Ex-IDF general likens military control of West Bank to Nazi Germany

[Israeli]

Amiram Levin accuses the IDF of being a ‘partner in war crimes’ when it stands by as settler extremists attack Palestinians, says situation in West Bank is ‘absolute apartheid’

By TOI STAFF
13 August 2023

A former IDF general argued that Israel’s control of the West Bank has similarities to discriminatory policies under Nazi Germany, and expressed fear that soldiers will not be motivated to defend the country if the coalition succeeds in shackling the judiciary.

Amiram Levin, who headed the IDF Northern Command, commanded the elite Sayeret Matkal unit and served as deputy director of the Mossad spy agency, told Kan radio on Sunday morning that the military is not only suffering harm to its preparedness because of reservists’ threats and refusals to serve amid the government’s judicial overhaul, but is also “rotten to its core” due to Iarael’s ongoing presence in the West Bank.

“It stands on the side, looks at the rioting settlers, and begins to be a partner in war crimes,” Levin told the public broadcaster. “It’s 10 times worse than the issue of [military] readiness… and I say honestly, I am not angry at the Palestinians, I am angry at us. We are killing ourselves from the inside.”

Recent months have seen a rise in settler violence, with the United Nations earlier this month reporting close to 600 attacks on Palestinians and their property over the past six months. The Israeli defense establishment recorded similar numbers during that period.

According to official data provided to The Times of Israel, there were 680 incidents of stone-throwing or assault of Palestinians by settlers in the first six months of 2023, compared to 950 in all of 2022.

The interviewer asked Levin if he agreed with a May 2016 speech by former Meretz MK Yair Golan, who was IDF deputy chief of staff at the time, in which he said that processes in Israel were similar to some in Europe in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

(snip)

Levin also assailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appointment of “draft dodger” cabinet members such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was not accepted for mandatory military service by the IDF because of his extremist activities.

The prime minister is being exploited by “a messianic group of criminals, former ‘hilltop youth,’ people who don’t even know what democracy is,” he charged, referring to extremist settler activists.

“They come from areas where there is no democracy, from the West Bank, where for 56 years there hasn’t been democracy there,” said Levin. “There is absolute apartheid

Continued @ :

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-idf-general-likens-military-control-of-west-bank-to-nazi-germany/

[Tetrachloride]

1. Either there's compromise or outside intervention or a continuing hotspot

or something worse

sorry for political shorthand

trying to be polite

[Israeli]

2. IMHO only outside intervention

will work at this stage .
We need to be treated as South Africa was treated by the international community .
BDS .

First we need to get the truth out and fight our right wing hasbara ( propaganda )

Our mass protest movement has given many the incentive to speak out .

Latest is ......

Former Mossad chief Pardo says Israel enforcing ‘apartheid’ system in West Bank

Ex-spymaster, now an outspoken critic of his former boss PM Netanyahu, warns Israel faces existential danger if it doesn’t decide borders with Palestinians

By AP and TOI STAFF
Today, 5:33 pm

A former head of the Mossad intelligence agency told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Israel is enforcing an “apartheid” system in the West Bank, joining a tiny but growing list of retired officials to endorse an idea that remains largely on the fringes of Israeli discourse and international diplomacy.

Tamir Pardo becomes the latest former senior official to compare Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank to apartheid, a reference to the system of racial separation in South Africa that ended in 1994.

Leading rights groups in Israel and abroad and Palestinians have accused Israel and its 56-year military rule of the West Bank of morphing into an apartheid system that they say gives Palestinians second-class status and is designed to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

A handful of former Israeli leaders, diplomats and security officials have warned that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state, but Pardo’s language was even more blunt.

“There is an apartheid state here,” he said in an interview. “In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”

continued @

https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-mossad-chief-pardo-says-israel-enforcing-apartheid-system-in-west-bank/

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Kick. I hope you're safe, my friend n/t

[Israeli]

4. Good to see you back :)

I woke up yesterday morning with a phone call from my daughter in Tel Aviv to tell me that she and the kids
were in the shelter .
Total absolute shock and suprise .
We were told by home command to stay home and close to a shelter and to prepare for immanent
missile attacks .
So far the sirens went off once in my area but it was a mistake .
Im safe but my son was called up yesterday noon time and he is now in the south at the gaza border.
His wife is due to give birth to my 7th grandson any day now .
I dont have the words to express the anxiety and fear we are living with right now .
Whatever you see on the news or social media ......its worse .
There are many many missing and the death toll will be much higher .