Link: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/isr ... ffd8c80000
Archive: http://archive.ph/3WATv
The article is worth reading in its entirety, but here are the major quotations.
- Yitzhak Broshi, an Israeli commander, ordered the deaths of all inhabitants of one village: "Every Arab among the Zabahim is to be killed". In other villages, he ordered that captured Arabs could be shot if they didn't show up on time for inspection, or if they swapped identification papers, or if they came from another town ("outside Arab"). He also ordered killings as a form of collective punishment ("every 10th man"). For another area: "Kill anyone who is hiding."
- Another document reads: "Arabs in a small number are wandering about in the villages [...] The area is to be cleansed of Arabs [...] The method [...] every Arab who will be met with is to be annihilated."
- Moshe Carmel, a commander: "Do all you can to effect a rapid and immediate cleansing of the conquered territories of all hostile elements. In accordance with the orders that were issued, the inhabitants have to be helped to leave."
- Mordechai Maklef, who later became Chief of Staff of the IDF: "There were operations in which the potential enemy, namely civilians, was annihilated. In Safsaf, Jish, Ilaboun, Lod, Ramle and in the south, on a large scale. The intention was to expel. It is impossible to expel 114,000 people who lived [in the Galilee] without terror. There had to have been an element of initial terror for them to leave."
- Maxim Cohen, a commander: "How do you expel a village? You lop off the ear of one of the Arabs before everyone else's eyes, and they all flee. In practice, no village was evacuated without stabbing someone in the stomach or by means of similar methods. We won thanks only to the fear of the Arabs, and they were fearful only of deeds that were not in accordance with the law."
- Haim Ben-David, who later became Military Secretary: "In our operative orders we were careful not to mention killing. The orders relating to conduct were orally conveyed to the battalion commanders". He also admitted they killed innocents.
- Yosef Eitan: "our soldiers annihilated inhabitants".
- Yisrael Carmi: "I conquered the city. In mopping up that area, I gave an order to annihilate anyone who appeared in the street, whether they resisted or did not resist. An order was given to destroy everything. After the conquest of the police station – after the surrender – the murder stopped. Until then everyone was killed – women and children and everyone. Then an order was given to the people to go to Hebron. Anyone who didn't go was 'removed'".
The circumstances of the Lahis trial seem totally deranged even if read with full charitablity. I guess the defense case was basically that expulsion and murder were permissible because it was Israeli policy. Even if someone were to grant this argument legitimacy, how would it stand on a hypocrisy test? Hadn't numerous Israelis just finished helping punish Germans for what they alleged was the following of German policy? Did or would any of the Israelis who helped defend Lahis also decry what international courts did to the Germans? Of course not. In short, just following orders is only an acceptable defense when Jews do it.
Numerous of the above quotes concern intentional killing of innocents, whereas in contemporary Holocaust materials that kind of talk seems really uncommon. For example I can't recall ever reading an order to kill Jews for coming from outside town or for having incorrect identification papers. Perhaps some of these quotes have equivalents in the Einsatzgruppen killings, if someone wants to risk making that comparison.
The story of the provenance of these documents is bad. Supposedly a random Israeli happened upon these documents in boxes next to a dumpster near her home. She then handed them over to the Akevot Institute, which leans anti-genocide. Some skepticism is warranted here for the same reasons that one should be skeptical of Holocaust stories found buried underground. But the stakes and incentives are very different. Anyway, Haaretz did some work corroborating these documents with materials from other sources.
The documents in this article are also addressed, presumably at greater length, in a book called Case 19/48:
https://www.akevot.org.il/en/news-item/case-19-48/
