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IDF veteran speaks out against Gaza war crimes


IDF veteran and Breaking the Silence member speaks out against the conduct of the Gaza war in evidence to Irish committee.
ISRAELI MILITARY policy during last year’s invasion of the Gaza Strip has been heavily criticised at an Oireachtas committee by a former member of that country’s defence forces.

A former sergeant in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Yehuda Shaul (27), told the Joint Committee on European Affairs that there was insufficient regard for the safety of innocent civilians during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009.

Mr Shaul served in a combat unit in the West Bank city of Hebron during the second Intifada and is a founder-member of Breaking the Silence, a veterans’ organisation which records and publishes the testimony of Israeli soldiers on military actions against Palestinian opponents.

In a press statement, the Israeli embassy criticised the committee for arranging, “yet another one-sided hearing by soliciting only a spokesperson for a negative view of Israel’s policies, making it the fifth such deliberation by an Irish parliamentary body in the last six months”.

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