Former Israeli tank commander Ori Givati, who served on active duty from 2010-2013, reveals the strategy the country’s military employs to intentionally and continually harass and humiliate Palestinians in the occupied territories.
“The first command I received as a soldier in the West Bank was (that) our mission is to make all of the Palestinians feel like they cannot lift their heads up,” Givati told NPR correspondent Leila Fadel in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
“We make sure Palestinians can’t pass a day without understanding who is controlling them,” he said.
Givati described “mock arrest” as a common tactic used by the Israeli army as a way to humiliate and terrorize Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank.
“A group of soldiers invade a Palestinian home in the middle of the night. They arrest the father, usually. And then bring him back, because we are really just training for a future mission.
“Imagine the impact to the kids, to the wife, to the family,” he adds.
Givati’s revelations come amid a marked increase in violence by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
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