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4 Responses to “Lt. Colonel Implicated in Shooting of Unarmed, Blindfolded Palestinian Civilian”

1. fiddler says:

   July 21, 2008 at 10:09 AM

   I know a planet where such conduct is called aggravated assault, not just unspecific violation of regulations (aka “boys will be boys”). But if the past is any indicator I guess we’ll have to be content with the shooter getting a slap on the wrist, if only because the video is hopefully generating too much bad PR.
   The army may have somewhat higher standards than the Border Police (what “border”?), but when it comes to harming, even killing unarmed Palestinians, their investigative, let alone prosecutional record is likewise abysmal. That’s only natural, given that since the beginning of the second intifada even investigations into killings of civilians are not mandatory anymore. It all depends on the report of the unit’s CO, who often will understandably prefer not to implicate himself, as he’s responsible for his men’s actions after all.

   I’d agree that any army is constitutionally unfit to police a population, whether the own or an occupied one in what is de facto a domestic law enforcement scenario. It doesn’t matter that the OPT aren’t de jure domestic Israeli territory. A police force is supposed to enforce the law, and uphold the rule of law, against individual violators within the population the police serves. An army OTOH is trained to consider the “other”, individually and collectively, The Enemy – it serves a population different from the one in which it operates. An occupation is nothing else than low-level war.

   Reply
2. Rupa Shah says:

   July 21, 2008 at 2:48 PM

   Mr Silverstein, Sadly, IDF has a reputation for being trigger happy and there are many instances which are on record on YouTube. e.g.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF1ibN40FJE– this is just an extreme example. Sadly there is no accountability and immediately after an incident, it is declared, IDF was at risk and later, “IT WAS A MISTAKE”. This unfortunately happens too often to believe IDF anymore and most of the time, the soldier doing the shooting never gets punished.

   Reply
3. U.S. Citizen says:

   July 23, 2008 at 2:51 PM

   You idealize the territorial imperative of 1948 while you lament IDF troops acting like barbarians today. You think something has changed in the character of Israelis, but that is only in your mind. In actuality nothing has changed. Jews were brutal usurpers in 1948 and they are still usurpers in 2008.

   It is as if you’ve got your hand stuck in a monkey trap, and all you have to do is let go of the banana in order to gain your freedom.

   Israel is not a means toward some idealized end. Israel is the sum total of the means that it uses to put itself before Palestine. It can never be anything more than that.

   Wake up!

   Reply
4. Richard Silverstein says:

   July 23, 2008 at 6:30 PM

   @U.S. Citizen:
   

   You idealize the territorial imperative of 1948

   To say something this preposterous, shows that you don’t have a clue about my views of 1948. You’re just making it up out of whole cloth.

   Reply