Haaretz Report: IDF Militants Are Looting Homes In South Lebanon.
The Israeli Paper Reported That IDF Militants Are Looting The Homes Of Forcibly Displaces South Lebanese Civilians.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that the Israeli IDF has been mass looting property in South Lebanon belonging to forcibly displaced civilians.
The report documented that, “Israeli soldiers have been looting significant amounts of civilian property from homes and businesses in southern Lebanon, according to testimonies given to Haaretz by IDF soldiers and commanders stationed inside the country.”
It added that, “The accounts describe the theft of motorcycles, televisions, paintings, sofas and rugs on a wide scale, which has become routine. Both senior and junior commanders on the ground are said to be aware of the phenomenon, but are not taking disciplinary action to curb it.”
The paper reported that one IDF militant “claimed to have witnessed the theft of gold bars,” adding that, “ as IDF soldiers leave Lebanon, they load stolen items onto their vehicles openly, without attempting to conceal them”.
One IDF militant told the paper, “Anyone who takes something – televisions, cigarettes, tools, whatever – immediately puts it in their vehicle or leaves it off to the side, not inside the army base, but it’s not hidden. Everyone sees it and understands.”
The report added that IDF commanders either tacitly or explicitly endorse the looting, writing, “The soldiers said some commanders turn a blind eye, while others condemn the behaviour but refrain from punishing those involved.”
“The soldiers added that the looting has also been fueled by the extensive destruction of infrastructure and property during operations. ‘Soldiers tell themselves, ‘What difference does it make if I take it? It’s going to be destroyed anyway,” the report added.
The mass looting of Lebanese civilians’ property is just one of the many ways the Israeli war on South Lebanon mirrors the genocide in Gaza.
Ethnic Cleansing Campaign For Greater Israel.
Likud-connected media and Israeli politicians have made clear that the end goal behind the Israeli war on South Lebanon is to displace its population and take the South up to the Litani river as Israeli territory.
The Lukid connected journalist, Amit Segal, writing in Israel Hayom hoped that the Israeli ethnic cleansing campaign would lead the Trump administration to recognize South Lebanon as Israeli territory, writing, “Trump, a man with no sentimentality for old borders, already shook the Middle East when he agreed in principle to recognize Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria in the framework of the Peace to Prosperity plan, and when he supported mass emigration from Gaza. The mass migration from southern Lebanon has already happened. The only question is whether he will give Israel merely de facto approval of its new northern border or de jure approval as well.”
This was echoed by Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who said, “the new Israeli border must be the Litani” and Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, who said , “Israeli forces would control ‘the entire area’ from the border to the Litani River after the offensive had concluded”.
Slaughtering Civilians To Continue Ethnic Cleansing.
The Israeli paper the Jerusalem Post recently admitted that the IDF was given an order “directed at deterring Lebanese civilians who may have remained in or penetrated into southern Lebanon from nearby areas where the IDF is establishing new positions” which included “general orders to open fire within southern Lebanon even if an approaching unidentified person is not armed, based on the idea that there are no civilians left in southern Lebanon”.
Shooting The Messenger.
The Israeli war on South Lebanon also includes slaughtering journalists reporting on the Israeli destruction.
Israel attempted to murder British journalist Steve Sweeney- in a targeted strike that was caught on video while he was reporting on Israel’s destruction of bridges across the Litani river to prevent displaced civilians from returning home.
Most recently, Israel killed journalist Amal Khalil, one of the premier Lebanese reporters documenting the destruction in South Lebanon.
Israel targeted a “civilian vehicle travelling ahead of Khalil,” followed by a second strike on “the journalists’ car directly,” and a third strike on “a nearby house” where Khalil was sheltering.
When rescue workers reached Khalil, “Israeli forces fired on them and threw a stun grenade at a Red Cross vehicle, preventing rescue teams from reaching the site.”
From looting property, to carrying out ethnic cleansing for greater Israel, to slaughtering civilians to killing journalists, it is becoming more and more clear that Israel is repeating the Gaza model in South Lebanon.
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