以色列-哈马斯冲突进入第六个月,一些以色列国防军成员的行为和道德越来越受到密切关注。
批评人士和以色列官员表示,从恶作剧到潜在犯罪行为的各种事件正被公之于众,通常是通过士兵自己在网上发布的视频。
在自冲突开始以来流传的许多照片和视频中,亲巴勒斯坦活动分子向数百万追随者转发了这些照片和视频,可以看到以色列国防军士兵在战斗中炸毁加沙的建筑物,挥舞着像旗帜一样的女性内衣,带着喜悦的表情搜查加沙人的财产。
巴勒斯坦活动家Younis Tirawi表示,他已经看过数千段以色列国防军士兵行为不当的视频。“你可以看到所有的士兵都喜欢他们的岗位,”提拉维告诉美国广播公司新闻。"
这些图像和视频遭到了活动人士的谴责,军事伦理专家表示,视频和照片中捕捉到的一些事件显示了严重的违法行为。以色列士兵被禁止携带手机和拍摄加沙的军事活动。
“我看到的照片和视频是士兵们拍摄的。所以这不是捏造的,他们是错的。他们在那里的活动是错误的,”特拉维夫大学教授、以色列国防军道德准则的主要作者阿萨·卡舍说。
第一个报道以色列境内视频的以色列记者柳文欢·齐夫告诉ABC新闻,这些帖子象征着以色列社会和军队中一种令人担忧的趋势。
他说:“失去任何道德准则,并把巴勒斯坦人视为普通人……这是一个长达几十年的漫长过程。”。
“当然,10月7日之后,我认为普通以色列公众和前线的士兵很难将他们视为人,也很难区分哈马斯和10月7日进行大屠杀的人,以及生活在加沙的平民,”齐夫补充说。
美国官员对此表示愤慨七名世界中央厨房援助人员被杀害4月2日遭到以色列空袭。
“本周对世界中央厨房的恐怖袭击不是第一次这样的事件。这肯定是最后一次,”美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯在袭击后说。
以色列国防军发言人丹尼尔·哈加里告诉美国广播公司新闻,他知道士兵们发布的视频,但坚持认为军队致力于遵守道德准则。
“这是人民的军队。我们遵循核心价值观和国际法。那些制作视频的人,不仅仅是一个关于吹牛的视频,将会受到惩罚,严厉的惩罚,”他说。
在一段由一名以色列国防军士兵拍摄的视频中,可以看到一群以色列士兵跪在加沙居民区,然后引爆炸药,这段视频得到了美国广播公司新闻的证实。
这名士兵说,他正在摧毁21所房屋,以纪念21名以色列士兵在1月份的哈马斯伏击中丧生。
当被问及视频时,以色列国防军在一份声明中表示,它“调查此类事件以及上传到社交网络的视频报告,并通过命令和纪律措施处理它们。”
Kasher教授认为,国际法禁止报复行为和集体惩罚。
卡舍告诉美国广播公司新闻,他对以色列国防军成员涉嫌的其他事件感到不安,包括在约旦河西岸的一次事件中,一名士兵被拍摄到通过士兵袭击的清真寺的扬声器背诵犹太祈祷文。
以色列国防军表示,他们已经解除了视频中士兵的职务。
在另一段疯传的视频中,有人看到以色列国防军预备役人员Leroi Taljaar在以色列国防军士兵引爆炸药之前在加沙执勤时开玩笑地说“一切都好”。
南非公民塔尔贾尔(Taljaar)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News),该视频是“一个笑话”。
“而且,我肯定不会在我知道有无辜平民被杀的地方上传视频,”他说。“我和我的朋友们在那里度过了一段非常非常艰难的时光。我们克服困难的方法是制作黑色喜剧。也许不是在对的时间,对的地点。”
Taljaar说,以色列国防军没有就这一事件与他交谈;然而,南非现在表示,如果像他这样的双重国籍士兵试图回国,他们将受到起诉。
Taljaar说他不担心后果。
“让我们先解决我们国家内部的问题,然后再看其他国家的问题,”他说。“(南非政府)正在那些他们无论如何都无法真正做任何事情的地方寻找问题。”
这些事件并不局限于以色列国防军的普通成员。
美国广播公司新闻证实了一段视频,视频显示一枚无人驾驶飞机导弹落在一所空的加沙大学建筑上。据官员称,罢工是由一名将军下令的,但他并未获得授权。
一名士兵发布了袭击巴勒斯坦高等学府的视频,这违反了以色列国防军的政策。
以色列官员声称,该建筑被哈马斯用作武器存放处,并表示下令未经授权的袭击的将军受到了谴责。
以色列国防军前情报部门负责人阿莫斯·亚德林告诉美国广播公司新闻,尽管2023年10月7日哈马斯袭击的暴力事件导致紧张局势加剧,但以色列军队必须遵守他们的行为准则。
“这违反了交战规则和以色列国防军的道德,以色列国防军指挥官有责任让这种事情不发生,并制定纪律,”他说。
IDF's conduct, ethics under scrutiny following soldiers' social media posts
Six months into the Israel-Hamas conflict, the conduct and ethics of some Israel Defense Forces members have increasingly come under the microscope.
