IDF Use of Palestinians as Human Shields

IDF soldiers with Palestinian captive. Source: Haaretz. Photo: David Bachar

By Thomas Neuburger

“There are four “Slaves” in a platoon, twelve in a battalion, and 36 in a brigade.” —Report in Haaretz on the IDF use of human shields

In my early life I lived in the city of Chicago. I have many stories of that unusual town, some personal, some about what went on around me. Like any large “world city” it has its own character, its mark. Chicago’s mark is corruption, glorious, public and bold.

Two stories, one that’s passed on as legendary stuff, and one I saw reported the year I moved out. The first: In 1970, a longtime Democrat and Illinois Secretary of State, Paul Powell, suddenly died. Powell, unmarried, lived at a hotel in Springfield, the Illinois capital. When a friend went to sort out his belongings, he found $750,000 stuffed into a variety of containers, including shoeboxes, a Marshall Fields gift box and numerous attaché cases. The phase “under the bed” was used a lot.

That wasn’t the extent of his corruption; his whole estate was worth millions when millions was money, much of it in improperly manipulated racetrack stock. The $750,000 was just the cash part.

Adlai Stevenson III, then-state treasurer and son of the man who ran (twice) against Dwight Eisenhower, quipped about Powell on hearing news of his death: His shoeboxes will be hard to fill. (Not true. Illinois is inventive.)

The second involves a report of a Federal investigation into ticket-fixing judges. I had just left the city, but the newspaper reports, with headlines like “Chicago cleans up its act”, were national. Weeks went by. The papers were hitting it hard.

Then, when the results were released, it was true beyond doubt: The town was clearly corrupt; two judges had been found and were brought up on charges.

And that’s when I knew the investigation was also corrupt. Two judges? On any day in my seven years living there, I could ask any lawyer to find me a crooked judge to fix any violation short of vehicular manslaughter. I could do it each day for a year and not repeat judges.

The saps who took the indictments? Retirement must have been near and the payback substantial. Chicago knows how to say “Thank you.” Just ask Paul Powell, should you run into him.

A Deadlier Example

Which brings us to the point of this piece. Seems the Israeli Military Police went looking for evidence that Israeli soldiers were using Palestinians as human shields to “clear” houses and areas deemed otherwise dangerous. If they thought a place might be rigged, they sent in a Palestinian to find out first.

Did this really occur? The MP’s investigated and, shock! The stories were true. Guess how many instances they found? All of six. Is the inquiry a PR stunt, on a much more deadly par with the Illinois judges? Short answer: Yes.

Thanks to DropSite News, we have this translation of a Haaretz op-ed by “Anonymous,” an IDF soldier. Read and weep.

I saw that six investigations were opened by the Military Police (MP) regarding the use of Palestinians as human shields, and I almost choked. I’ve seen cover-ups in my life, but this is a new low. In Gaza, human shields are used at least six times a day. If the MP wants to do its job seriously, they should open at least 2,190 investigations. But the MP just wants to pretend to the world that we’re investigating ourselves, so they find a few scapegoats and pin everything on them. I was in Gaza for nine months. I saw many new procedures. One of the worst was the “Mosquito Procedure”: innocent Palestinians were forced to enter homes in Gaza and “clear” them, meaning checking for militants or explosives. We gave it various names, “Mosquito Procedure,” “Shawish” (slaves), “Platforms.” I first encountered this in December 2023, two months into the ground maneuver. This was long before the shortage of “Sting” dogs became the insane and unofficial excuse for this insane and unofficial procedure. I didn’t understand back then how common it would become. Today, almost every company holds “Shawish,” [“slaves”] and infantry forces don’t enter a house before the “Shawish” clears it. This means there are 4 “Shawish” in a platoon, 12 in a battalion, and 36 in a brigade. At least. We’re holding a layer of slaves, and the MP is trying to cover it up with six investigations.

This is as much of the article as DropSite printed, but the original is here, and Google Translate seems to work well on it. Later in the report we learn:

An officer friend told me about an incident that happened to them: in one of the houses that the "Shawish" had cleared, they encountered a terrorist. The "Shawish" was an adult (innocent), and when he realized he had messed up — he peeed in his pants out of fear. I don't know what happened to him. I was afraid to ask.

There’s no question that depravity runs deep in the IDF, as corruption does in Chicago. Not with every Israeli — that would be unfair and unlikely — but with a critical mass, for this to go on. Will Israel escape judgment? I doubt it. But judgment could take a while.