Word: idf
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...commission found that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF)--which entered West Beirut to "maintain the peace" after the assasination of Christian President-elect Bashir Gemayel--erred dramatically on two counts. The force ordered the Christian Phalangists into the camps without taking into account their history of violent excesses and desire for vengeance. And once the slaughter was underway, the Israeli soldiers did nothing to stop it, despite repeated signs and indeed reports that a carnage was taking place...
Equally terrifying is the behavior of some IDF officers once the Phalangists had gone into the camps. Just hours after the attack began. Brig Gen. Amos Yaron, the Israeli division commander in Beirut, was informed by one of his men that something was amiss. He did nothing. Two hours later, a Phalangist commander briefed a group of Israelis, including Yaron, that 300 people had been killed. Yaron simply warned the commander to cease such actions and left it at that. The massacre continued for two more days before the IDF put a stop...
...Jews in Germany, the police and other authorities did nothing. Civilians watched the beginnings of terror, uncaring. All of these groups had the same attitude: why should we do anything or feel responsible, we are harming no one. Such a parallel in no way equates the inaction of the IDF with the inhuman genocide administered by the Nazis. But it does show that some Israeli officers were guilty of the same indifference that helped destroy an earlier society...
...Israel is to avoid trauma at home, it must also avert a debilitating guerrilla war abroad. Three months after the "Peace for Galilee" venture began, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is still in Lebanon. After the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel two weeks ago, the IDF marched into West Beirut to "maintain order." There was logic to this move. The Lebanese army was in no shape to prevent anarchy, and the multinational peacekeeping force had already left Lebanon. But by taking control of West Beirut, the IDF implicitly shouldered responsibility for the area and hence, to some degree...
...IDF is reportedly in the process of leaving West Beirut. Once that positive step is completed, the United States should spare no effort to get all foreign forces out of Lebanon in accordance with the Habib plan. By sending U.S. troops back to Lebanon where they will be bolstered by French and Italian contingents, President Reagan has already made this goal more attainable...