Thursday, January 16, 2025
Questioning The Morality of the “World’s Most Moral Army”
Preface by Prof. Margaret Drew: More on the universal suffering of women and children during war. While an Israeli/Hamas ceasefire takes effect on Sunday, much damage has been done to women and children through not just physical assaults but through the dismissiveness and mockery of their suffering. Several conventions are implicated including the Convention Against Torture, CERD and CEDAW.
By Yasmin Khan, Student in the Human Rights at Home Clinic at the University of Massachusetts
When speaking about his country’s military and its operations, Benjamin Netanyahu has continuously relied on one anecdote to refer to it: the most moral army in the world. But after witnessing an ongoing international conflict and genocide for over a year now, it is difficult to argue that morality exists among the soldiers of the Israeli Defense Force. Not only have thousands died as a result of the conflict (More than 43,000 people killed in Palestine and more than 3,000 people killed in Lebanon), but entire cities and homes have been destroyed and ransacked by members of the IDF.
Out of these atrocities, a loathsome trend among IDF soldiers has also developed; rifling through the belongings and clothing of women that used to live in the homes and photographing themselves either wearing the clothes or using them in suggestive ways. Videos on social media show soldiers displaying lingerie and inappropriately displaying it on themselves or others have been circulating since the conflict began. The content is being created and published by the soldiers themselves, showing they have no remorse over their actions in an attempt to continuously dehumanize Palestinians. It is unclear if military officials have investigated or if any of the soldiers have even been disciplined for their actions.
The ongoing conflict is not only one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, but it has also been continuously documented as it continues. The human rights violations committed by the IDF and the humiliation of the Palestinian people have shown morality does not exist within the Israeli military and government.
While I applaud the success of finally reaching an agreement between the parties involved in the conflict, I cannot help but feel nervous and unsure about the future. I am worried that a lot of attention will no longer be on the Palestinian people after this agreement which will allow Israel to continue committing the human rights abuses and ongoing genocide. My hope is that all terms of the ceasefire agreement are upheld and the attention to the crisis in Palestine is not forgotten afterwards.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2025/01/questioning-the-morality-of-the-worlds-most-moral-army.html