Whitewash Protocol: The So-Called Investigation of Operation Protective Edge | B'Tselem
This morning B'Tselem בצלם published a new report: "Whitewash Protocol: the So-Called Investigation of Operation Protective Edge."
After an in-depth and comprehensive investigation, B'Tselem בצלם
have summarized two years since the last round of fighting in Gaza,
reaching a conclusion that, unfortunately, does not surprise us one bit:
The various state institutions that until now have investigated the
events of Operation Protective Edge have been preoccupied in pretending
to uncover the truth, while in reality, those responsible - the policy
makers - have avoided all investigation. Specific investigations have
been opened but have generally been focused on petty violence or theft
carried out by the low ranking soldiers.
As usual, the system is
applying the "scapegoating policy" - it will once again be the low
ranking soldiers charged in order to cover up for the generals and
politicians who set the policies and sent boots into the field.
More than 70 soldiers and officers have already taken responsibility for
their actions and broke their silence about the red lines which were
crossed during Operation Protective Edge.
The time has come for
those responsible for the fatal and destructive open fire policies of
the operation - which resulted in the death of 67 IDF soldiers and more
than 500 Palestinian children, for the thousands of injured Israelis and
Palestinians and the more than 100,000 Palestinians left homeless - to
take responsibility and deal with the moral questions regarding IDFs
open fire policy.
There is no doubt that all this, together with
the severe operative failures exposed in the state comptrollers report
of the operation, can only be appropriately investigated by an external
commission of inquiry, a committee with the full mandate to investigate
the various levels of responsibility of the cabinet and the Prime
Minister.
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If you haven't already read about how we fought in Gaza in 2014>>
Read the testimonies we collected from Operation Protective Edge>> http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/database/… -
Watch video testimonies from soldiers who fought in the operation>> http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/videos/… -
Read our position paper about the testimonies we collected from the operation>> http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/protective-…/background -
Download the publication "This is How We Fought in Gaza 2014">> http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf -
New B’Tselem report out today: "Whitewash Protocol: The So-Called
Investigation of Operation Protective Edge." The report describes
Israel’s charade of investigating alleged breaches of law during the
operation, in which 1,391 people, including 526 minors, who did not
participate in the fighting were killed. While the decision makers who
are truly responsible for the violations - those who set the policy and
gave the orders, including politicians, top military commanders and the
MAG - were never investigated, the military’s few investigations focus
on the responsibility of lower ranks for isolated “exceptional cases”,
ignoring the fact that scores more nearly identical cases ended with
horrifying outcomes. The MAG’s stand, which allows decision makers to
repeatedly ignore these outcomes is illegal and immoral.
Read the report: http://bit.ly/whitewashprotocol
