Israeli Heroes

The following is the complete list of articles and commentary provided by the latest edition of Jewish Peace News, a newsletter sent out by Jewish Voice for Peace. Included in it are articles from the British Guardian, Israeli Ha'aretz, and The New York Times.

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While the newsletter includes many interesting articles, I felt it is important to bring light to one in particular. As important as it is to be vocal in our criticism of the collective punishment imposed on the Lebanese civilian population by Israel, it is equally important to praise the brave Israeli soldiers who have refused to engage in this war on moral grounds. Estimates are said to be anywhere from several hundred to thousands. Send an e-mail to the following address (alteriamo@gmail.com) showing your support for Zohar Milchgrub--and the others like him who have refused to report--who is one of at least five soldiers to be imprisoned for his refusal. All letters will be printed and delivered to Prison No. 6.

Furthermore, the Guardian and Democracy Now! report that there are at least two Israeli fighter pilots who have refused orders to bomb sites suspected to be civilian residences:

Former Israeli Air Force Captain Yonatan Shapira reports at least two Israeli fighter pilots have reportedly deliberately missed bombing targets in Lebanon because they were concerned they were being ordered to bomb civilians.

Human Rights Watch found in its investigation that these proud soldiers had good reason to be concerned:

Since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces have consistently launched artillery and air attacks with limited or dubious military gain but excessive civilian cost. In dozens of attacks, Israeli forces struck an area with no apparent military target. In some cases, the timing and intensity of the attack, the absence of a military target, as well as return strikes on rescuers, suggest that Israeli forces deliberately targeted civilians.

The Israeli government claims that it targets only Hezbollah, and that fighters from the group are using civilians as human shields, thereby placing them at risk. Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. However, those cases do not justify the IDF’s extensive use of indiscriminate force which has cost so many civilian lives. In none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack.

It takes courage to resist unjust commands. For that, I truly admire them.