http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/380698.html<snip>
"Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon has accepted the conclusions of the Israel Defense Forces in-house examination of the incident of the shooting of an Israeli demonstrator at Maskha last month. Ya'alon has refrained from taking steps against the officers and soldiers who were involved in this incident. The rules of engagement in the sector will be reexamined.
It is not true, then, that there is no learning of lessons in the IDF. If in the past the blame would roll its way down to the sentry, now it is dispersed entirely in the pure, clear air of the IDF. No one is to blame. Not the shooter, not the company commander who was in charge, not the brigade commander who approved, not the commander of the sector; the soldiers who prevented the swift evacuation of the wounded man are not guilty, nor are the settlers who danced, nor, of course, is the sentry. We have learned the lesson."
<snip>
"Apparently now the IDF is also signaling that it also sees people from the left - at this stage, the radical left - as the enemy and acts accordingly. When Jewish settlers in the territories throw stones, block roads, interfere with communications systems and violently attack soldiers, their actions are perceived as the legitimate expression of "our" protest. Not one IDF bullet has ever been fired on rightists in Israel. The decision to lie outright while ignoring evidence, some of which was documented on video, indicates that in the eyes of the IDF, the radicals of the left are not "ours." Their blood is permitted. There is no need for declarations. It is enough to examine the actions.
The severe punishment that has been imposed on the conscientious objectors from the left reinforces this suspicion. The IDF is full of understanding and empathy, affection and love for the Jewish settlers in the territories. They can purloin olives and wreck shops, steal land and shoot civilians and establish illegal outposts anywhere they please in the full confidence of support and help from the IDF."