IDF ‘most moral army in the world’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

by Patrick Cooper

At the International Court of Justice at The Hague, South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Patrick Cooper

Does the Israeli Defence Force deliberately rape, torture and kill Palestinian civilians, as Hamas terrorists did to innocent Israelis on October 7, condemning themselves as they joyfully recorded these atrocities? Even the Nazis attempted to conceal evidence of the Holocaust when they realised they were going to lose the war. No, the IDF goes to great lengths to avoid non-combatant casualties.

The UN claims that in all conflicts since World War 2, the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths on average has been nine to one. The American and British armies have worked hard to bring it down to three to one, as was the case in Iraq. In the Gaza war, the IDF believes it has killed 9500 Hamas terrorists and the Palestinian Health Authority claims that there have been 22,500 Palestinian deaths, not distinguishing between combatants and civilians. This gives us a ratio of 130 to 95 or much less than two to one civilian-to-combatant deaths — surely not an indication of genocide.

British Colonel Richard Kemp has called the IDF “the most moral army in the world”. Before the Israeli offensive began, the IDF dropped

1.5 million leaflets on northern Gaza advising the population there to move south for their own safety; 900,000 Gazans complied. When the focus moved to attacking Hamas in the south, maps of safe havens were dropped or emailed to the Palestinian population beforehand. The occupants of buildings that were going to be attacked were messaged, emailed or telephoned in advance. The Israelis also used the “knock on roof” technique whereby non-explosive or low-yield devices are dropped on roofs of buildings that are going to be bombed.

The Israeli lawyers might point out that numerous Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians have received life-saving treatment in Israeli hospitals during the conflict. Also, during the period between 1967 and 2005 when Israel took over military control of Gaza, the population rose from 340,000 to 1.4 million. Hardly evidence of genocide.

Some statistics for South Africa: 40 percent of the population are unemployed, 60 percent live under the poverty line and 32 million people receive an income from the state. Murders went up 14 percent between July and September as compared with the same period in 2021 when 6163 people were killed — including almost 1000 women. Rape was up 11 percent with 10,000 cases opened last year. Kidnappings rose to more than 4000. Carjackings were up 24 percent to more than 6000. Between April and September, 550 children were killed.

Shouldn’t South Africa be removing the plank from its own eye?