Foreign Policy magazine said that the Israeli army - despite its reputation as a professional military institution that boasts of being “the most ethical military institution in the world” - has shown through the war it is waging in Gaza that it has serious problems related to command and control.

The magazine pointed out - in an article by the historian specializing in US foreign and internal security policy, Benjamin V. Allison - that the human costs of the occupation army's operations were staggering.

She explained that this war led to the killing of about 38,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, and the displacement of more than a million people within 9 months of its beginning. Observers pointed out that this army did not do enough to protect the innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict in war involve starvation, torture, mass executions, and the indiscriminate use of bombs, drones, and missiles.

The magazine considered that issues of command and control in Israel are primarily responsible for alleged war crimes, noting that Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict in war can be broadly grouped as follows: starvation, torture, mass executions, and indiscriminate use of bombs, drones, and missiles.

Permissive political-military environment

The magazine reviewed a few cases that it said clearly indicated problems of command and control, including the Israeli army blaming mid-level officers for the killing of 7 volunteers from the World Central Kitchen in an air strike.

She pointed out that the Israeli army admitted that the Global Central Kitchen had properly coordinated its movements with the army, which indicates that the command and control structures in the Israeli army are not as strong as they should be.

The magazine alerted that the Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevy, publicly urged his soldiers not to film themselves committing war crimes, after Israeli forces had engaged in this behavior for several months.

The soldiers themselves documented these violations on social media, suggesting that the IDF faces major problems in maintaining discipline, especially since such behavior continued despite Halevy's warnings.

The serious problem in the chain of command in the Israeli army is due to three reasons: the presence of a permissive political-military environment, the Israeli military doctrine itself, in addition to the fact that the Israeli army is an army of conscripts.

In addition, according to the magazine, the Israeli army has been reliably accused by detainees, informants, and human rights groups of torturing Palestinian prisoners throughout the war.

This torture was practiced covertly, as in Sde Teman and other Israeli prisons and detention facilities run by the Israeli army, and openly, as in the public use of stress situations and the humiliation of non-combatants by stripping them of their underwear and displaying them, which are clear violations of the law. International Humanitarian.

Indeed, the Israeli army announced the formation of a committee to investigate allegations of torture, noting that these torture facilities are not subject to sanctions by the highest levels of the Israeli army and government, despite decades of credible allegations of Israel’s use of torture against Palestinians.

The magazine concluded that members of the Israeli army were and are still engaged in activities that indicate the existence of a serious problem in the chain of command, and attributed this to three reasons: the presence of a permissive political-military environment, the Israeli military doctrine itself, in addition to the fact that the Israeli army is an army of Recruits.

Source: Foreign Policy