MK (Ichud HaLeumi) MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari is calling for an urgent Knesset session pertaining to disparaging remarks by students affiliated with Yitzchak Rabin pre-IDF course affiliated with Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of the students released information accusing soldiers of acting immorally during Operation Cast Lead, citing a number of cases including one in which a “sharpshooter just opened fire and killed an old woman crossing the street”. The student acknowledged he did not speak the IDF marksman to investigate, nor did he know if the woman was a known terrorist or threat, but added the soldier appear quite upset that he followed orders and killed an ‘innocent woman’.

Haaretz also quotes allegations of “acts of vandalism” by soldiers, reporting the testimony contradicts the widespread reports by the IDF that the troops involved in the counter-terror offensive conducted themselves in the high moral standards synonymous with the IDF.

As a result of the information released, IDF Judge Advocate General Brigadier-General Avichai Mandelblitt is launching an investigation and officials in IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi’s office promise to probe the accusation as well.

Ben-Ari on the other hand accuses the students of besmirching the IDF’s name and compromising the military’s ability to perform in a time of national crisis, demanding the need for a special plenum session.

Officials in the IDF Spokesperson’s Office released a statement that the accusations which were reported in the daily Maariv and Haaretz are being investigated.

Arab MK Dr. Ahmed Tibi in his response stated the testimony is just additional proof to the “war crimes” perpetrated by IDF soldiers during Cast Lead.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised a full and thorough investigation, adding that having served in all ranks of the IDF over a period of decades, making his way to chief of staff, he states with a modicum of certainty and authority that the IDF remains the most moral army in the world, citing cases of the pervious Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations where the actions of armed forces were far from the standard demanded by the IDF.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)