In all of Israel’s many wars on Gaza, there has never been a true military contest. Israeli forces always delivered a huge overwhelming attack pummelling this small strip of Mediterranean coastline. With each successive war, Israeli actions have been even harsher and more destructive.
Yet what is harder for Israel is to win the narrative, to translate the short-term hard power victory into a soft power result. Flattened homes and moonscape scenes do not make for a comfortable public relations exercise.
In the last seven-week operation that kicked off in July 2014, 18,000 homes were rendered uninhabitable and 2,200 Palestinians killed, most of whom were civilians.
In scale, it was more severe than any other. The Israeli military used 3,000 exploding shells back in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead. In 2014, they used 19,000, a six-fold increase. The sheer destructive firepower was overwhelming and whole neighbourhoods such as Shujaiya were levelled.
The full and final narrative of the events of the summer 2014 war is not yet written. However, a very damning and damaging publication has served to undermine the well-honed Israeli official discourse on “Operation Protective Edge”.
The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence published this week a 237-page report with testimonies from nearly 70 soldiers who had participated in the Gaza war. A quarter of these are officers, including three majors. What unites them all was the belief something was wrong.
The testimonies are raw, compelling and distressing. They highlight the unclear and lenient rules of engagement including testimonies that soldiers were instructed to shoot at any threat if imminent or even if just suspected.
In the 2014 war, “most of our targets were random”, according to one testimony and echoed in others. Even a movement in a house, somebody passing a window hundreds of metres away could trigger a shelling.
The stories reveal a carefree attitude to targeting. “I personally asked my commander: ‘Where are we firing at?’ He told me: ‘Pick wherever you feel like it.’”
Another reflected: “The good and the bad get a bit mixed up, and your morals get a bit lost and you sort of lose it, and it also becomes a bit like a computer game, totally cool and real.”
Yet Israeli spokespeople were at the time insisting in international media that no army took more care not to hit civilians and civilian infrastructure. Now its own soldiers are telling a very different story.
Much was made by Israeli army spokespeople of how Israel gave warnings including by phone and airdropping leaflets as well as by “roof knocking”. This procedure is when they dropped a small missile onto the roof of a building to warn those inside to leave immediately. Yet testimonies undermine this, showing that the building would be bombed almost “immediately” some 30 seconds to a minute after, not giving people enough time to leave.
A new doctrine was in use that lays out a hierarchy of life, with Israeli civilians first, soldiers second, then Palestinian civilians and finally militants. If there was even a possibility of a threat to soldiers then action was authorised, whether or not civilians were or were not present. It is a zero risk strategy – for Israelis only, of course.
Yehuda Shaul, a co-founder of Breaking the Silence, told me that “the problem is not the soldiers. It is the rules, the doctrines. Who approved the rules of engagement?” For him “this was the assassination of international law and Israeli military doctrine”.
The evidence suggests that the Israeli armed forces have abandoned any attempt to make a distinction between military and civilian targets as they are compelled to do under international law.
Israeli officials and far right groups have attempted to smear and discredit the report, just as they tried with earlier ones.
They argue that the testimonies are anonymous, cannot be verified and that Breaking the Silence refused to engage with the Israeli authorities.
Mr Shaul is clear. “It is just a lie. We actually wrote a letter to the Chief of Staff on March 23. We asked for a meeting. We are still waiting to schedule a meeting.” Perhaps most bizarre of all was when a Likud member of the Knesset gave false testimony to Breaking the Silence under an assumed name hoping that if they published it, that he could then smash their credibility. His story did not check out as accurate and he was outed by the group in the Israeli media.
In Israel, Breaking the Silence aims to burst the social and cultural barriers to an honest debate about service in the Israeli armed forces. There is a silence to be broken.
Internationally there is another story. There is not silence about Israeli actions but actually a firestorm of noise and outrage among the global public, even in the United States.
The issue is not how to break the silence but how to cut through the noise.
