Archiv: Soldaten / soldiers


16.05.2025 - 23:19 [ +972 Magazine ]

‘Render it unusable’: Israel’s mission of total urban destruction

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly endorsed this vision in late March, soon after Israel resumed the war. “Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave. We will see to the general security of the Gaza Strip and allow the realization of the Trump plan for voluntary migration,” Netanyahu affirmed. “This is the plan. We are not hiding it and are ready to discuss it at any time.”

Just this week, Netanyahu made this link between the destruction of civilian buildings and forced displacement more explicit. “We are destroying more and more homes — they have nowhere to return to,” he reportedly said at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. “The only expected result will be a desire for Gazans to emigrate outside the Strip.”

07.04.2025 - 22:00 [ Associated Press ]

Israel controls 50% of Gaza after razing land to expand its buffer zone

When Israel resumed the war last month, it doubled the size of the buffer zone, pushing it as far as 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) into Gaza in some places, according to a map issued by the military.

The buffer zone and the Netzarim Corridor make up at least 50% of the strip, said Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University, who has been examining Israeli-Palestinian land use patterns for decades.

07.04.2025 - 21:57 [ Breaking the Silence ]

The Perimeter – Soldiers‘ testimonies from the Gaza Buffer Zone 2023-2024

The testimony collection that follows includes testimonies by soldiers and officers who took part in creating the perimeter and turning it into a zone of total destruction. (…)

The testimonies demonstrate that soldiers were given orders to deliberately, methodically, and systematically annihilate whatever was within the designated perimeter, including entire residential neighborhoods, public buildings, educational institutions, mosques, and cemeteries, with very few exceptions. Industrial zones and agricultural areas which served the entire population of Gaza were laid to waste, regardless of whether those areas had any connection whatsoever to the fighting. In their testimonies, soldiers
describe the systematic way in which the creation of the new buffer zone was planned and executed. One example of this was the way designated areas were divided into defined sections — „polygons“ — within which soldiers were ordered to destroy structures. The military dedicated enormous resources to this endeavor, including the extensive use of bulldozers (excavators, D9 bulldozers, and other heavy equipment), along with thousands of mines and explosives.

06.02.2025 - 22:15 [ Monthly Review ]

Vietnam and the Soldiers’ Revolt: The Politics of a Forgotten History

(June 1, 2016)

All sides have attempted to define the collective memory of the Vietnam War in ways that advance their current visions for global and domestic politics and superimpose them on the past. Think, for example, of the persistence of the “spit upon” or “baby killer” myths, or the claim that the antiwar movement “stabbed” soldiers “in the back” (even many of my students, born decades later, say these are the first things they think about when they hear “Vietnam War”).1 The continued influence of these myths has helped prop up consent for militarism at home and abroad. The story of GI protest during the war is an important counter to the conventional story, for it hits at the heart of some of the most emotive symbols in these political battles: the soldiers. It offers grounding for an alternative politics from the antiwar left. It is history worth knowing.

06.02.2025 - 22:05 [ WagingPeaceinVietnam.com ]

Waging Peace in Vietnam: A Timeline of the Movement

August 1964

False claims of North Vietnamese attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin lead to U.S. airstrikes and an escalating air war over the coming years that becomes the heaviest bombing campaign in the history of warfare, with more than 7 million tons of bombs and ordnance used against Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

1965

Major escalation of U.S. ground troops begins.

January 1965

Lt. Richard Steinke becomes the first U.S. serviceman to refuse to fight after arriving in Vietnam. In November that year, Lt. Henry Howe of Ft. Bliss, Texas, attends antiwar protest in El Paso and is sentenced to two years hard labor.

June, 1966

Privates James Johnson, Dennis Mora and David Samis—the Ft. Hood Three—publicly refuse orders to Vietnam.

October, 1966

Capt. Howard Levy, MD, refuses orders to train Green Beret combatants at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.

December 1967

Andy Stapp and others at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, form the American Servicemen’s Union and organize chapters at dozens of military installations and ships.

Late 1967

Vietnam GI , one of the first known GI antiwar newspapers, begins publication. Hundreds of other GI papers appear throughout the military over the next five years. …….

11.01.2025 - 13:22 [ Korean Joong Ang Daily ]

Parents of soldiers irate over using sons as ‚human shield‘ to prevent Yoon‘s arrest

The Ministry of National Defense reportedly conveyed to the Presidential Security Service (PSS) on Jan. 3 that deploying the 55th Guard Corps to block the arrest was inappropriate. On Thursday, the PSS reportedly responded that it „understood“ the ministry’s position.

