Israel Uses Human Shields
July 15th, 2009 Posted in Israel, PalestiniansI thought only terrorists used human shields. Apparently not. The Israeli military also uses human shields.
In a report published this week by Breaking the Silence, a human rights group that publishes testimonies from Israeli soldiers, a soldier involved in the January invasion of the Gaza Strip testified that his unit used Palestinian civilians as human shields while raiding houses. The revelation comes despite a 2005 ban on the practice by the Israeli High Court.
Other testimonies reveal that commanders urged the troops to “shoot first and worry later about sorting out civilians.” The Israeli invasion killed an enormous number of civilians in the densely populated strip and destroyed many residential neighborhoods.
The Israeli military condemned the publication of the testimonies, saying that they were not “as a matter of minimal fairness” given a chance to inspect them before publication. It also said the testimonies were similar to ones given by soldiers shortly after the war.