Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visits soldiers at an Iron Dome Missile Defense system battery, on July 25, 2014, on the 18th day of Operation Protective Edge. (Photo credit: Ariel Hermoni/MOD/Flash90)
by Roi Tov
Editorials rate as official news in Israel, especially if published by Haaretz, the unofficial voice of the Shin Beth secret police. On August 5, Haaretz editorial admitted that Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin had died after the IDF activated the Hannibal Procedure.
Beating the BBC
Internet is a cruel media. If one does not provide the first report on an issue, readers go elsewhere and the page falls into the Abysm of Oblivion, which people cannot even remember its location. I often publish news regarding Zion before international media. The reason is clear and often mentioned. I use Hebrew media as source. The most recent example was in Unilateral Israeli Withdrawal Announced, which was published minutes after the leak of the news by an anonymous government clerk and much before the BBC or CNN.
Damaged Quran book being saved from the ruins of a mosque in Gaza, August 2, 2014, by AFP
In other cases beating the BBC is not related to being fast. On August 4, I published Israel Target Killed Relative of its Minister of Defense, two days after Goldin had died violently. My assessment that it had been killed by order of the IDF was obvious to anybody remotely acquainted with the IDF, especially given the hysterical reactions of the family described in the article. However, publishing that was tricky. No Hebrew media outlet would have mentioned the issue.
It was so sensitive that I activated the Stay Connected Procedure. I waited in a Bolivian internet kiosk until I spotted a view beyond the Western Iron Curtain. After seeing views in the free world, I knew the page was relatively safe. Why would Zion censor a page that has already been seen by those who will make sure the information stays buzzing? Later on that day, Western websites linked to it.
This is not just a colorful section. In recent months, two pages were illegitimately deleted by strangers after the initial buzz ended. That is why Nuremberg Rally Fills Jerusalem and Justice from the Hip enjoy now a special spot on the left-menu.
Touching the Hannibal Procedure, though I did not mention it by name, was asking for troubles. This time it worked in my favor. Hiding the issue was impossible due to the specific circumstances. Instead, this time Haaretz followed me and acknowledged that in its editorial. Shortly afterwards, another article confirmed the issue.
Hannibal Procedure
The Hannibal Procedure (Nohal Haniba’al) is the best known IDF secret, at least among its soldiers. Even the official version recognized by the current Chief of Staff Gantz is sanitized.
Major General Yossi Peled
The procedure dates back to 1986, when the IDF faced hard events in Lebanon. Major General Yossi Peled headed the Northern Command back then. His surname means “steel,” and matches his reputation. His Operations Officer was Colonel Gabi Ashkenazi, who later became a controversial Chief of Staff after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. The two solved their most pressing problem in Lebanon with what still keeps its original codename, the Hannibal Procedure.
It can be summarized in a sentence: The fall of IDF soldiers captive must be avoided at all costs.
At first sight it looks sensible. If not pondering on the issue and translating it into specific orders, it may even sound civilized.
The translation of the order to the ground means bombing the entire area of the event, so that the soldier would not be taken out of it. Killing the captors is a must, even if it kills the captive soldier.
Despite the Military Censor successfully blocking its mention by the media, the procedure became semi-public in 2000, after Hezbollah captured three soldiers in Har Dov, on October 7. Since then, several Hannibal Procedure events become public domain.
Following several scandals, Lt. Gen. Gantz clarified in that shooting the IDF soldier held captive is not allowed. Obviously, he thinks that lying to the public is allowed.
Manifestly Illegal Order
Most Israelis consider the Hannibal Procedure a “Manifestly Illegal Order.”
In the 1956 Suez War, IDF’s Mishmar Hagvul** unit was responsible for the Kafr Qasim Massacre. In the war’s second day, a curfew had been imposed on Kafr Qasim. Villagers who had worked in the fields and were unaware of the curfew were shot upon their return; 49 of them died.
In the following trial, the Israeli Supreme Court rendered the attack illegal and ruled that there is an obligation of soldiers to disobey manifestly illegal orders. Firing upon unarmed farmers is such a case.
The decision was derived from the Nuremberg Principles. English speakers refer to the principle from a different angle. “Superior Orders” is a plea in a court of law that a person is not guilty of actions ordered by a superior officer or a public official. Most people agree that illegitimate and illegal orders are not to be obeyed. The same is true for illegitimate laws that violate basic principles of the legal system.
Shalit during a Maccabi Tel Aviv game
After the acknowledgement by Haaretz, Tzvi Bar’el published in the same newspaper an article entitled A Nightmare called Hannibal Procedure. He wrote “A distorted product, Satanic, that in simple language can be named ‘Death to the entire world and the captive, anything except out being ashamed.’”
An order to kill your own soldiers will be rejected as illegitimate by most people. After all, the soldier may be saved, as was the case with Gilad Shalit.
Killing Goldin
Goldin was announced dead in a very strange procedure, which demanded the creation of a special religious court. His body had been pulverized, identification demanded a DNA test. Given the circumstances, this is a sign that he had been killed by a missile, probably fired from a drone patrolling the area where he was studying a tunnel entrance.
Two points led to his immediate execution by his commanders. He was an officer in the commando unit of the Givati Brigade, and he was a relative of Minister of Defense Ya’alon (the complete details are in Israel Target Killed Relative of its Minister of Defense). Hamas had captured a big prize.
Lieutenant Hadar Goldin
Both Haaretz editorial and Bar’el describe the event as a Hannibal Procedure, skipping more detailed elaborations due to sensitivities of their readers.
The editorial claims that around 150 Palestinians were killed during the bombing of the area, in an attempt to block the removal of Goldin from the area. The IDF bombed houses. It bombed people escaping from the houses. It did so after Goldin was declared dead. The bombing of the UN school was part of this festival of death.
In an attempt to disguise the procedure as legitimate and even civilized, the IDF named it after one of the greatest commanders in history. His name, from a Semitic language, translates almost straightforwardly to Hebrew.
Phoenician Hannibal is Hebrew Baal-Hen, or Hino-shel-Baal, it means either “attractive” or “the attractiveness of Baal.” The latter was an ancient idol, the “owner” (ba’al) of souls.
Hiding crimes under the attractiveness of greatness, with false excuses of legitimacy is not new. Not even for the IDF that is committing war crimes under the political and financial support of its Western supporters.
President Obama please do not forget that keeping quiet makes you a collaborator. How will you explain your support in the future Nuremberg Trials assessing these crimes? Were you just following orders?
Source: Roi Tov
______________________________________
Roi Tov is a graduate—among others—of Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science. In addition to his memoir, Tov is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Molecular Physics and other scientific journals. He won various travel writing and photography awards.
In his writings, he tries to reveal life in Israel as a Christian Israel Defense Force (IDF) officer—from human rights violations to the use of an extensive network of underground agents. He was recognized first as a refugee and subsequently as political prisoner of Bolivia.