A ministry official said soldiers from the 55th Guard Corps would not be deployed again to obstruct similar attempts to execute the president’s arrest warrant. However, the ministry clarified that it was not considering withdrawing the battalion from its assignment under the PSS.

11.01.2025 - 12:28 [ Times of Israel ]

No more ‘cannon fodder’: Parents of troops, slain hostages demand Gaza deal

“The IDF has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there,” the letter alleged, pushing back against Netanyahu’s stance that continued military action would free the 98 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, almost all of them kidnapped on October 7.

They charged the fighting in Gaza was “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.”

11.01.2025 - 12:26 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

850 Parents of Soldiers Accuse Netanyahu: Our Children are Cannon Fodder

n a letter addressed to the premier, the relatives accuse him of leading “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.” “Our sons and daughters set out on a necessary war brought upon us by your actions. Our children are cannon fodder”, they claim. “They lost many friends and are continuing to die and get injured, mentally and physically.

Now, after more than a year of war, they assert the only way for the returning of the hostages is as part of a deal with Hamas, alleging that the war is being extended aimlessly and that the Israeli army “has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there.” “We accuse you of abandoning the hostages and the soldiers,” the parents write, threatening to launch an “all-out struggle,” beginning in dozens of cities next Saturday.

29.12.2024 - 16:23 [ Al Jazeera ]

Record high deaths in the Russia-Ukraine war: What you should know

(October 16, 2024)

According to Ukraine’s General Staff, as of October 1, more than 654,000 Russian personnel have died.

As for Ukrainian troops, the Russian Ministry of Defence estimates that Kyiv has lost almost half a million men, according to a report published last month by the RT news website.

26.12.2024 - 15:37 [ Viory Video / Youtube ]

Families of missing Syrian Army soldiers rally in Tartus amid claims some were imprisoned by HTS

Dec 25, 2024
Footage shows them holding banners and speaking with officials.

There was no response from the Tartus authorities or the HTS-led administration at time of publication.

19.12.2024 - 23:50 [ Palestune Chronicle ]

‘Anyone who Enters is Shot’ – Israeli Army Officers Reveal ‘Kill Zone’ in Gaza

Israeli army officers have revealed that an area along the Netzarim corridor in the Gaza Strip was a designated “kill zone” where “anyone who enters is shot,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

A commander in Division 252 said that “forces in the field call it ‘the line of dead bodies,” because “after shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them.”

“In Gaza, people know that wherever you see these dogs, that’s where you must not go,” the commander is quoted as saying.

28.11.2024 - 08:34 [ CNN ]

Ukraine is relying on drones to hold back Russian advances. Troops on the frontline are fearing the worst

Ukraine cannot match Moscow’s numbers, or a tolerance for casualties that Western officials claim is resulting in up to 1,200 dead or injured daily across the frontlines. Kyiv’s manpower crisis has been palpable in Pokrovsk for weeks, soldiers around the eastern front told CNN, and Moscow’s savage tactics are seeing persistent success.

“The situation is very critical,” said East, the callsign of a commander of a drone unit with Ukraine’s 15th National Guard working around Pokrovsk. “We lack infantry to fight and hold out for some time while the drones do their work. That’s why we often see situations where the enemy uncontrollably penetrates vulnerable areas.”

05.11.2024 - 19:16 [ yoman miluim / Youtube ]

A Soldier‘s diary : an Israel reserve soldier‘s occupation diary

Authors: Gideon Gitai, Yishai Shuster, Era Lapid, Kirsti Eskelinen, Yleisradio Oy, Gig Films Production, First Run/Icarus Films

Summary: This unsettling film was made by Gideon Gitai and Yishai Shuster, a disillusioned soldier who served as part of an Israeli military force occupying the West Bank. They created the film because, as Shuster explained, ‚I wanted my friends to see what I saw in the occupied territories‘—the seemingly endless tension and conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli settlers, driven by the ongoing political and military situation. The Israeli soldiers found themselves in the difficult position of regularly controlling and confronting the Arab civilian population, a task that most of them disliked. The rare documentation Shuster provided reflects resistance to the policing measures imposed by the state on the Palestinian population. These practices have since intensified, becoming a painful routine, with Palestinian citizens—deprived of rights—suffering under the weight of Israeli occupation.

