'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'

[DuctapeFatwa]

The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.

One captain described the bombing as deliberate killing, murder even. Another called it state terrorism.."Someone took the decision to kill innocent people. This is us being terrorists. This is vengeance." ...Lieutenant-Colonel Avner Raanan is among the most respected pilots to have signed the letter. He served for 27 years and was awarded one of Israel's highest military decorations in 1994. "If you look at the past three years, you see that, if we had a suicide bombing, the Israeli air force made a big operation in which civilians were killed, and that looks to innocent eyes like revenge,"...

"You hear it in the streets of Israel; people want revenge. But we should not behave like that. We are not a mafia." .."Is it legitimate to take F-15's and helicopters designed to destroy enemy tanks, and use them against cars and houses in one of the most heavily populated places in the world?" Capt Alon R asked...We cannot see that on the other side, beside the terrorists, is a whole nation of innocent people...


"Our government's policy is to maintain fear in the public," Capt Assaf L said. "We're not weak. It's not 1967 or 1973, with the Syrian army on the border waiting to attack us. This is maintaining a war to maintain the occupation. .."Our fight to keep the settlements and suppress the Palestinian people is killing us. It is killing our right to live safely in the country of Israel. A very small group of radical Israelis is leading the sane majority to catastrophe.".."In our eyes, what we did is a very Zionist act. We did it to save Israel."...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1098456,00.html

[madrchsod]

1. maybe the israeli people and

the idf are finally seeing the darkness of the sharon government.maybe,just maybe the light of reason may shine over the people of the holy land.

[The Magistrate]

2. Capt. Assaf Makes An Excellent Point, My Friend

"Our government's policy is to maintain fear in the public," Capt Assaf L said. "We're not weak. It's not 1967 or 1973, with the Syrian army on the border waiting to attack us. This is maintaining a war to maintain the occupation. .."Our fight to keep the settlements and suppress the Palestinian people is killing us. It is killing our right to live safely in the country of Israel. A very small group of radical Israelis is leading the sane majority to catastrophe."

[madrchsod]

3. oh yes..

is sharon on his way out? it seems all the heavies in the bush klan are in geneva ,wolfie is there now....

[Classical_Liberal]

4. Brave fellows!

applause!

[bluesoul]

5. Even those within the IDF realise it!

Yet some elsewhere don't... So sad

[Classical_Liberal]

6. I don't assume they(the government) don't realize it anymore!

Hopefully the people are not waking up.

[dai]

7. "Our government's policy is to maintain fear in the public,"

How is this different from terrorism?

Good for this Captain, let's hope the electorate begins to think the same way.

[Jackie97]

8. Good.

This isn't the first case I've heard of somebody important from the IDF admitting that what Sharon's government is having them do is wrong. Maybe this type of thinking will eventually mount up into resistance against Sharon.

[Resistance]

9. wishful thinking, Jackie97

If 'this type of thinking' (opposition to State terrorism, basically) ever works it's way into the mainstream media, it will be harshly criticized and marginalized, to ensure that those who are paying for the aggression and ethnic cleansing won't ever question their masters' plans.

[Jackie97]

10. I think.....

That Israelis are a little bit in the dark about what an all the occupation does. People from the military might influence their opinions.

[Resistance]

11. I dunno

some are, some aren't. Some openly advocate it; others would fight for peace and justice if they knew of the realities more.

There is no doubt that a powerful propaganda system is in place to keep people from challenging certain fundamental assumptions and myths.