Waging War On The War

Matthew Wagner
JPost
03 August 09

A video of St.-Sgt. Amir complaining about the conduct of his fellow soldiers and commanding officers during January's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza opened this week's conference organized by Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR).

"Our division commander spoke with us before we entered Gaza," said Amir, who served in a reserve tank unit during the last week of the operation, after most of the fighting was over. "He warned us about what was waiting for us in Gaza, about the dangers. And he said this time the approach would be different, more aggressive. If a building got in our way, we were to knock it down; if a car got in our way, we were to run it over; if we felt threatened, we were to open fire."

Amir also recounted how the minaret of a mosque was blown up "for no apparent reason."

Meanwhile, a small demonstration - held by the university student organization, Im Tirtzu - raged outside. The group takes its name from a quote from Theodor Herzl: "If you will it [im tirtzu], it is no dream."

The young protesters, many of whom had fought as reserve soldiers in Operation Cast Lead, held signs that read "European-Sponsored Blood Libel" and "Lies, guys, lies." (The RHR conference and the Internet site, gazawar.co.il, were funded by Trocaire, an organization connected with the Irish Catholic Church, that opposed the operation in Gaza.)

Demonstrators brought matzot and smeared them with red paint, an allusion to spurious blood libels levelled against Jews throughout the ages that gentile blood was an integral ingredient in the Passover seder. The message was that the conference was just another incitement against Jews.

"What bothers me is that the people in there are making accusations about IDF soldiers without giving names, without giving locations of the alleged events," Amir Levy, a reserve officer who served in Operation Defensive Shield, the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead, told The Jerusalem Post's Abe Selig.

Related: Activists Protest Anti-IDF 'Blood Libel', The Operation in Gaza - Legal and Factual Aspects: The definitive Israeli version

"They are making these accusations, but they're making them without facts. And that implicates all of us; it implicates the IDF as a whole. If there were people who committed crimes, then provide their names, take them to court. But to hold a conference with European financial support is only giving fodder to the foreign press, which will undoubtedly write all kinds of stories based on these allegations."
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