Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 03.09.025
Eichmann’s defense when he was put on trial for his responsibility for the mass murder of the Nazi regime was that he was merely a clerk who carried out orders. This will undoubtedly be the defense of the Zionist Chief of Staff, Zamir. He will say something along the following lines:
True, I issued an order to recruit 60,000 reservists in Order 8 to occupy Gaza, even though I knew that it would eliminate a large number of Palestinian civilians
I don’t believe in the war to which I sent the reservists. The entire security leadership did not believe in it. I sent them to risk their lives to endanger the lives of the hostages and not to defeat Hamas. I knew that the government intended to establish a military government and to transfer a million Gazans. I estimated that about 100 soldiers would die in the coming year in unnecessary and destructive fighting.
I told the Cabinet explicitly that about 100 soldiers, plus or minus, would die, and that it was at their own risk, and that they would understand the significance of their decisions. And they confirmed that it was okay, they decided, and they understood. Ultimately, I am just a clerk. I don’t set policy. I carry out orders. Even when these orders are illogical, unreasonable, lead to the commission of war crimes and genocide, and end in the unnecessary death of the hostages, as well.
As is well known, in the past, it was accepted that it was impossible to force a chief of staff to go to war in which he did not believe. This norm has been abolished; therefore, I say that I could not have acted differently, even if I did not like it.
There was a night here in the Kiryat when we were already completely drunk, and the guys here at the General Staff threw out such an idea, half-jokingly, that we should propose to hold a lottery in which the names of the 100 people who would die in battle would be drawn. Someone suggested calling it the “Hero Lottery”. This way, you can give advance notice, reduce the tension, and also say goodbye properly.
The person in charge of ethics examines whether such a lottery is actually an admission of guilt that we murdered them. I asked her what the difference was between that and the estimate that 100 would die, except for randomness, and she said, “Oh, randomness is the whole point! Either way, we will all have a good and successful war. And on this occasion, also a sweet year.”