An Israeli soldier blows up a building in Gaza as a “gift” to his daughter (Al Jazeera)

Le Monde newspaper said that the humiliation and contempt of residents, and the plundering and destruction of their property, are actions that Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip brag about on TikTok and Instagram, in a stream of video clips that can be considered a witness to the extent of the feeling of impunity, and to the exposure of a form of stripping the Palestinian population of their humanity. .

The newspaper indicated - in a correspondence from Jerusalem written by Samuel Fourie - that the content of some of these clips shows soldiers having fun in a private house, others riding children’s bicycles, a group raising the Israeli flag on a building in the middle of an ocean of destruction, and moments of pure vandalism and joy in looting and vandalizing an empty mosque. It shows a soldier breaking up leftover merchandise in a store.

In more clips, soldier Isidore Al-Gharabli appears playing the role of a real estate broker in the ruins of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, then praises the beauty of the Gaza coast, before threatening in front of the camera, saying, “We will crush you.”

Some looters also appear, such as the man who attacks the box of a Gazan resident with a mill, and the one who carries a pair of shoes still in the original box, to present to his future fiancée.

Israeli soldiers walking in an area of ​​Gaza after they bulldozed it (Al Jazeera)

Symptoms of deep distress

In other, darker clips, an artilleryman is shown bombing Gaza disguised as a dinosaur, an infantry soldier sets fire to a shipment of food at a time when Gaza is on the brink of famine, and another waves a banner advertising his hair salon next to the corpses of Palestinians, whom the words compare His songs "With Animals" and "Amalek".

This comparison - according to the newspaper - refers to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s likening of the Palestinians to “human animals,” and the dehumanization it calls for, and then to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s quote, “Remember what Amalek did,” as the commandment of Deuteronomy calls for, “ Erase them from memory.

The newspaper believed that the widespread culture of display on social media, in addition to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in addition to the October 7 attack, had liberated many soldiers from all restrictions.

“We have seen this kind of behavior in the past,” says the executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Breaking the Silence. “But this level of violence and its legitimization says a lot about the general attitude of soldiers in the Strip. All of these videos are symptoms of a deep sense of malaise.”

In a separate report to the newspaper, Merav Zonszin, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, attributed the violations committed by the Israeli army in part to the fact that the army has become more nationalist, religious, and right-wing, and to the large number of soldiers deployed, their young age, and their poor training.

The analyst pointed out that documents of these violations were found on social media networks, confirming the extent of their spread. Indeed, the soldiers’ testimonies indicate that what is happening in secret is more important, to the point that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy was forced to summon his commanders to return to the regime on February 20.

Confession and fatwas

A soldier - who preferred to remain anonymous - admitted to the newspaper that minor looting had taken place, explaining that “all the houses we passed were searched from top to bottom, looking for weapons or ammunition. Some of us took worthless souvenirs. The houses were burned by order of "Leadership. One of us tried to object to this kind of behavior. He was told that Hamas terrorists killed people and burned homes on October 7, so we can do that too."

The newspaper pointed out that this phenomenon prompted some soldiers to ask the rabbis about looting and whether it is prohibited under Jewish law. Rabbi Yitzhak Shilat, of the Maale Adumim settlement, explained that stealing food and perishable materials is permitted, and nothing else, but rabbis less strict than him confirmed that “The Arabs do not abide by international conventions, so we are not required to comply with any of the laws of war.”

An Israeli soldier interrogates a civilian in Gaza (social networking sites)

These pictures spread widely, which forced the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevy, to write: “We are not in a wave of killing, revenge, or genocide.” Then he ordered: “Do not use force when it is not required, and do not take what does not belong to us.” And do not make revenge videos.”

Military Prosecutor Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi condemned the actions “that do not comply with the values ​​of the Israeli army, and cross the criminal threshold.” The army spokesman said, “The Israeli army has moved to identify unusual cases that deviate from what is expected of its soldiers, and important leadership measures will be taken against them.” The soldiers involved."

However, the answers of Israeli army officials remain unclear, the analyst says.

Some say that the disease has spread and is difficult to control, and others say that the reason is because reserve soldiers go on leave, or perhaps because the army considers this phenomenon part of psychological warfare, or perhaps it is because of the feeling of impunity that currently prevails in Israel.

Source: Le Monde