VHS Video, Hebrew, ©1991

05.11.2024 - 19:05 [ Margarita Estévez-Abe / mastodon.social ]

“Why You Must Watch This Lost Documentary on the Israeli Occupation ‚Reserve Diary: Hebron 1989‘

was perhaps the first Israeli film to break the silence on soldiers‘ illegal actions in the West Bank – so how come almost no one has seen it in 35 years? Its director, Yishai Shuster, reveals all.” @palestine #westbank
Link to the article https://archive.is/fY6MK
Link to the documentary: https://youtu.be/AcNOxPKvYFo

21.04.2024 - 12:00 [ Zeitpunkt.ch ]

50 Jahre Nelkenrevolution in Portugal

Am 25. April 2024 wird Portugal zum fünfzigsten Mal seine so genannte friedliche Revolution feiern. Von den damaligen Errungenschaften ist fast nichts geblieben. (…)

Das Kapital eroberte sich Schritt für Schritt seine Macht zurück. Die Landreform wurde zurückgenommen. Bei der Rückgabe von Ländereien kam es zu bitteren Szenen und Prügeleien. Kleinbauern verloren die Früchte ihrer Arbeit und das gerade bestellte eigene Land. Den verbleibenden Kooperativen – Versammlungsstätten und kulturelle Wohnzimmer der Dörfer, in denen sich die Bewohner gegenseitig versorgen und ihre Produkte lokal anbieten konnten – wurden die steuerlichen Vergünstigungen und damit die Arbeitsgrundlage genommen. Damit ging ein Herzstück der Revolution verloren.

Der Westen hatte gesiegt. Dem portugiesischen Volk wurde der Beitritt zur EU 1986 als Weg zu Sicherheit und Wohlstand verkauft.

11.04.2024 - 22:32 [ Kyiv Post ]

Final Version of Mobilization Bill Approved, Ukraine’s Soldiers ‘Not Happy’ About It

However, at the same time, the rule on demobilization after 36 months of service disappeared from the final version. (…)

The military members, who have been serving since 2022, were waiting for this provision, wrote DPSU officer Maksym Nesmyanov.

“This is a disaster… How could it be possible to promise demobilization to soldiers from December 2023, only to abandon them at the end!!! You can‘t take away hope from soldiers that they will return home,” Nesmyanov wrote on Facebook.

26.02.2024 - 22:00 [ Al Jazeera ]

Suicide vs genocide: Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell

In the aftermath of Bushnell’s self-immolation, the New York Times announced: “Man Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington, Police Say” – a rather strong contender, perhaps, for the most diluted and decontextualised headline ever. One wonders what folks would have said in 1965 had the US newspaper of record run headlines like: “Octogenarian Detroit Woman Dies After Setting Herself on Fire, Police Say – An Event Having Nothing Potentially To Do With Said Woman’s Opposition To The Vietnam War Or Anything Like That”.

26.02.2024 - 21:54 [ Assal Rad / Twitter ]

Why did he do it? Four major news outlets have almost the exact same headline for the self-immolation of 25-year old Aaron Bushnell. Not one of them mentions the words “Gaza” or “genocide,” the reason for Aaron’s protest, or the word “Palestine,” his last words spoken.

26.02.2024 - 21:43 [ USA Today ]

Air Force member Aaron Bushnell dies after setting himself on fire near Israeli Embassy

Bushnell began livestreaming to Twitch as he approached the embassy, declaring that he „will no longer be complicit in genocide,“ a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Officials believe Bushnell started the stream, set his phone on the ground, poured liquid over himself, and lit himself on fire.

14.02.2024 - 12:58 [ BBC News (World) / Twitter ]

They were Israel‘s eyes on the border – but their Hamas warnings went unheard

(15.01.2024)

29.01.2024 - 09:50 [ Bundestag.de ]

Bundeswehreinsatz in Irak

(18. Oktober 2023)

Beschlussempfehlung des Auswärtigen Ausschusses (3. Ausschuss) zu dem Antrag der Bundesregierung Fortsetzung des Einsatzes bewaffneter deutscher Streitkräfte – Stabilisierung sichern, Wiedererstarken des IS verhindern, Versöhnung in Irak fördern (Drucksache. 20/8341 und 20/8797)

Abstimmungsergebnis…

16.01.2024 - 02:00 [ BBC News (World) / Twitter ]

They were Israel‘s eyes on the border – but their Hamas warnings went unheard

28.12.2023 - 15:38 [ Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي / Twitter ]

Netanyahu‘s office responded to the hospitalized soldiers rejecting his visit with a formal statement in which they wrote: „An absolute majority of the fighters are very excited to meet the prime minister.“ (I am not joking.)

