While media coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon mainly focuses on the slaughter of hundreds of Lebanese civilians anddestruction of entire villages, Israel Defense Forces commanders are tacitly condoning widespread looting by their troops in Lebanon, according to reporting Thursday.
Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, interviewed a number of IDF personnelwhodescribedroutine theft of items includingmotorcycles, televisions, paintings, sofas, and rugsfrom the homes and businesses of some of the more than 1 million Lebaneseforcibly displacedby Israel’s assault on its northern neighbor.
Israel hasseized control of more than 50 villages in southern Lebanonas part of its expanding so-called “Yellow Line,” with residents who cross itrisking their lives. Their absence offers IDF troops the opportunity to loot with no Lebanese resistance.
The looting of civilian homes and businesses is formally known as "pillage" and isstrictly prohibitedunder numerous Israeli and international laws and conventions. However, according to the IDF soldiers and officers interviewed by Haaretz,senior and junior commanders know about the pillaging but are not punishing offending soldiers.
“It’s on a crazy scale,”one soldier said. “Anyone who takes something – televisions, cigarettes, tools, whatever – immediately puts it in their vehicle or leaves it off to the side, not inside the army base, but it’s not hidden.Everyone sees it and understands.”
Soldiers interviewed said commanders’ responses range from turning a blind eye to prohibiting looting but not punishing offenders. “In our unit, they don’t even comment or get angry,” one soldier claimed. “The battalion and brigade commanders know everything.”
Another said that “battalion and brigade commanders do speak up and get angry, but without action, those are empty words.” Some IDF soldiers have even posted videos of their looting on social media – usually with no consequences.
Responding to theHaartezreport, the IDF claimed:
The military views any harm to civilian property andacts of looting with utmost severity and unequivocally prohibits them. Any allegation or suspicion of such acts is thoroughly examined and addressed with the full weight of the law. In cases where sufficient evidence is established, disciplinary and criminal measures are taken, including prosecution. The Military Police Corps conducts inspections at the northern border crossing as forces exit Lebanon.
However, some military police checkpoints along the border have been removed, and in some locations there have never been any checkpoints at all.
Source: ZeroHedge News
