Israeli troops accused of desecrating bodies

[Scurrilous]

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5647

The Israeli army is investigating allegations that soldiers posed and photographed the ravaged corpses of many Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

<snip>

"The army launched the investigation after the website of Israel’s daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed four incidents in which unnamed soldiers testified that they posed for pictures and desecrated the bodies of dead Palestinians.

"On the surface, it appears we are speaking of serious actions the Israeli army strongly condemns," the military said in a statement, adding that such behavior violates its code of conduct."

<snip>

"The incidents appear to have occurred during the four years of the Palestinian uprising or “intifada”. One incident occurred in the Jordan Valley area of the occupied West Bank, where the newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers put a cigarette in the mouth of the severed head of a Palestinian fighter and photographed each other next to it.

In another case, troops took pictures next to the remains of Palestinian soldiers who were shot dead in a jeep near the West Bank city of Nablus, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
In 2003, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian who approached their tank in the Gaza Strip. Later the man was found to be unarmed but soldiers strapped his body and photographed it and joked about it, a former soldier was cited as saying. He added that soldiers took souvenir photos and gave the dead Palestinian the nickname "Inny" for "innocent civilian."

[AlamoDemoc]

1. Unbelievable!

[Gyre]

2. Well, the aren't really humans like us, are they?

I mean, they are Arabs, and hence terrists. They don't love, hate, feel pain and loss like us do they. Surely they don't have children they love like us and have children who love them like us, do they? And they can't love their country like us and hate foreign invaders who want to enslave them and steal their country's resources can they?

Gyre

[riverwalker]

3. disgusting

[Djinn]

4. yep "they" sure deserve a state

NB - this is in reference to another poster who think the atrocities of Hamas "prove" that ALL Palestinians do not deserve a state.

and for his benefit YES I also think it is vile when Palestinians have done similar things, rational people can see MANY ethnicities/religions/nationalities can be capable of brutality and inhumanity.

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Along the same vein...

and for his benefit YES I also think it is vile when Palestinians have done similar things, rational people can see MANY ethnicities/religions/nationalities can be capable of brutality and inhumanity.

No, no, no, djinn! You don't get it! A while ago the same source informed me that acts of brutality aimed at civilians carried out by the Stern Gang was NOT terrorism because it was 'a different place and a different time'. Didn't make any more sense then than it does now, but there ya go...

Violet...

[Scurrilous]

6. Ya'alon orders probe of claims soldiers abused bodies

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/503849.html

<snip>

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon ordered Military Police on Friday to investigate claims that soldiers abused the bodies of dead Palestinians and took photographs with them.

Ya'alon first responded publicly to the claims, which came to light in an investigation conducted by the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth, on Friday.

Ya'alon said he condemns such behavior and added that the IDF's ethical strength is no less important than its military strength.

The newspaper's investigation of the phenomenon includes numerous accounts of IDF soldiers who photographed the bodies of Palestinians or who were themselves photographed with bodies."