Israel’s military was rocked on Thursday by Gaza war veterans’ accounts of the killing of civilians and allegations that deep contempt for Palestinians pervaded its ranks. The soldiers, alumni of a military academy, gathered last month to discuss their experiences in the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended in January, a campaign that Palestinians and human rights groups have said warranted war crimes probes. Disclosing details of the session, the institution’s director said the soldiers pointed to an atmosphere within the military of “unbridled contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians.” 

Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers who took part in the recent war in Gaza, Israel is being confronted directly with the serious charge that permissive rules of engagement allowed for the killing of Palestinian civilians and widespread destruction of Palestinian property. The disclosures created a stir after first publication Thursday in a major front-page spread in the Tel Aviv daily, Haaretz. The charges are all the more telling in that they are based on first-hand accounts from dozens of combat soldiers who served in the war. 

A United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday that Israel’s military assault on densely populated Gaza appeared to constitute a grave war crime. Richard Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the Geneva Conventions required warring forces to distinguish between military targets and surrounding civilians. “If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attacks is inherently unlawful and would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude under international law,” Falk said. 

… Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children’s graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques – these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription “Better use Durex,” next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. 

Baroness Tonge (Jennifer Louise Tonge) speaks in the House of Lords about Israel’s unlawful and oppressive policies, including the expansion of illegal settlements, and of crimes committed during the recent Gaza assault. She castigates the “Israel Lobby” for false and vindictive accusations of anti-Semitism to silence critics of Israel’s policies. Runtiime: 2:36 mins. 

… Freeman’s rejection confirms the decisive influence of pro-Israel groups over the Obama administration’s Mideast policies. It is an evil portent for Israelis and Arabs seeking peace. Hillary Clinton was named Secretary of State in part to placate American supporters of Israel, many of whom doubted Barack Obama’s commitment to continuing the Bush administrations unlimited support of Israel’s right-wing parties … Obama’s foreign policy has veered far to the right from his original antiwar, reformist image. US military spending still remains absurdly high, accounting for 50% of the world’s total.