<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[IDF soldiers detail war crimes as Israel set out to ‘cleanse’ Gaza during 2008&nbsp;war]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="byline"> Posted  			by gazasolidarity			on Tuesday, 			January 25, 			2011 			at 9:27 am. </p>
<p><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/castleadcrimes.jpg"><img style="display:block;text-align:center;cursor:pointer;width:320px;height:246px;margin:0 auto 10px;" src="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/castleadcrimes.jpg?w=300" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />
The  more the Israeli government lies, the more the truth will out.  Interviews with the minority of truly moral soldiers in the IDF are  starting to speak out openly about the war crimes committed by their  comrades and how those crimes were directed from the top and were not  the work of rogue elements. The IDF set out to &#8216;cleanse&#8217; whole areas of  Gaza with wanton and indiscriminate fire.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230; in startling  interviews with Israeli filmmaker Nurit Kedar, former soldiers have for  the first time allowed themselves to be named while blaming their  commanders for encouraging a &#8220;disproportionate&#8221; response to Hamas&#8217;s  rockets. They said their commanders used to &#8220;psych up&#8221; soldiers before  an operation so they were ready to shoot indiscriminately.</p>
<p>One  soldier says he was told to shell every house in a neighbourhood.  Richard Goldstone&#8217;s report for the UN alleged that war crimes had been  committed by both sides, but highlighted the moral and legal severity of  the Israel&#8217;s attacks&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8230;Ohad, a 24-year-old tank commander,  remembers being told the night before the operation that the entry into  Gaza was to be &#8220;disproportionate&#8221;. Once into Gaza, he said his orders  were unambiguous: &#8220;The order was very clear that if a car came within  200 metres of me I could simply shoot at it. Shoot a shell at it.&#8221;</p>
<p>He  added: &#8220;We needed to cleanse the neighbourhoods, the buildings, the  area. It sounds really terrible to say &#8216;cleanse&#8217;, but those were the  orders&#8230;.I don&#8217;t want to make a mistake with the words.&#8221;</p>
<p>Shay, a  30-year-old who was in the Elite Combat Unit, says he was disgusted by  the behaviour of some conscripts in the Israeli army. He described  taking over from the them the house of a wealthy Palestinian family.  Conscripts, he said, had already defecated all over the bathroom. Family  photos had been scrawled over. Graffiti on the walls read: &#8220;Long live  Israel.&#8221; <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8276943/Israel-aimed-to-cleanse-Gaza-neighbourhoods-in-2008-invasion.html">more</a></p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://ps.hadnews.com/idf-soldiers-detail-war-crimes-as-israel-set-out-to-cleanse-gaza-during-2008-war.htm">IDF soldiers detail war crimes as Israel set out to ‘cleanse’ Gaza during 2008 war at PS.HADNEWS.COM</a>.</p>
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