Perhaps even more telling than this evidence of Israel’s criminality and attempted cover up, has been the silence of the world’s press that daily castigate Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s crimes. It got barely a mention.
Nevertheless, the incident has divided Unit 8200, to which Lieutenant A belonged, and indeed the wider Israeli military and intelligence community.
The unit’s commander issued instructions that no members of the unit could refuse an order on the grounds that it was illegal, since IDF Intelligence plays no direct role in attacking Palestinians. Furthermore, the only people allowed to make a decision not to attack are pilots or other soldiers, and not IDF Intelligence personnel. But junior officers repudiated this saying, “We are taught that law says it is illegal to kill except in very specific circumstances. This case is being widely talked about in the army now and there’s a lot of people who think he was right to do what he did,” said one officer. “You do not have to be the trigger man to be guilty of a crime.”
Another colleague said, “We can not accept the dismissal. Many stand behind Lieutenant A. He is an excellent officer who is very committed to his mission, but here there was a real case of a patently illegal law.... From the time of boot camp, soldiers are taught to protest against patently illegal orders and that is exactly what he did, but the officers didn’t listen to him.”
Nevertheless, the incident has divided Unit 8200, to which Lieutenant A belonged, and indeed the wider Israeli military and intelligence community.
The unit’s commander issued instructions that no members of the unit could refuse an order on the grounds that it was illegal, since IDF Intelligence plays no direct role in attacking Palestinians. Furthermore, the only people allowed to make a decision not to attack are pilots or other soldiers, and not IDF Intelligence personnel. But junior officers repudiated this saying, “We are taught that law says it is illegal to kill except in very specific circumstances. This case is being widely talked about in the army now and there’s a lot of people who think he was right to do what he did,” said one officer. “You do not have to be the trigger man to be guilty of a crime.”
Another colleague said, “We can not accept the dismissal. Many stand behind Lieutenant A. He is an excellent officer who is very committed to his mission, but here there was a real case of a patently illegal law.... From the time of boot camp, soldiers are taught to protest against patently illegal orders and that is exactly what he did, but the officers didn’t listen to him.”