by Lital Shemesh
While the U.K. routinely criticizes the morality of the Israel Defense Forces and continues to fund countless organizations that condemn Israel, its own soldiers and government are allegedly covering up potential war crimes.
This
story never made the headlines in Israel, but it has sent shock waves
throughout Britain: Members of the British army's elite Special Air
Service are suspected of murdering in cold blood no fewer than 52
unarmed Afghani citizens. According to the allegations, soldiers from
the unit murdered civilians during raids on their homes and then planted
weapons at the scene to make it look like they were Taliban insurgents.
The charges include
evidence tampering, cuffing and hooding innocent civilians and
falsifying mission reports. The Times reported that soldiers adopted a
"shoot-to-kill" policy and in many cases relied on flawed intelligence.
The classified investigation by Britain's Royal Military Police has been
underway for two years and, until now, the British government has tried
to conceal the details of the investigation from the general public
both domestically and abroad.
This is one of the
country's biggest investigations, but the British Defense Ministry
ordered RMP officers to conclude the investigation by this summer. So
the detectives, who had been looking into 52 alleged killings, are now
investigating only one incident from 2011. How convenient. A military
source told The Times that the Defense Ministry wanted to "avoid any of
the detail of the accusations getting into the press and thereby
undermining, in their view, national security, public trust [and] work
with allies."
So while the U.K.
routinely criticizes the morality of the Israel Defense Forces and
continues to fund countless organizations that condemn Israel, its own
soldiers and government are allegedly covering up potential war crimes.
According to a report by NGO Monitor, over the past four years, the
British government has directly and indirectly transferred more than 2
million shekels to the NGO Gisha, which works to advance Palestinian
rights. The head of Gisha recently participated in a BDS conference at
the United Nations.
The report also reveals
that over the last three years, 2 million shekels have been directly
transferred by the British embassy to an NGO named Terrestrial
Jerusalem, which works to "identify and track the full spectrum of
developments in Jerusalem." Millions of shekels were also transferred to
NGOs Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence and Zochrot.
In addition to this
carnival of funds, the British government also sends money to the
Norwegian Refugee Council, which seeks to influence Israeli policy and
circumvent democratic mechanisms in Israel. Some of the organizations
participating in these subversive efforts against Israel also publicly
call to intensify the boycotts against the Jewish state.
It is important to
stress that the IDF is expected to investigate all violations and
operate in accordance with the laws of war and its own ethical code. But
it stands to reason that if the kind of conduct that is currently being
investigated in Britain were to be discovered here in Israel, it would
not be tolerated and certainly wouldn't be swept elegantly under the rug
by the military or the state. By all means then, tell us more about the
morally superior country that spearheads the majority of lawsuits
against IDF soldiers and spends millions on anti-Israel organizations.
Behold the worst type of hypocrisy.
Lital Shemesh
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=19369
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