Army forces raided a Palestinian village in the dead of night, forcibly broke into an apartment building where no wanted men live and, for no reason at all, woke up all the building's residents, including babies, children and the elderly. Immediately after that, soldiers broke down the door of one apartment and entered it. One of the soldiers began raining live fire at almost point-blank range on a young man sleeping in his bed. It's not clear whether the young man managed to wake up, but it is clear that he was shot while still lying in bed.
The soldiers rushed to remove their peer who opened fire and yelled, "Why did you shoot, you lunatic?" But it was too late. Jassem al-Sidda, an innocent 20-year-old man, died on the spot due to four bullets fired at his upper body while his father was lying in bed in the room next door.
This incident occurred two weeks ago, on the night between May 27 and 28, in the West Bank village of Jit in the Qalqilyah district. It was later reported in Haaretz (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, June 6). The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson provided a laconic response that doesn't even meet his minimal obligations. What does it mean to say "the incident will be investigated"? Who will investigate it? When will it be investigated?
The fact is that judging by the IDF spokesperson's response, the military police haven't even opened an investigation, as is normal in cases where criminal behavior is suspected. Moreover, the soldier hasn't been arrested or even suspended from his position. All this means that in the view of the army's senior commanders, killing an innocent young man in his bed is a routine action.
That's what happens when the army is killing thousands of innocents in the Gaza Strip – paramedics, journalists, children, elderly people, women and recently also hungry people waiting in line at food distribution centers. The Gazafication of the West Bank is at its height, and soldiers there evidently hunger to behave like their colleagues in Gaza do. And the IDF lets them do so, thereby emptying its onetime slogan about being the most moral army in the world of all content.
The fact that IDF commanders evidently don't view even what appears to be the execution of a young man asleep in his bed as something serious – meaning something that requires immediate, firm steps like an arrest, a criminal investigation and a trial – sends a message to every soldier in the army that they are allowed to do whatever they please. And with a government that not only backs such disgraceful acts but is even pushing for more war crimes, Israel is becoming even crueler and more of a pariah.
Everything has been permissible in Gaza, and now, everything is permissible to soldiers in the West Bank as well. In both places, nothing is as cheap in the IDF's eyes as Palestinian lives. This shameful incident proves this beyond any doubt.
The
above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in
the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.