28.12.2023 - 14:58 [ David Sheen / Twitter ]

Killed by order of Israeli general Barak Hiram

(25.12.2023)

1) Pessi Cohen
2) Hannah Cohen
3) Yitzhak Siton
4) Tal Siton
5) Zeev Hacker
6) Zehava Hacker
7) Hava Ben Ami
8) Adi Dagan
9) Tal Katz
10) Ayala Hatsroni
11) Liel Hatsroni
12) Yanai Hatsroni
13) Suhayb al-Razim

28.12.2023 - 14:54 [ ElectronicIntifada.net ]

Israeli general killed Israelis on 7 October then lied about it

Video and witness accounts recently published by Israeli media reveal new details about how Israeli forces killed their own civilians in Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October.

Last week, Israel’s Channel 12 released previously unseen footage of an Israeli tank firing at a civilian home in the settlement, just a few miles east of Gaza.

The new evidence shows that the Israeli commander on the scene, Brigadier General Barak Hiram, lied to a top Israeli journalist about what happened in the kibbutz that day, after Palestinian resistance fighters launched a large-scale assault on Israeli military bases and settlements across the boundary from Gaza.

28.12.2023 - 14:46 [ Uncaptured.media ]

Israeli volunteer: Apache helicopter fired into Kibbutz Be’eri

(14.12.2023)

An Israeli Apache helicopter fired into Kibbutz Be’eri, according to testimony from Erez Tidhar, a military veteran who on the scene on October 7 as a rescue and evacuation volunteer for the Eitam unit .

“Every minute a missile comes down on you, every minute,” Tidhar recalled. “And suddenly you see a missile from a helicopter that fires into the kibbutz. You say to yourself, ‘I don’t get it. An IDF helicopter firing into an Israeli kibbutz.’ And then you see a tank driving through the streets of the kibbutz flanking the cannon and it fires a shell into a house. These are things you cannot comprehend.”

17.10.2023 - 18:35 [ Breaking The Silence ]

Breaking the Silence: Text testimonies

“We want to make a big boom before the ceasefire”
Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: Engineering Corps
Area: Northern Gaza strip
period: 2014

(…)

“Anything that could shatter had been shattered”
Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: Engineering Corps
Area: Northern Gaza strip
period: 2014

(…)

“It was obvious that if it wasn’t our forces there, we needed to shoot”
Rank: Captain
Area: Gaza strip
period: 2014

17.10.2023 - 15:00 [ Combatants for Peace ]

Combatants for Peace: About Us

We are a group of Palestinians and Israelis who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence in our region: Israeli soldiers serving in the IDF and Palestinians as combatants fighting to free their country, Palestine, from the Israeli occupation. We – serving our peoples, raised weapons which we aimed at each other and saw each other only through gun sights – have established Combatants for Peace on the basis of non-violence principles.

CFP’s mission is to build the social infrastructure necessary for ending the conflict and the occupation: communities of Palestinians and Israelis working together through non-violent means to promote peace.

17.10.2023 - 14:56 [ Yesh-Gvul.org.il ]

About Yesh-Gvul

Yesh Gvul was founded in 1982 with the outbreak of the First Lebanon War, as a refusal movement of soldiers in the reserves force.
Its first petition, which would define the movement’s trajectory, reads:
„[…] you are trying to solve the Palestinian problem by warfare … to impose a ‘new order’ on the ruins of Lebanon, to spill our blood and the blood of others for the sake of the Phalange. That is not why we enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces.”
Close to 3,000 reservists signed the petition, 160 of whom were jailed for refusing to serve on Lebanese territory. Yesh Gvul supported the first Lebanon War refuseniks, most of whom were selective objectors, and worked to influence public opinion against waging wars in Lebanon. Ever since, the movement has helped soldiers who refuse to serve or are considering refusal, as well as their families.

08.10.2023 - 09:02 [ Times of Israel ]

IDF releases names of 26 soldiers killed fighting in southern Israel

The Israel Defense Forces publishes the names of 26 soldiers killed during fighting with Hamas terrorists on the border with the Gaza Strip during the past day. Their families have been notified.

07.10.2023 - 17:22 [ Yossi Melman / Twitter ]

Israel declared massive reserves recruitment. The protest movement announced that they cancelled all demonstrations tonight. Reserve Air force pilots and personnels said that they are ready for duty

07.10.2023 - 14:14 [ CBKNEWS / Twitter ]

GRAPHIC CONTENT! Israeli soldier captured and taken back to Gaza

(…)

16.09.2023 - 00:29 [ Washington Post ]

Pentagon to revisit Kabul airport bombing with new witness interviews

Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, who oversees U.S. Central Command, ordered the additional interviews “to ensure we do our due diligence” with information that came to light after the military closed its investigation of the incident, Michael Lawhorn, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement. By itself, the move does not formally reopen the investigation, completed in November 2021, but the general could determine that doing so is necessary once the additional interviews are complete.

