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While
watching the documentary
film, “Tomorrow's
Freedom,” on Marwan
Barghouti, I realized that
I have been very reluctant
to address one particular
aspect of Israel’s
behavior towards
Palestinians: a streak of
senseless cruelty and
vindictiveness found in
many (not all) Israeli
soldiers and commanders.
This cruelty has gained
widespread approval and
legitimacy in Israel,
sometimes appearing as
standard regulations or
practices of the military.
Throughout
my career documenting
Israeli human rights
violations, I have been
trying my best to
understand Israeli
behavior as an
exaggerated, and often
misinformed, response to
security needs, real or
perceived, and as natural
responses in a bitter
conflict that often
involves dehumanizing the
enemy. I attempted to see
their actions as excesses,
as overkill meant to
achieve deterrence by a
display of overwhelming
superior force.
Yet,
I must admit now that much
of the behavior of Israeli
soldiers goes beyond such
‘rational' explanations
and slides into
unjustifiable cruelty and
vindictiveness that serves
no rational purpose other
than revenge and only
feeds hatred and
bitterness.
What
triggered this train of
thought was an incident
documented in that film
when Fadwa Barghouti,
after 8 months of not
seeing her imprisoned
husband, was finally given
a permit to see him. With
great hope and
expectation, she made the
tortuous journey to his
prison, only to be denied
at the last minute the
right to see him
altogether, with no
explanation whatsoever.
It
made me think of other
incidents, far more
routine:
- The practice of allowing wounded Palestinians
to bleed to death
without permitting
medical ambulances to
evacuate them or give
them treatment.
- The practice of “verifying the kill” by
repeatedly shooting a
helpless, wounded
Palestinian.
- The wanton destruction of empty buildings in
Gaza just before Israeli
evacuation, serving no
military purpose
whatsoever, then
gloating about it on Tik
Tok.
- Lengthy delays and humiliations at
checkpoints.
- Wanton destruction of property during routine
“searches” of
Palestinian homes, late
at night, to “show
presence” and intimidate
populations clearly
posing no danger or
threat.
- Taking away hot water, newspapers, radio and
television, kitchen
privileges, and normal
exercise conditions from
Palestinian prisoners
since October 7.
- Insisting on terrifying night time raids to arrest Palestinian
children, who could
easily have been
summoned to appear in
daylight at the
designated police or
army centers for arrest
or interrogation.
- Targeting bakeries, food trucks and food distribution locations,
particularly in the
North of Gaza where
starvation has set in.
- Killing Palestinians who are stripped and
zip-tied, whose bodies
have been discovered in
mass graves around
hospitals in Gaza after
soldiers evacuated.
- Shooting Palestinians on supposed ‘safe roads'
and bombing innocent
Palestinians in Israeli
declared “safe zones,”
as well as Palestinians
waving white flags.
- Shooting those coming to assist wounded
Palestinians.
- Adding innocuous items, such as chocolate, to
the list of prohibited
items not to be allowed
into Gaza.
- Refusing to allow anesthetic materials and
water purification
equipment into Gaza,
even when “humanitarian
assistance” is
reluctantly allowed in.
- Arbitrary refusal to allow some parents of cancer patients to
accompany sick children
to hospitals in
Jerusalem, or excessive
and unnecessary delays
in granting permits.
These
actions are further
bolstered by statements of
official Israeli
commanders and leaders
that would indicate that
the goals of the military
operations are revenge and
punishment, not to achieve
any military goals:
- Statements by Police Minister Ben Gvir complaining of too many
Palestinian prisoners,
such as: “Couldn’t you
have killed some of
them?”
- Statements as late as Tuesday that Gazans in Rafah are “Amalek”
and should be wiped out.
That Rafah, Khan Yunis,
Nuseirat should be
“completely wiped out.
No half measures”.
- Statements and hints by Israeli officials that the real aim of the
army is vengeance and
revenge. This also
explains why there are
no serious plans for
“the Day After.” Why
make such plans if the
whole aim of the war is
to inflict maximum hurt
and damage?
Each
of the items in the above
list has been documented,
though Israeli authorities
usually deny many of them.
One reason such statements
are not commonly reported
in the mainline media is
that Israel does not
freely allow independent
Western journalists into
Gaza, while simultaneously
targeting and killing
local Palestinian
journalists (over a
hundred in Gaza in the
past six months). The
other reason is that these
incidents do not fit into
any rational framework or
serve any political
interest but merely
indicate a cruel and
vicious evil streak, which
even I have been reluctant
to attribute to the
Israeli army, but which I
now feel the need to
acknowledge and highlight
as a true phenomenon
experienced daily by
Palestinians.
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