Fundamental Shift in the IDF's Combat Doctrine Resulted In Extensive Harm to Civilians in Gaza

[ProgressiveMuslim]

PCATI (Public Committee Against Torture in Israel) released today a new report which exposes the shifts in Israel's combat doctrine as evidenced in the prosecution of operation "Cast Lead" and from numerous public oral and written statements made by high ranking military officers and senior Israeli Government officials.

The report, "No Second Thoughts: Changes in the IDF's Combat Doctrine In Light Of 'Operation Cast Lead'", demonstrates Israel's application of a new combat doctrine during the hostilities in Gaza, which is based on two principles:
1. "Zero Casualties": The complete prioritization of avoiding IDF casualties while disregarding the increased risk to Palestinian civilians. The implementation of this policy is evident in the massive use of fire power, the use of white phosphorous weapons in densely populated areas, and in firing at Palestinians in the streets, with no discrimination between combatants and civilians, this even after the IDF would order the evacuation of residents from civilian homes.
2. "Dahiyah Doctrine": named after the residential Dahiyah district in Beirut, where the Hezbollah enjoyed support and also had its headquarters. The district was massively bombed by the IDF during the Second Lebanon War. The doctrine promotes targeting civilian infrastructure in order to cause widespread destruction and suffering among the civilian population so as to foment popular opposition to Israel's opponents (namely Hamas and Hezbollah).
As a result of the implementation of these principles, the fighting in the Gaza Strip caused intentional and large-scale damage to civilian infrastructure as well as the killing of hundreds of non-combatant civilians (despite the absence of an official policy to intentionally kill civilians). Israel's actions directly contradict official statements claiming that the IDF acted in accordance with international humanitarian law and took every possible measure to avoid harming non-militant civilians.

This combat doctrine morally stains the citizens of Israel. It may lead to increased international isolation of Israel and to a situation where Israeli soldiers, officers and leaders will face arrest outside of Israel and be charged with war crimes. The writers of the report summarize: "So fundamental a shift in the IDF's combat doctrine, which has such a far-reaching impact, shouldn't be considered only in the closed forums of the General Headquarters and the Security Cabinet, but demands substantial public discussion."

report can be read here: http://www.stoptorture.org.il/en/node/1504

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. If this report were titled "Israel uses Nazi tactics in Gaza" there would be 100 posts decrying it.

[shira]

2. "despite the absence of an official policy to intentionally kill civilians"

That's not what the Goldstone Report concluded. Goldstone says the policy was to deliberately target and punish civilians. So who do we believe today?

:eyes:

As for "no discrimination between combatants and civilians", how then is this possible...

There are different accounts of the numbers of civilian deaths in Gaza, and of the ratio between civilian and militant deaths. B’Tselem, the reliable Israeli human rights organization, carefully examined names and lists of people who were killed and came up with the following ratio: Out of the 1,387 people killed in Gaza, for every militant that was killed, three civilians were killed. This ratio--1:3--holds if you include the police force among the civilians; but if you consider the police force as combatants, the ratio comes out to 2:3. There are 1.5 million people in Gaza and around 10,000 Hamas militants, so the ratio of militants to civilians is 1:150. If Israel targeted civilians intentionally, how on earth did it reduce such a ratio to 1:3 or 2:3?

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-goldstone-illusion?page=0,0

If the ratio of militants to civilians in Gaza is 1:150, how on earth is it possible that Israel reduced such a ratio to 1:3 or 2:3, if the IDF fought without discriminating between combatants and civilians? This isn't to say Israel can't do better - in fact, they should do better next time - but the conclusions in this report are ridiculous.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. That's a really interesting report that everyone should read...

It was really interesting to see how the words of the defense officials were in complete contrast to what the IDF later claimed was the case when it came to rules of combat and the level of care taken not to harm innocent civilians...