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The IDF's Battle to Comply with International Law

[Jerusalem Post] Amir Mizroch - Judge Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit represents the core of Israel's defense against the legal onslaught by unfriendly countries and organizations across the world. The NGO approach is to take the sum total of Israeli operations during the Gaza operation and paint the IDF as an immoral army that uses vastly disproportionate force. The view in Israel is that this approach produces a deeply distorted picture whose aim is to create deterrence against future use of force by the IDF. Away from the battlefields, there are hundreds of pending actions against Israel cropping up in courts across the world, driven by a lot of money and support from countries and people not friendly to Israel. Israeli authorities have now realized the scope of the problem and are starting to invest in the tools to fight on this legal front. And, just as important, every complaint and accusation leveled at the IDF is thoroughly investigated. There is no need to be afraid of the truth, the army argues. Indeed, there is a strong belief within the military that every operation and attack during the Gaza operation was limited to what is allowed. Millions of fliers were dropped, thousands of phone calls were made warning people to flee, and dozens of attacks were stopped because there was a chance civilians would be harmed. Legal officers are present when target banks are drawn up and when questions are asked about whether the target is purely military or dual purpose.
2009-07-31 06:00:00
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