Joining the voices demanding an internal probe into the IDF’s actions during Operation Cast Lead are Prof. Moshe Halbertal and Prof. Avi Sagi, both members of the team which released the 1992 military code of ethics entitled “Spirit of the IDF”.

Prof. Halbertal recently published an article appearing in The New Republic, addressing the Goldstone report, and while he and his colleague do not agree with Goldstone’s findings, they feel an internal probe is warranted and the state should act accordingly. In the article entitled “The Goldstone Illusion,” Halbertal points out “Since the early 1990s, the nature of the military conflict facing Israel has been dramatically shifting. What was mainly a clash between states and armies has turned into a clash between a state and paramilitary terror organizations, Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. This new form of struggle is now called ‘asymmetrical war.’ It is defined by an attempt on the part of those groups to erase two basic features of war: the front and the uniform. Hamas militants fight without military uniforms, in ordinary and undistinguishing civilian garb, taking shelter among their own civilian population; and they attack Israeli civilians wherever they are, intentionally and indiscriminately”.

In his article, Halbertal stated the Goldstone fact-finders were determined to file an indictment against Israel, but this does not preclude an internal probe into allegations against Israel.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)