A group of over 30 former Israeli soldiers have disclosed testimonies of the treatment of Palestinian children by the armed forces, pointing towards a trend of abuse.
The testimonies, put together by Breaking the Silence, describes beatings, night-time arrests, verbal abuse and intimidation of Palestinian children in the occupied territories by Israeli soldiers.
One ex-soldier recalled his experiences in 2010, stating,
Yehuda Shaul of Breaking the Silence said,
The testimonies, put together by Breaking the Silence, describes beatings, night-time arrests, verbal abuse and intimidation of Palestinian children in the occupied territories by Israeli soldiers.
One ex-soldier recalled his experiences in 2010, stating,
"You never know their names, you never talk with them, they always cry, shit in their pants … There are those annoying moments when you're on an arrest mission, and there's no room in the police station, so you just take the kid back with you, blindfold him, put him in a room and wait for the police to come and pick him up in the morning. He sits there like a dog …"
Yehuda Shaul of Breaking the Silence said,
"Sadly enough this is the moral consequence of prolonged occupation of the Palestinian people,"Gerard Horton of Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI) commented,
"For years credible reports of human rights abuses against children living under Israeli military occupation have emerged,"The IDF dismissed the testimonies as a campaign "to generate negative publicity regarding the IDF and its soldiers”.
"These latest testimonies from young soldiers given the task of enforcing the occupation provide further evidence of its deeply corrosive effects on all. The testimonies lay bare the day-to-day reality of the occupation. These are not isolated incidents or a question of 'a few bad apples'. This is the natural and foreseeable consequence of government policy."
