• Des soldats israéliens refusent de participer à de nouveaux abus contre les Palestiniens
    http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2014/09/12/des-soldats-israeliens-refusent-de-participer-a-de-nouveaux-abus-contre-les-

    C’est une lettre envoyée par 43 officiers et soldats israéliens de réserve à leur premier ministre et à leur chef d’état-major. Ayant servi dans l’unité 8200, la plus prestigieuse unité de renseignement militaire israélien, ils ont décidé de ne plus servir, refusant de participer aux « abus » commis selon eux contre les Palestiniens.

    Cette lettre, dont des extraits sont parus dans le quotidien à grand tirage Yediot Aharonot, est l’une des plus importantes expressions d’#objection de conscience depuis longtemps en Israël. Les 43 signataires, hommes et femmes, ont servi dans cette unité, qui est souvent comparée à l’Agence nationale de sécurité américaine (National Security Agency, NSA). Réservistes, ils peuvent y être rappelés à tout moment.

    Dans leur lettre, ils évoquent leur rôle capital dans les opérations d’éliminations ciblées pratiquées par l’armée. Une femme parle de l’erreur d’identification qu’elle a commise et qui a conduit selon elle à la mort d’un enfant. D’autres s’émeuvent d’avoir à écouter les conversations les plus intimes de Palestiniens. « Nous appelons tous les soldats qui servent actuellement dans cette unité ou qui vont y servir, tous les citoyens d’Israël à faire entendre leurs voix contre ces abus et agir pour y mettre un terme », dit leur lettre. Les 43 objecteurs de conscience encourent des peines de prison.

    #armée #crimes

    • 43 soldats israéliens contre les injustices faites aux Palestiniens
      http://www.romandie.com/news/43-soldats-israeliens-contre-les-injustices-faites-aux-Palestiniens/516987.rom

      Il y est question de mise sous surveillance de millions de Palestiniens sans distinction, jusque dans leur vie privée.

      Ces refuzniks (Israéliens refusant de servir) dénoncent la « persécution politique » à laquelle contribue leur activité d’espionnage.

      Des tribunaux militaires rendent leurs jugements sans que les Palestiniens aient accès aux preuves rassemblées contre eux et certains agissements montent les Palestiniens les uns contre les autres.

      L’armée ignore
      Les signataires s’en prennent plus largement à la règle militaire sous laquelle des millions de Palestiniens vivent depuis plus de 47 ans, ainsi qu’à la colonisation et à l’hypocrisie d’une politique invoquant les nécessités de sécurité pour se justifier.

      L’armée a nié la réalité de ces accusations et a affirmé dans un communiqué ne « pas avoir d’informations selon lesquelles des violations spécifiques mentionnées dans cette lettre ont eu lieu ».

      (ats / 12.09.2014 16h45)

    • Israeli intelligence veterans refuse to serve in Palestinian territories
      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/israeli-intelligence-reservists-refuse-serve-palestinian-territories

      The signatories include officers, former instructors and senior NCOs from the country’s equivalent of America’s NSA or Britain’s GCHQ, known as Unit 8200 – or in Hebrew as Yehida Shmoneh-Matayim.

      They allege that the “all-encompassing” intelligence the unit gathers on Palestinians – much of it concerning innocent people – is used for “political persecution” and to create divisions in Palestinian society.

      The largest intelligence unit in the Israeli military, Unit 8200 intercepts electronic communications including email, phone calls and social media in addition to targeting military and diplomatic traffic.

      The signatories say, however, that a large part of their work was unrelated to Israel’s security or defence, but appeared designed to perpetuate the occupation by “infiltrating” and “controlling” all aspects of Palestinian life.

      Written in uncompromising language the letter states: “We, veterans of Unit 8200, reserve soldiers both past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the Occupied Territories.”

      They add: “The Palestinian population under military rule is completely exposed to espionage and surveillance by Israeli intelligence. It is used for political persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting collaborators and driving parts of Palestinian society against itself. In many cases, intelligence prevents defendants from receiving a fair trial in military courts, as the evidence against them is not revealed.”

      “It’s important to say, the reason I decided to refuse – and I decided to refuse long before the recent [Gaza] operation. It was when I realised that what I was doing was the same job that the intelligence services of every undemocratic regime are doing.

    • Reservists from elite IDF intel unit refuse to serve over Palestinian ’persecution’
      Forty-three signatories, including a major and two captains, in a letter to the prime minister: ’Intelligence is an integral part of Israel’s military occupation over the territories.’
      By Gili Cohen | Sep. 12, 2014 | 2:50 PM
      http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.615498

      Forty-three former members of Israel Defense Forces intelligence Unit 8200, including some officers, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top military officials, saying they would refuse to do reserve service because of Israel’s `political persecution’ of the Palestinians.

