethal.
Soldier: “Really? Well, that’s what we did.”
Interviewer: “We did, too. As soon as the ‘tampons’ are separated, they’re lethal. The nylon must not be removed.”
Soldier: “Not removed?!”
Interviewer: “No.”
Soldier: “We barely fired a whole cluster, I mean four. It’s like you want to save ammo, too.”
Violence against Palestinian children
The booklet presents numerous examples of shocking violence against children.
“At first you point your gun at some five-year-old kid, and feel bad afterward, saying it’s not right. Then you get to a point where… you get so nervous and sick of going into a village and getting stones thrown at you. But it’s obvious, you’re inside the village, you’ve just passed the school house, naturally the kids will throw stones at you. Once my driver got out, and without blinking, just grabbed some kid and beat him to a pulp. And that kid was just sitting in the street and looked like some other kid, or wore another kid’s shirt, or perhaps he was that kid but that’s not the point” (Nablus in 2005).
“We’d go on two night patrols in the designated area. I was driving and suddenly I see some Arab boy, about 18 years old, with his face mangled, really bad. He had a black eye, his lip was torn, in really bad shape. So I stop, offer him water, and he points at my jeep and say the license plate number was 06543, so he goes: “No, 0666 hit me.” I don’t understand what he wants from me and then the other jeep arrives. The sergeant in it says: “See how I handled him?” (Bethlehem 2006-2007).
“Kids would throw stones at us, we’d catch some kid who happened to be there and beat him to a pulp. Even if he didn’t throw stones. He would know who did. ‘Who is it? Who is it?’ Finally he’d tell us who did it.” The soldiers gives an example of the heavy beating of 10-year-old child which is suspected of throwing stones. “That commander had no mercy. Really. Anyway the kid could no longer stand on his feet and was already crying. He couldn’t take it anymore. He cried. The commander shouted: ‘Stand up!’ Tried to make him stand but he couldn’t. He really couldn’t. From so much beating he just couldn’t stand up. The commander goes: ‘Don’t put on a show,’ and kicks him some more.” In response to the question “If I were a Palestinian, what would I get beaten up for?”, a soldier replies “It was enough for you to give us a look that we didn’t like, straight in the eye, and you’d be hit on the spot. We got to such a state and were so sick of being there, you know what I mean” (Hebron 2006-2007).
“There was another instance of a 14-year old, an illegal alien. He was detained, kept on the side, so he stood there and hummed to himself. This annoyed one of the guys. He went up to him and said: ‘Something amusing you?’ The kid said: ‘Yes, gotta keep my spirits up.’ ‘Spirits up, eh?’ and the soldier slapped his face” (Tulkarm 2008).
A commander who wanted to to detain a child, “tore him away from his dad’s leg and we put the kid in the jeep. I did nothing at that point. At the end of the day, something has to make these kids stop throwing stones on the road because they can kill. That specific kid who actually lay there on the ground, begging for his life, was actually nine years old. I think of our kids, nine years old, and a kid handling this kind of situation, I mean, a kid has to beg for his life? A loaded gun is pointed at him and he has to plead for mercy? This is something that scars him for life” (Qalqiliya 2007).
Following a riot at Qalandiya, there was an ambush put up in an abandoned house in Ramallah. “Soldiers got out with army clubs and beat people to a pulp. Finally the children who remained on the ground were arrested. The order was to run, make people fall to the ground. There was a 10-12 man team, 4 soldiers lighting up the area. People were made to fall to the ground, and then the soldiers with the clubs [a 30 centimeters long wooden club] would go over to them and beat them. A slow runner was beaten, that was the rule. We were told not to use it on people’s heads. I don’t remember where we were told to hit, but as soon as a person on the ground is beaten with such a club, it’s difficult to be particular” (Ramallah 2006-2007).
My next post will contain examples related to arrests and detention of Palestinian children, the order to shoot in case of suspicion of Molotov cocktails, and the practice of documenting abuse.
