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Ha'aretz Article on IDF in Gaza Is Shameless Manipulation Masquerading as Fair Reporting

(Substack) Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox - A Dec. 18 report in Ha'aretz about the conduct of the IDF in the Netzarim corridor in Gaza claimed to "Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness" by Israeli soldiers. In late November 2024, I went to the Netzarim Corridor with the IDF. I saw nothing in the behavior, conversation or ethos in the many soldiers I spoke to there that resembled the accounts described in Ha'aretz. The soldiers I spoke to were all reservists from the unit that was the focus of Ha'aretz's hit piece. The IDF's ethos and rules of engagement are always referenced early and often in every conversation with IDF front-line officers. It is very important to them to carry out their operations legally. As a former soldier, I know that war is bloody and brutal. The blood and brutality are constrained by the law of armed conflict, but ultimately a soldier's job is to carry out the mission within those parameters. And the mission for the IDF, after Oct. 7, is to conduct a war of national self-defense so that Oct. 7 can never happen again. The ethos I have observed is the ethos I would expect. We were amused that the soldiers were not expecting us: I have seen British Army stage-managed media visits, and this was not like that. The troops we interviewed were eloquent, compassionate and thoughtful. Not a word of hatred was expressed for anyone but Hamas. Nothing I had seen or heard in the Netzarim Corridor tallied with what I read in Ha'aretz. The phrasing and unbalanced portrayal of the IDF in Gaza make the article shameless manipulation masquerading as fair reporting, in pursuit of Ha'aretz's well-established political position. The writer, who served in the British Army from 2005-21, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
2025-01-12 00:00:00
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