      “We, veterans of Unit 8200, reserve soldiers both past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the Occupied Territories.” the soldiers said in the letter, which was also addressed to IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate.

      Among the signatories are a major and two captains in the reserves. Also signing were other intelligence personnel, who include officers and non-commissioned officers who served in the unit in professional capacities.

      “It is commonly thought that the service in military intelligence is free of moral dilemmas and solely contributes to the reduction of violence and harm to innocent people" they said in the letter. “However, our military service has taught us that intelligence is an integral part of Israel’s military occupation over the territories.”

      The signatories claimed, among other things, that while surveillance of Israeli citizens is strictly limited, “the Palestinians are not afforded this protection.”

      The 43 unit members who signed the letter, some of whom serve in the reserves, say that the information that is gathered and stored in the army’s systems “harms innocent people. It is used for political persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting collaborators and driving parts of Palestinian society against itself.”

      For this reason, the signatories say, their consciences do not allow them to continue serving that system and depriving millions of human beings of their rights.

      Daniel, a captain in the reserves who lives in Jerusalem and signed the letter, said that the process of getting signatures for the letter, which took about a year, started with a small group of people who knew each other from the unit.

      “There were fears of how people, and friends from the unit, might respond — if they knew that it was I and if they didn’t know,” Daniel says. But he adds that they felt a sense of responsibility and urgency, so they wrote the letter, Daniel told Haaretz on Thursday. According to the letter’s organizers, most of the people who signed it are reservists, but some of them have adopted a kind of “gray-market dodge” and were not summoned to perform reserve duty.

      “I don’t feel comfortable in my conscience continuing to serve, and instead of dealing with the dilemmas and the ramifications, I chose to take a more evasive route,” Daniel said, describing the “gray-market dodge” he has used for the past three years.

      “Now, later on, we feel that evasion is wrong, and that we have to take responsibility. In the end, I served there for seven years. I believed in what we did there — and for all those reasons, I must take responsibility for what I see as the perpetuation of the cycle of violence. We hope that people will think critically about these things.”

      An official of the IDF Spokesman’s Office said that “Unit 8200 has worked since the day it was established to gather intelligence that allows the army and security agencies to perform their tasks, and each day it helps protect the citizens of the State of Israel.

      "The unit uses varied methods and many fields while using methods and rules directed toward those who consume the information and for its own uses only. Those who serve in the unit are trained after a meticulous search process using training methods that have no parallel in the intelligence community in Israel or in the world. The content of their training places special emphasis upon the fields of ethics, morals and work procedures. These are put into practice during their service as soldiers and officers of the unit, and they are under the constant supervision of commanding officers of various ranks.

      “The concrete claims made in the report are unknown in the Intelligence Directorate. The fact that the alleged signatories of this letter contacted the media before bringing their complaints to their commanding officers or relevant agencies in the army is surprising and raises doubts regarding the sincerity of their claims.

      "Over the years, and particularly in recent years, the unit daily has received appreciation that often takes the form of citations, medals and national-security awards. As for the claims about harm done to innocent people, the process of gaining approval for targets in the army, which is long and meticulous, also takes the topic of uninvolved parties into account.”

      The spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority’s security services, Adnan Damiri, said the reservists made a moral move, and that the Palestinians salute humanitarian ideas of this sort, which come to the aid of an oppressed people, Israel Radio reported.

    • ‘Any Palestinian is exposed to monitoring by the Israeli Big Brother’
      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/israeli-intelligence-unit-testimonies

      Y compris du chantage contre les #homosexuels palestiniens et les personnes #malades qui ne peuvent obtenir le droit de se faire soigner en Israël qu’en acceptant de se transformer en #indics.

      Autant pour la #hasbara israélienne sur « nos #valeurs »...

      The period during which I collected information on people who were accused of attacking Israelis, trying to attack Israelis, the desire to harm Israelis, thinking of attacking Israelis, in addition to collecting information on completely innocent people, whose only crime was that they interested the Israeli defence establishment for various reasons. Reasons they have no way of knowing. If you’re homosexual and know someone who knows a wanted person – and we need to know about it – Israel will make your life miserable. If you need emergency medical treatment in Israel, the West Bank or abroad – we searched for you. The state of Israel will allow you to die before we let you leave for treatment without giving information on your wanted cousin.

      #pink_washing