(…)

The attack’s suspected mastermind was killed by the Taliban earlier this year, U.S. officials disclosed in April.

07.09.2023 - 21:13 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Krieg ohne Krieger – oder: Das phantomhafte Töten und Sterben an der Front

Nicht nur die USA, auch die manifest kriegführenden Akteure in der Ukraine haben aus dem seinerzeitigen ‚Informationsdesaster‘ der US-Army und ihrer GIs im Vietnamkrieg gelernt: Damals lieferten mutige Kriegsberichterstatter noch weitestgehend unzensierte Bilder vom Morden, vom Töten und vom Sterben direkt von der Front frei Haus, die weltweit über die Bildschirme flimmerten und auf den Titelseiten der tonangebenden Zeitungen erschienen – und vor allem die junge Generation in den Ländern des Westens zu Protest- und Verweigerungsaktionen auf die Straße trieben. Spätestens seit dem Golfkrieg 1991 werden wir, wenn überhaupt, nur noch mit – den Militärs und Machthabern genehmen – klinisch-reinen Bildern und Filmen von „Embedded Journalists“ beliefert.

13.08.2023 - 16:20 [ Haaretz ]

Ex-Israeli General Says Army Partner in West Bank War Crimes, Invokes Nazi Germany

Speaking to Israel’s public broadcasting station Kan, Amiram Levin, former head of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, said that “there hasn’t been a democracy there in 57 years, there is total apartheid.” According to Levin, “the IDF, which is forced to exert sovereignty there, is rotting from the inside. It’s standing by, looking at the settler rioters and is beginning to be a partner to war crimes. These are deep processes.”

When asked to elaborate on the specific “processes,” Levin invoked Nazi Germany. “It’s hard for us to say it, but it’s the truth. Walk around Hebron, look at the streets. Streets where Arabs are no longer allowed to go on, only Jews. That’s exactly what happened there, in that dark country.”

13.08.2023 - 16:05 [ Times of Israel ]

‘The time to fight is now’: Masses nationwide rally against overhaul for 32nd week

Levin, who at various times headed the IDF Northern Command, commanded the elite Sayeret Matkal unit and served as deputy director of the Mossad spy agency, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to hand the country over to criminals.

“Bibi wants to give the keys to the country to a group of awful ministers, some of whom are convicted criminals and draft dodgers, to ministers who encourage massacring Palestinians subject to our rule, to a racist minister who loots the state budget and blocks funds for Arabs, just because they are Arabs. To a justice minister who wants one branch of government and no independent judiciary,”

13.08.2023 - 15:53 [ Haaretz ]

32nd Week of Israel’s Pro-democracy Protests: „Choose Democracy!“ Ex-IDF General Calls on Army Chief to Back Rule of Law in Looming Conflict With ‘Gov’t of Criminals’

At the main Kaplan Street protest in Tel Aviv, former Israeli General, Amiram Levin called on defense leaders to stand up to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who “are trying to drag you into war crimes.”

“If the terrible moment comes when you will be required to decide between the court and a government of criminals – Choose democracy! We will all stand behind you, fearlessly and unreservedly,” said Levin.

13.08.2023 - 15:28 [ ModernDiplomacy.eu ]

Gen. Mark Milley: “Measured pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive not a surprise”

The primary challenge for Ukrainian forces is the continued difficulty of breaking through Russia’s multi-layered defensive lines in the eastern and southern parts of the country, which are marked by tens of thousands of mines and vast networks of trenches. Ukrainian forces have incurred staggering losses there, leading Ukrainian commanders to hold back some units to regroup and reduce casualties.

“Russians have a number of defensive lines and they [Ukrainian forces] haven’t really gone through the first line,” said a senior Western diplomat.

13.08.2023 - 14:56 [ Washington Post ]

Slow counteroffensive darkens mood in Ukraine

(August 10, 2023)

In Smila, a small city in central Ukraine, baker Alla Blyzniuk, 42, said she sells sweets for funeral receptions daily as parents prepare to bury their children killed on the front hundreds of miles away. (…)

Blyzniuk also lives in fear that her husband or two sons of fighting age will be mobilized. She has already noticed that far fewer men walk the streets of her city than before. Ukraine does not disclose its military casualty counts, but everyone shares stories, she said, of new soldiers at the front lasting just two to three days.