'I witnessed war crimes' in Gaza, former worker at GHF aid site tells BBC

[AloeVera]

Source: BBC

https://bbc.com/news/videos/cy8k8045nx9o

A retired US special forces officer has revealed to the BBC why he resigned from his work with US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centres.

"I witnessed the Israeli Defense Forces shooting at the crowds of Palestinians," Anthony Aguilar told the BBC.

He added that in his entire career he has never witnessed such a level of "brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population".

He witnessed mortar rounds, artillery rounds, tank rounds fired into unarmed civilians by the IDF and says GHF is both inept and "criminal".

He is also the person who filmed the shooting at the GHF site that has been widely seen.

The GHF says he is a disgruntled former employee. Sound familiar?

Video at link

[vanessa_ca]

1. I'm so glad someone was brave enough to show their face and speak up

Mr Aguilar told the BBC: “In my entire career I have never witnessed the level of brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed starving population. I’ve never witnessed that in all the places I’ve been deployed to war, until I was in Gaza at the hands of the IDF and US contractors... Without question I witnessed war crimes by the Israeli Defence Forces, without a doubt. Using artillery rounds, mortar rounds, tank rounds into unarmed civilians is a war crime.”

[AloeVera]

3. Me too. When a mercenary says it's bad - it's REALLY bad.

Thanks for posting the video! I tried. I'm a bit techno-challenge d.

[AloeVera]

6. This is a longer version that you posted. Even better.

One of the things that struck me was the scene at the "lookout" at Sderot, where Israelis go to see for themselves the devastation of Gaza.

It provides a surreal contrast between the three smiling, happy Israeli girls being photographed with Gaza's ruins in the background and the just prior scene of little 18-month old emaciated, crying Mohammed in Gaza. The Mom's fruitless hunt for baby formula vs the easy access to refreshments - the vending machine- at Sderot...

The symbolic contrast - and the meaning - could not be clearer.

[vanessa_ca]

7. A school field trip came from 2 hours away to watch the genocide, pumped their fists and were very excited.

Schoolchildren were brought from 2 hours away to watch the genocide as entertainment. It's part of their school curriculum. This wounds my soul!

[AloeVera]

8. Observing the fruits of genocide, mass murder, starvation - part of the school curriculum?

And entertainment for "tourists"?

People who insist there is no dehumanization of Palestinians, no indoctrination of children from an early age - they make me laugh.

This is why Israelis don't see anything wrong with what's been done in and to Gaza. The savagery is not savage, the destruction is justified, the starvation and emaciated bodies are not a shame and a curse. They only see that the destruction of their enemy, whom they see as contaminated, evil pseudo-humans, will make their world a better, safer place.

What has happened is the inevitable result of creating the Jewish state on the lands of a people already there. By necessity, the dehumanization and the barbarism had to happen and there was only one final solution to guarantee the safety of the Jewish people. It is a mockery and a tragedy of biblical proportions. It is Amalek.

[harumph]

9. I would not say it was an "inevitable result."

There were glimmers of compromise. Carter tried to help.
All that hope has been abandoned and what we see is simply raw savagery sold as fatalism. Unlike Americans, memories are a persistent thing in the ME.
What Thomas Jefferson said with regard to slavery seems to be appropriate: "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.

[AloeVera]

10. You are right, there were glimmers.

But Carter was the only one who allowed his sympathy for Palestinians -I'm sure there were others who sympathized more covertly - to translate into meaningful, honest efforts to help them. Otherwise, the U.S. was not really an honest broker.

It's one of the many reasons I loved Jimmy Carter.

Israelis will not see that Jefferson quote as applying to them. If anything, they would see themselves as the instruments of the Almighty's justice if not wrath.

The most generous interpretation is that, in their heart of hearts as they say, they KNOW. But the distance between what they tell themselves - and their media, the IDF, COGAT and politicians tell them - and what they KNOW is too great to reconcile.

"Raw savagery sold as fatalism"? Very insightful. Thank you, I always struggled to describe why I hated the whole "human shields" mantra, a pretext for the savagery and destruction.

[malaise]

2. Duh

That is all
There is no distinction between the fascists and the zionists.

[AloeVera]

4. I know it's a Dog bites Man title lol.

But the story is kind of Man Bites Dog.

An American ex-"special forces" mercenary who was so revolted by the war crimes he saw that he is speaking out. When a mercenary says it's bad...worse than he's ever seen...

[malaise]

5. Agree

Rec