The IDF Sniper From Munich (Spiegel)

[DonnaHadDee]

Well worth reading ...

The Sniper from Munich
Two snipers in the Israeli army are thought to have committed war crimes in Gaza. Video evidence appears to corroborate those accusations. One of them is a young man from Bavaria.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/targeted-killings-israeli-soldier-from-munich-allegedly-shot-unarmed-men-in-gaza-a-28efbd28-a80c-46dc-a46d-7ab3eca4e1ec

They are fucking psychopaths. All of the IDF and Isrseli leaders should be on trial for genocide.

@Kakeandkake I'd strongly disagree with you. I speak as someone who's DF had a career in the army (two stints!), and our eldest son is in his 2nd year. I honestly believe they serve(d) our country with distinction.

I have no doubt there are "good" soliders in the IDF too. However there are very well documented cases of criminal actions and intent going back decades with the IDF. The IDF mostly ignore this, and as a society Israel seems comfortable with it too.

There are countless interviews with IDF soldiers online where they brag about their “body counts”, where they laugh and make derogatory comments when they are asked about the dead children and civilians. They have completely dehumanised the native population to justify their crimes.

Personally, I think the IDF is a combination of war criminals, military professionals and a whole bunch of terrified/panicked reservists.

The article itself states that the a member of the clan of these men founded the Army of Islam which is affiliated with ISIS.

It is likely that other members of the family may have been involved with it also as that's normally how it works.

It also states the killings were targeted so perhaps the IDF have more information than we do or Der Speigel does.

Unarmed or not, they may still have been carrying out terrorist activities.

How does International Law interpret combatants deliberately disguising themselves as innocent civilians while carrying out warfare activities?

Has there ever been a war where a similar level of targeting and smearing of soldiers in a war has been carried out while the war is still ongoing?

That will be a No and we know the reason why this is happening in this war.

There is a very, very big difference between serving your country in their armed forces, and travelling to a different country that is committing a genocide the it the sole goal of killing as many people as possible.

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to kill somebody because their third cousin once removed might have been a terrorist, which is effectively what your are alleging. Furthermore the soldiers were clear that the killings were not targeted - they just decided to kill anybody who wandered into a particular area, with the Palestinians not told what that area was. If you go in to recover the body of your dead brother or son, tough luck we’re shooting you too.

The video is horrifying.

That said, the IDF is not the first army to dehumanise its enemies and local civilians. There are similar allegations being investigated about what some elements of the British army did in Afghanistan. I’m sure the same is true for most armies in most wars. Killing random civilians unfortunately seems to be a feature of war, and what war does to young men.

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to kill somebody because their third cousin once removed might have been a terrorist, which is effectively what your are alleging.

Not alleging that at all. I said the IDF will have more information on who they are targeting than we and newspaper journalists have.

I don't think there's ever been a comparable war with combatants of multiple terrorist factions having a strategy of posing as and hiding among civilians as in this war anyway.

Do you know of one?

That is ridiculous and a terrible justification for genocide. IDF soldiers literally post videos where they laugh about their body counts, about “kill zones” where they kill any man above a certain age who enters the zone. The IDF are an immoral army who have dehumanised the native population to justify murdering, torturing and raping them. I hope to see them and anyone else who has aided these war crimes behind bars.

The soldier concerned said they were untargeted killings. They were killed only because they were adult men who walked into rifle range.

Regarding soldiers hiding within civilian areas dressed in civilian clothing- that happens in every modern war. It was/is
a prominent feature of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine, and famously also Northern Ireland.