The IDF has just appointed (Hebrew) Lt. Col. Gur Schreibman as commander of the notorious Shayetet 13, the IDF equivalent of U.S. Navy SEALS. Shayetet 13 was the unit which perpetrated the Mavi Marmara massacre and indeed, Schreibman was a commander who participated in that killing field operation. Forensic review of the evidence and Turkish dead reveals most of them were shot at point-blank range, execution style. Lest any Americans among us get too smug, our Navy SEALs assassinated Osama bin Laden in cold blood as well.
In any normal country, such news would be announced publicly. But in Israel, to shield such commanders from war crimes prosecution, Israel has determined to keep such identities secret. Which is why I reveal it here, since I, unlike Israel, believe in transparency in affairs of state.
During Cast Lead, Schreibman commanded a reconnaissance battalion of the Givati Brigade that was part of that other Palestinian killing field in which 1,400 were killed, 300 of whom were children. He received a special Chief of Staff award for his service in that operation.
The IDF war crimes list ranks Schreibman number 67 (an online website also hosts the list) out of 200. A ranking of which he can be proud.
Thanks, Richard. May the Turkish trial proceed. May the war criminals be convicted, whether or not they are personally punished. It should get to the point that Israel’s imperial hubris finally gets too much for EU to stomach.
He probably is proud of his ranking as a war criminal.
It is only the US which shields these guys. Israel’s impunity and violations of international law are shielded by the US calling on cooperation with EU and others. It is all depends on the US and once that changes, it will be fair game to catch these guys, try and punish them appropriately. Perhaps an even more “special” team will emerge precisely for this sort of purpose. They will be tracked down like WW II war criminals.
Thanks for exposing this appointment — and for undoing one little piece of Israeli duplicity.
Generally commanders of that rank are named publicaly in the IDF. Like for Givati, Golani , Paratroops etc.
Members and even commanders of special forces units Matkal, Shaldag, Maglan,Unit 669,Duvedevan etc never have their names disclosed nor can their pictures be published. Except for Duvdevan these units often operate outside of Israel’s borders and not always in uniform and not only during active warfare.
So keeping his name secret is for operational security reasons.
That’s simply not true. After Cast Lead, the IDF announced publicly that it would not publish the names of commanders in order to protect them from possible future war crimes litigation.
Names of the commanders of many units are made public when
they are appointed. Ie this example of the appointment of the new
commander of the Golani infantry brigade. If Golani fought in Gaza
they every knows his name
p://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=411&ArticleID=2529.
The Hebrew article you quoted announced the appointment of not one
but 3 senior appointments to the Israel Navy. Two out of the three
appointments all of who have the rank of Lieutenant Colonel were
anonymous. The person promoted to be the commander of the Asdod
Naval base was named in full. As I said certain commanders are
named publicaly regularly and some are not that is based upon real
life operational considerations. You generaly know who the
commander of a Air Force base but you do not know who the wing
commanders or even the pilots are. My comment above stands and it
is obvious your knowledge of IDF policies is next to nil. Now get
all snarkly with me. I suppose you beeive that every military in
the world will list every corporal lieutenant captain ,major, Lt
Colonel of all units at all times.
Ta for that snippet, Richard…I’ll share it.
You write: “… our Navy SEALs assassinated Osama bin Laden in cold blood as well.”
One may question the legality of Bin Laden’s execution but such juxtaposition, suggesting some degree of “equivalence” between these killings is grossly out of place. The innocent victims on board the Marmara were civilians on board a humanitarian mission.
I think you misunderstood my intent, which was not to say the events were equivalent. But rather that the U.S. too kills people in cold blood.
I figured out your intent after a bit, but my first reaction was the same as Yankels. Something to keep in mind if you don’t want your intent misinterpreted by sympathetic readers, not to mention hostile ones.
Speaking of Israeli warcriminals, still not a whiff of criticism or protest here in Canada over Israel’s resident Defence Attache Brig-Gen Eden Attias. Attias was formerly commander of IAFB Nevatim. He was involved in both ‘Cast Lead’ and Mavi Marmara, but nobody in Canada, “Israel’s best friend’ seems to either know or care..
Surely one ought use the term SUSPECTED war criminal?
ACCUSED is reserved for someone who has been investigated, found to have prima facia evidence against him and an indictment has been drafted against him. This is not the case with this officer who is only a suspect at this stage, and one ought remember that darned democratic nuisance of being innocent until found guilty.
shmuel — we’ll never know whether he is innocent or not. We might just as well segue to a verdict as there will be no investigation, apprehension or trial. This really is the point, not democratic etiquette.
Turkey has named scores of IDF officers as suspects in the Mavi Marmara massacre and opened an investigation. Thus they’ve been ‘accused.’ The word “accused” is use far more broadly than you imply. You don’t have to be accused of a crime in a court of law in order to be “accused” of such a crime.