Most importantly it is how to break the deafness – the deafness of the political elites who stubbornly refuse to hold Israel to account for its actions, who look the other way and, worse, continue to arm it for future atrocities.
Once again, despite credible testimonies about crimes in Gaza, Israel will not be held to account.
Its own investigations are neither transparent nor credible. B’tselem, the Israeli human rights group, are convinced on past experience there would be a “whitewash”.
The UN Human Rights Council inquiry has been delayed and although the report may be excellent, the institution’s record on human rights is poor. The messenger will be shot down. The UN Secretary-General’s report into attacks on and from UN installations also knocked gaping holes in the Israeli narrative but, as in 2009, there will be no action.
So while Israel holds Hamas to account for its criminal shelling of Israeli civilians by punishing all of Gaza, nobody is protecting Palestinian civilians.
The end result is that when Israel and Hamas square up once again, as they certainly will, the Israeli commanders will still be using these devastating illegal doctrines with zero fear of any consequences. As one soldier reflected: “If you shoot someone in Gaza, it’s cool, no big deal.”
Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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SECRET%20INVASION
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
SPIDER-MAN%3A%20ACROSS%20THE%20SPIDER-VERSE
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WEST ASIA RUGBY 2017/18 SEASON ROLL OF HONOUR
Western Clubs Champions League
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Jebel Ali Dragons
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Jebel Ali Dragons
Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Premiership Cup
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Dubai Exiles
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
UAE SQUAD
UAE team
1. Chris Jones-Griffiths 2. Gio Fourie 3. Craig Nutt 4. Daniel Perry 5. Isaac Porter 6. Matt Mills 7. Hamish Anderson 8. Jaen Botes 9. Barry Dwyer 10. Luke Stevenson (captain) 11. Sean Carey 12. Andrew Powell 13. Saki Naisau 14. Thinus Steyn 15. Matt Richards
Replacements
16. Lukas Waddington 17. Murray Reason 18. Ahmed Moosa 19. Stephen Ferguson 20. Sean Stevens 21. Ed Armitage 22. Kini Natuna 23. Majid Al Balooshi
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
3/5 stars
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dual%20electric%20motors%20with%20102kW%20battery%20pack%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E570hp%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20890Nm%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Up%20to%20428km%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C700%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
Sugary teas and iced coffees
The tax authority is yet to release a list of the taxed products, but it appears likely that sugary iced teas and cold coffees will be hit.
For instance, the non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Cold coffee brands are likely to be hit too. Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company%20Profile
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The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
BLACKBERRY
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Matt%20Johnson%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStars%3A%20Jay%20Baruchel%2C%20Glenn%20Howerton%2C%20Matt%20Johnson%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Brave CF 27 fight card
Welterweight:
Abdoul Abdouraguimov (champion, FRA) v Jarrah Al Selawe (JOR)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (TUN) v Alex Martinez (CAN)
Welterweight:
Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA) v Khamzat Chimaev (SWE)
Middleweight:
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Rustam Chsiev (RUS)
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) v Christofer Silva (BRA)
Super lightweight:
Alex Nacfur (BRA) v Dwight Brooks (USA)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) v Tariq Ismail (CAN)
Chris Corton (PHI) v Zia Mashwani (PAK)
Featherweight:
Sulaiman (KUW) v Abdullatip (RUS)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) v Mohammad Al Katib (JOR)
GULF MEN'S LEAGUE
Pool A Dubai Hurricanes, Bahrain, Dubai Exiles, Dubai Tigers 2
Pool B Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jebel Ali Dragons, Dubai Knights Eagles, Dubai Tigers
Opening fixtures
Thursday, December 5
6.40pm, Pitch 8, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Knights Eagles
7pm, Pitch 2, Jebel Ali Dragons v Dubai Tigers
7pm, Pitch 4, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Exiles
7pm, Pitch 5, Bahrain v Dubai Eagles 2
Recent winners
2018 Dubai Hurricanes
2017 Dubai Exiles
2016 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2015 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2014 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