Incidents ranging from pranks to potentially criminal acts are being exposed to the world, often by videos soldiers themselves have posted online, according to critics and Israeli officials.
In many pictures and videos that have circulated since the conflict began, and which were reposted by pro-Palestinian activists to millions of followers, IDF soldiers are seen blowing up buildings in Gaza while in combat, waving women’s underwear like flags and rifling through the possessions of Gazans with gleeful expressions.
Younis Tirawi, a Palestinian activist, says he’s seen thousands of videos of IDF soldiers reportedly behaving improperly. "You can see all the soldiers liking their posts," Tirawi told ABC News. "
The images and videos have been condemned by activists, and military ethics experts say some of the incidents captured on video and photos show serious violations. Israeli soldiers are prohibited from bringing phones and filming military activities in Gaza.
"The pictures [and] the videos I saw were taken by the soldiers. So it's not fabricated and they are wrong. Their activities there are wrong," said Asa Kasher, a professor at Tel Aviv University and the lead author of the IDF's code of ethics.
Oren Ziv, an Israeli journalist who was the first to report on the videos inside Israel, told ABC News the posts were emblematic of a worrying trend in Israeli society and its military.
“The loss of any moral compass and seeing the Palestinians as human beings in general…it is a long process for dozens of years," he said.
"Of course, after Oct. 7, I think it's very hard to the general Israeli public and for sure the soldiers on the front to see them as human beings and also to make the differentiation between Hamas and the people who committed the massacre on Oct. 7, and then civilians who live in Gaza," Ziv added.
U.S. officials expressed outrage afterseven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killedon April 2 by Israeli air strikes.
"This week's horrific attack on the World Central Kitchen was not the first such incident. It must be the last," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following the attack.
Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, told ABC News that he was aware of the videos posted by soldiers but maintained the army is committed to adhering to its code of ethics.
"This is the army of the people. And we follow the core, the values and the international law. Those that made the video, [and] not just a video about bragging…will be [met] with a punishment, a severe punishment," he said.
A group of Israeli soldiers is seen kneeling in what was a Gaza neighborhood before setting off explosives in a video filmed by an IDF soldier that was verified by ABC News.
The soldier said he was destroying 21 homes to commemorate the death of 21 Israeli soldiers in a Hamas ambush in January.
When asked about the video, the IDF said in a statement that it “examines events of this kind as well as reports of videos uploaded to social networks and handles them with command and disciplinary measures.”
Acts of vengeance and collective punishment are prohibited under international law, according to Professor Kasher.
Kasher told ABC News that he was disturbed by other alleged incidents by IDF members, including one in the West Bank where a soldier was filmed reciting a Jewish prayer through the speakers of a mosque that the soldiers raided.
The IDF said it removed the soldiers from duty who were seen in that video.
In another video that went viral, IDF reservist Leroi Taljaar was seen jokingly saying "everything is fine" while on duty in Gaza before IDF soldiers detonated an explosive.
Taljaar, a South African citizen, told ABC News that the video was "a joke."
"And, I definitely wouldn't put a video up of where I knew that there was innocent civilians being killed," he said. "Me and my friends went through a very, very difficult time while we were there. And our way of getting over that difficulty was making dark comedy. Maybe it wasn't at the right time, at the right place."
Taljaar said that the IDF has not spoken to him about the incident; however, South Africa has now said it would prosecute dual-national soldiers like him if they tried to return to the country.
Taljaar said he wasn't concerned about the repercussions.
"Let's first sort out the problems inside our country before we look to problems of other countries," he said. " [The South African government is] looking for problems in places where they can't really do anything anyway."
The incidents aren't limited to the rank-and-file members of the IDF.
ABC News verified a video showing a drone missile on an empty Gazan college building. The strike was ordered by a general who wasn't authorized to do so, according to officials.
Video of the strike on the Palestinian Institution of Higher Learning was posted by a soldier -- which is against IDF policy.
Israeli officials allege the building was used by Hamas as a weapons depo and said that the general who ordered the unauthorized strike was reprimanded.
Although tensions are high because of the violence of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which was also filmed and shared on social media, Israeli forces must adhere to their code of conduct, Amos Yadlin, former head of intelligence for the IDF told ABC News.
"It's against the rules of engagement and against the ethics of the IDF, and the IDF commanders have a duty to make it not happen and to make the discipline," he said.