Amid outcry over Gaza tactics, videos of soldiers acting maliciously create new headache for Israel
Jerusalem, Dec 13: Israeli soldiers rummaging through private homes in Gaza. Forces destroying plastic figurines in a toy store, or trying to burn food and water supplies in the back of an abandoned truck. Troops with their arms slung around each other, chanting racist slogans as they dance in a circle.
Several viral videos and photos of Israeli soldiers behaving in a derogatory manner in Gaza have emerged in recent days, creating a headache for the Israeli military as it faces an international outcry over its tactics and the rising civilian death toll in its punishing war against Hamas.
The Israeli army has pledged to take disciplinary action in what it says are a handful of isolated cases.
Such videos are not a new or unique phenomenon. Over the years, Israeli soldiers and members of the US and other militaries have been caught on camera acting inappropriately or maliciously in conflict zones.
But critics say the new videos, largely shrugged off in Israel, reflect a national mood that is highly supportive of the war in Gaza, with little empathy for the plight of Gaza's civilians.
"The dehumanization from the top is very much sinking down to the soldiers," said Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, which has long documented Israeli abuses against Palestinians.
Israel has been embroiled in fierce combat in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas group raided southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages.
More than 18,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory. About 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory.
The videos seem to have been uploaded by soldiers themselves during their time in Gaza.
In one, soldiers ride bicycles through rubble. In another, a soldier has moved Muslim prayer rugs into a bathroom. In another, a soldier films boxes of lingerie found in a Gaza home. Yet another shows a soldier trying to set fire to food and water supplies that are scarce in Gaza.
In a photo, an Israeli soldier sits in front of a room under the graffiti "Khan Younis Rabbinical Court." Israeli forces have battled Hamas group in and around the southern city, where the military opened a new line of attack last week.
In another photo, a soldier poses next to words spray-painted in red on a pink building that read, "instead of erasing graffiti, let's erase Gaza."
A video posted by conservative Israeli media personality Yinon Magal on X, formerly Twitter, shows dozens of soldiers dancing in a circle, apparently in Gaza, and singing a song that includes the words, "Gaza we have come to conquer. We know our slogan there are no people who are uninvolved." The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian death toll, saying the group operates in crowded neighbourhoods and uses residents as human shields.
The video, which Magal took from Facebook, has been viewed almost 2,00,000 times on his account and widely shared on other accounts.
Magal said he did not know the soldiers involved. But the AP has verified backgrounds, uniforms and language heard in the videos and found them to be consistent with independent reporting.
Magal said the video struck a chord among Israelis because of the popular tune and because Israelis need to see pictures of a strong military. It is based on the fight song of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, whose hard-core fans have a history of racist chants against Arabs and rowdy behaviour.
"These are my fighters, they're fighting against brutal murderers, and after what they did to us, I don't have to defend myself to anyone," Magal told The Associated Press.
He condemned some of the other videos that have surfaced, including the ransacking of the toy store, apparently in the northern area of Jebaliya, in which a soldier smashes toys and decapitates a plastic figurine, as destruction that is unnecessary for Israel's security objectives.
On Sunday, the Israeli military's spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, condemned some of the actions seen in the recent videos. "In any event that does not align with IDF values, command and disciplinary steps will be taken," he said.
The videos emerged just days after leaked photos and video of detained Palestinians in Gaza, stripped to their underwear, in some cases blindfolded and handcuffed, also drew international attention. The army says it did not release those images, but Hagari said this week that soldiers have undressed Palestinian detainees to ensure they are not wearing explosive vests.
Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official, aired the video of the soldier in the toy shop at a news conference in Beirut. He called the footage "disgusting."
Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian Cabinet minister and peace negotiator, said he can't remember a time when each side was so unwilling to consider the pain of the other.
"Previously, there are people that are interested in seeing from the two perspectives," said Khatib, who teaches international relations at Beir Zeit University in the West Bank. "Now, each side is closed to its own narrative, its own information, rules, and perspective."
Eran Halperin, a professor with Hebrew University's psychology department who studies communal emotional responses to conflict, said that in previous wars between Israel and Hamas, there may have been more condemnation of these types of photos and videos from within Israeli society.
But he said the October 7 attack, which exposed deep weaknesses and failures by the army, caused trauma and humiliation for Israelis in a way that hasn't happened before.
"When people feel they were humiliated, hurting the source of this humiliation doesn't feel as morally problematic," Halperin said.
"When people feel like their individual and collective existence is under threat, they don't have the mental capacity to empathize or apply the moral rulings when thinking about the enemy."
גדוד 9208 סיים פרק לחימה ראשון לאחר 5 שבועות של כיבוש בית חאנון.
— ינון מגל (@YinonMagal) December 12, 2023
החיילים שורפים את דגלי הנאצים שהביאו מבית חאנון pic.twitter.com/QFOwhR8lZh
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
