The manufactured confusion: Were officers reprimanded or not?
The Pavlovian Israeli rejection of the reporting that it has used illegal munitions in Gaza, and specifically White Phosphorous, was obviously standard reaction to facts, ingrained in the Israeli Lie Machinery. So now, the officers responsible for the action that did not take place, instead of those who gave them an order to carry out the action that should not take place, will be reprimanded, which of course they won’t be, as it did not take place, and so on. Work this out, if you will… The Israeli denial of such disciplining is below in Haaretz. It seems that for external consumption, there are officers being disciplined, for internal consumption, there aren’t, and for seasoned readers of this blog, you have to explain no further… This keeps everyone happy.
Israel reprimands top officers over UN compound strike: BBC
Israel has revealed it has reprimanded two top army officers for authorising an artillery attack which hit a UN compound in Gaza last year.
In the attack on 15 January 2009 the compound was set ablaze by white phosphorus shells.
The admission is contained in the Israeli response to the UN’s Goldstone report, which concluded both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.
Both officers have retained their ranks, according to reports.
The Israeli army has not specifically said that the rules of engagement were broken over the use of white phosphorus.
During the 22-day conflict last year, media pictures showed incendiary shells raining down on a UN compound.
ANALYSIS
Paul Wood, BBC News, Jerusalem
Buried in paragraph 108 of the Israeli report to the UN is the key fact of the document. Two senior officers were reprimanded for failing to follow their own rules of engagement.
This is an explosive admission, especially as this is about an incident involving white phosphorus and Israel had always maintained that this was not misused in Gaza.
This is the first time that Israel has acknowledged, at least in part, allegations by that civilians were jeopardised by the misuse of artillery at the main UN warehouse in Gaza City.
The officers will not face criminal prosecution. That is something the Israeli political-military establishment is desperate to avoid. They fear it would be disastrous for morale and would damage the ability of Israel’s army to fight the next war.
However, Israel’s problem is that if its own investigations appear to the outside world to be a whitewash, the UN is all the more likely to order a special tribunal at The Hague.
The officers were named in Israeli media reports as Gaza Division Commander Brig Gen Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col Ilan Malka.
“Several artillery shells were fired in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas,” the Israeli response to the Goldstone report says.
The officers were charged with “exceeding their authority” in ordering the use of the weapons in the attack.
An Israeli Defence Force spokesman said that the reprimand would be noted on their records and would be considered if they apply for promotion in future.
Brig Gen Eisenberg is still in command of Israel’s Gaza division, and Col Malka has been moved to the West Bank under the same rank, according to the Reuters news agency.
‘Evidence’
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the military was investigating about 150 allegations. There was enough evidence in 36 cases to pass those claims to military police for criminal investigations.
“In this particular case, it was not referred to criminal investigation, it wasn’t decided that there was evidence of criminal wrongdoing and a reprimand was warranted,” Mr Regev said, referring to the shells fired on the UN compound.
Criminal proceedings have so far been opened in one case, concerning an alleged theft of a credit card from a Palestinian family by an Israeli soldier.
The soldier used the card to withdraw hundreds of dollars, Israeli media reported.
Mr Regev said there would be “serious consequences” for soldiers found guilty of criminal conduct.
‘Hush money’
A Hamas spokesman said the disciplinary action was “further admission of Israel’s guilt” over alleged war crimes.
But he said he did not expect any further action to be taken against military officers.
He said Israel had paid the United Nations $10.5 million (£6.6 million) in damages to repair their compounds, which he called “hush money”.
A UN representative who was in the compound in Gaza city during the attack told the BBC he “expected full accountability from the Israelis”.
Two UN staff and two Palestinians sheltering in the compound were seriously injured, he said.
A doctor at Gaza city’s main hospital told the BBC he treated hundreds of Palestinians for phosphorus burns during the offensive.
UN Demands
The BBC’s Paul Wood in Jerusalem says it is the first time Israel has revealed it reprimanded any officer for his actions during the offensive, named Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli military.
Our correspondent says the admission was buried in the document handed to the UN on Friday.
The UN General Assembly has demanded that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations into their conduct during the Israeli operation which began in December 2008.
An Israeli official said the submission to the UN was not intended to respond in detail to the allegations and incidents outlined in the Goldstone report, but to explain why the Israeli justice system was “reliable” and “independent”.
The Islamist movement Hamas has denied that its forces deliberately targeted civilians with rockets.
Both sides have until 5 February to respond in detail to the UN General Assembly’s request for independent investigations to be launched.
White phosphorus, which is used to lay smokescreens, is legal for use on open ground but its use in built-up areas where civilians are found is banned under international conventions.
This report above was based on the interviews in the clip below:
Israel reprimands top army officers over Gaza war: The Guardian
Disciplinary action taken over UN compound attack in populated area of Gaza City last year.
Use link above to see the official voice of Isral say things that they will immediately deny…
Israeli soldiers ‘disciplined’ over UN compound attack in Gaza: The Guardian
Israeli military report says troops ‘fired artillery shells in violation of rules of engagement in populated areas’ last year
Two senior Israeli army officers have been “disciplined” over the firing of artillery shells towards a United Nations compound in a crowded urban area during the war in Gaza last year.
It is the first acknowledgement by the Israeli military of any of the serious allegations raised by international human rights groups and two UN investigations, which have found grave breaches of international law and evidence of possible war crimes.
The UN compound was hit and its main warehouse burned to the ground, and three people were injured during the attack in Gaza City on 15 January last year. Several other buildings in the area were hit that day, including a Palestinian hospital.
The two officers were named in Israeli press reports today as Gaza Division Commander Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Colonel Ilan Malka. It is not clear what form of discipline the men faced, but both were accused of “exceeding their authority in a manner that jeopardised the lives of others”, according to an Israeli report on the conduct of the war that was submitted to the UN on Friday.
The report found Israeli troops “fired several artillery shells in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas”. However, it also stated that Israel’s military advocate general “found no basis” to order a criminal investigation into the incident in Tel al-Hawa. So far only one Israeli soldier has been prosecuted over the war – for stealing a credit card from a Palestinian house.
Last year, a UN Board of Inquiry report investigated Israeli attacks on UN buildings and staff in Gaza during the war and accused the Israeli military of “negligence or recklessness”. It singled out several incidents, including the attack on the UN compound. The warehouse, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency which supports Palestinian refugees, was the biggest in Gaza and was full of food and aid for the population.
In the past two weeks Israel has paid $10.5m (£6.6m) in compensation to the UN for the damage.
But in its report, the Israeli authorities maintained that their use of white phosphorus munitions “was consistent with Israel’s obligations under international law” and said the military advocate general found no grounds for any disciplinary measures over their use. The disciplining of the two officers was specifically about the firing of “artillery shells”. The two were disciplined by their senior officer, Yoav Galant, the head of the Israeli military’s Southern Command.
A report by the South African judge Richard Goldstone, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, described how UN staff that day called Israeli authorities at least seven times asking them to stop the shelling of the compound. Goldstone found that three high-explosive shells and seven white phosphorus artillery shells, probably from a 155mm howitzer, had hit the compound. It concluded that the Israeli military violated customary international law.