Soldiers reveal systematic violence, including being offered ‘pizza coupons’ as reward for shooting Palestinians
4 January 2024
Soldiers of various ranks who served in the Israeli army confessed how they oppressed Palestinians since 1948 and deliberately made their lives difficult, reports Anadolu Agency.
They shed light on the systematic nature of the physical and psychological violence endured by Palestinians over the years.
Established in 2004 by former Israeli soldiers who were disturbed by the systematic violence and abuse targeting Palestinians, the Breaking The Silence organization exposed the violence and bullying inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli soldiers through their confessions.
The organization, founded by Avner Gvaryahu and his colleagues, has a website that contains video and written testimonies, archiving a small portion of the human rights violations committed by themselves, superiors and subordinates during their service in regions and units in the Israeli army.
Gvaryahu, who served in occupied territories for two years, said during his time, they ensured that Palestinians did not feel safe in their own homes.
He defined the reason for the organization’s establishment as “feeling remorse for the hostile attitudes and behaviors towards Palestinians displayed by both himself and other soldiers throughout his service in the army.”
“Throughout my time in the army, I lived believing I was a good person and that we were on the right side. Suddenly, I realized what we, as Israel, were doing and the reality of what I was a part of,” said Yehuda Shaul, another founder who served two years in the West Bank.
Traps set to explode in the faces of Palestinian farmers
Yanay Israeli, whose confessions were published, explained how the army turned stun grenades into explosives.
“Booby-trapped these grenades, hidden under stones for Palestinian farmers or civilians in the area to find, to explode in their faces as soon as they discovered them,” he said.
Doron, a former soldier whose identity was not disclosed, said commanders gave an order to a soldier to kill a child in the Al-Fawwar refugee camp.
Another soldier, whose identity remains undisclosed for security reasons, admitted that following the killing of five soldiers by two unidentified individuals, the army ordered soldiers to kill three Palestinian police officers at a security point near Nablus.
Pizza coupons for shooting Palestinians
Dean Issacharoff, who served in the army, emphasized the encouragement of shooting Palestinians.
“Baruch Marzel (Israeli right-wing politician) would give pizza coupons to soldiers who shot Palestinians.”
Another former soldier, Nitzan Ron, said soldiers expected to maintain security in the region were unable to correctly fulfill their duties.
“It is impossible to prevent a Jew from doing what he wants,” Ron said, indicating that they could not prevent settlers from harming Palestinians.
Systematic violence by Israeli army against children
Erez Katrav, describing his time as medical personnel in the Kfir Brigade, said they often assessed whether those detained were suitable for arrest and noted that children who had been “beaten” were frequently brought to the area where he worked.
Katrav recounted an incident where a child with a broken arm was brought, and despite needing medical assistance, no intervention was made. “There is no concept of being unfit for detention,” he said, highlighting that children had become a part of the systematic violence.
In the past, Inbar, a soldier who remained on night duty at the Erez checkpoint, reported in a statement about a male child near the Gaza border, describing incidents where the child was “burned with cigarettes and treated like a toy” during detention.
Bit Inbar admitted in a second report that incidents were covered up and she could not do anything to stop it.
Hillel Cohen, a former member of the army, revealed that while patrolling with a soldier who knew the innocence of a Palestinian child aged 13 – 15, they stopped the child, verbally harassed him by saying: “I saw you throwing a stone,” and applied physical violence. Cohen said such behavior was considered normal in the army.
Violence against detainees ignored for years
Eran Segal, during his service in Abu Sneinah Casbah, recounted that his commander repeatedly detained a mentally disabled Palestinian, Fadi, did not allow him to go to the toilet, and forced him to soil himself.
Gil Hillel, who patrolled in Hebron, admitted to not providing water and food to detainees, sometimes hitting them on their heads or faces, and using profanity. He said he did not associate the behaviors with himself and confessed that abuse was a routine situation.
Ayal Kantz, a former member of the Nahal Reconnaissance Team, expressed that detainees were subjected to violence by high-ranking officers, and no matter how much he tried to complain about the situation, he did not get results.
Psychological violence against civilians as part of the military chain of command
Nadav Weiman, a former member of the Nahal Brigade, said the military conducted fake detentions, organizing nighttime operations in homes of innocent or unaccused individuals. The goal was to provoke armed individuals in the area and exert psychological pressure on civilians.
A soldier nicknamed Achiya said: “(During my military service,) I hardly encountered any terrorists. What I encountered were families and children.”
Achiya said the army never taught them how to communicate with civilians; instead, they were instructed to shoot civilians without allowing them to react after an order to stop was given.
Achiya confessed that they were reprimanded by superiors for not shooting someone returning home to get medicine on one occasion. He also noted that soldiers did not care about the lives of innocent civilians, bombed the wrong house during an operation and continued the operation as if nothing had happened.
