"I will not have anyone accuse me of acts stated in that report"

I går tok norsk media (som f.eks. vl.no, TV2, vg.no, dagbladet.no) opp igjen tråden fra vinterens relativt massive dekning av Israels militæroperasjon i Gaza. Anledningen var en rapport utgitt av den israelske organisasjonen "Breaking the Silence", hvor israelske soldater forteller om brudd på menneskerettighetene som skal har funnet sted under operasjonen i Gaza. Ingen av soldatene sto frem med navn eller bilde. Beskyldningene var meget generelle og henviste ikke til spesifikke og selvopplevde hendelser, men var basert på rykter og annen- og tredjehåndsberetninger.

Jeg vet jo at det israelske forsvaret, IDF, er en høyst menneskelig organisasjon. Det finnes råtne epler blant israelske soldater akkurat som i andre lands forsvar, og slik det også finnes moralske og gode soldater. Men at brudd på menneskerettighetene og en gjennomgående forakt for menneskeverdet er et gjennomgående trekk i IDF og blant israelske soldater, går mot enhver erfaring og kjennskap jeg har til disse og til det israelske samfunnet generelt. Derfor finner jeg det vanskelig å tro på disse rapportene som kommer ut med jevne mellomrom, og sverter IDF og israelske soldater med bred pensel. Uten at det dermed er sagt at jeg ikke tror det kan skje ting som ikke skulle ha skjedd, spesielt når både slagmarken og fienden er av en slik karakter som den er i Gaza.

Jeg spurte en venn av meg som tjenestegjorde som soldat inne i Gaza under militæroperasjonen, om hva han hadde å si til rapporten. Adam, en israeler med britisk mor i begynnelsen av 30-årene, nybakt far, og tilhørende den israelske venstresiden, svarte meg i løpet av få timer. Han oppfattet tydeligvis spørsmålet som en beskyldning om krigsforbrytelser, og tonen ble deretter. Svaret Adam ga meg var beroligende - jeg vet at han ikke lyver om slike ting. Jeg spurte ham derfor om tillatelse til å publisere det i bloggen min, uendret. Spesielt i disse tider, da det går sport i å bashe israelere, tror jeg at det er viktig at andre stemmer blir hørt - for de som vil lytte:

"First of all, that report [of "Breaking the Silence"] caused so much damage, that everyone is now calling me a war criminal. So I guess under these sick circumstances, that it's a fair question.
Ask yourself only this: You know me. Does this sound like something I would do or allow it to happen around me?I'll make it simple: I did not do, assist, support, see, hear of or participate in any activities remotely resembling anything described in the report. I can vouch for my unit on the systematic level and say that in no way were such acts regarded as legitimate, feasible, or even something you could 'get away with', and I have not heard of anything like this in my unit. Of course, I can not vouch for every soldier in the IDF.

During the entire duration of my stay in Gaza I did not encounter behavior resembling that described in the report. If I would have seen anything like that - I would have stopped it myself. If I were to ever encounter such behavior, and would not be able to stop it - I would leave the army immediately (if necessary I would desert) and report this to the Israeli authorities, Amnesty international and anyone else who would listen.

Did bad things happen there? Yes. It goes without saying. War is hell, and people die. But there is a world of difference between a war and a massacre. In this war civilians were used by Hamas, who realizing it lacked the technical military ability to win, used an alternative strategy of turning its expected loss into a political tool to be used in the war over public opinion.

If you seize territory in a war, it is no longer a fighting zone. The last thing you want to do is fight in close proximity to your base. That contradicts any logical military theory I have ever heard of. However, if you see someone running towards you during a war – you shoot. You don't always have time to distinguish and identify the age, gender and intentions of the person running towards you, seeing as you are terrified they will hit a button and explode, taking you with them. That has happened to me in the past, and you can be damn sure I still try and make any possible distinction and look for any possible alternative, before I fire my (American made) rifle.

Hamas know this. Therefore one of the most popular practices that Hamas use is forcefully entering people's houses and forcing them at gun point to step outside. Once people are out in the street – they run. Hamas do this knowing that anyone walking outside in the street in a battle zone is likely to get shot (This is after the IDF announced with loudspeakers, pamphlets and telephone calls that all civilians are to stay indoors until such time as the fighting stops). This cannibalistic practice is a method of raising the death toll, exclusively on the Palestinian side, which later on serves as a public opinion tool. It is in fact such an effective tool that it even caused you to write me and ask this question.

I hope you know me well enough to know that what I have said here is true.

Tell this to whoever you like. I will not have anyone accuse me of acts stated in that report.

Adam"