Military Ethics in the Field: IDF Colonel Addresses Students
Liatte Tsarfati
Issue date: 5/5/09 Section: Israel
On Thursday night, April 23 at 8:30 PM, Yeshiva University Israel Club sponsored an event titled, "Ethics in the Field: An Inside Look at the Israeli Defense Forces." Colonel Ben "Bentzi" Gruber of the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, addressed about 50 students in Furst Hall on moral dilemmas that the Israeli military faces regularly. Colonel Gruber's goals for the presentation included focusing on how the Israeli military copes with problems in Gaza, Palestinian smuggling tunnels, the ethic code in war, and military operations in the Judea and Samaria area. The multimedia presentation was enhanced with ain informative slide show and live footage video clips.
The Colonel started off by explaining how the smuggling tunnels in Gaza work. A few large and wealthy families rent out the tunnels for about $800/hour, which Gruber called "a fortune in Gaza". The tunnels are used for smuggling women, cheap tobacco from Egypt, and weapons, including guns and ammunition. In order to give the audience a sense of the underground network, Gruber shared a video clip of a commander and his unit digging up a tunnel that they had discovered. The tunnels were large and roomy with stairwells and fully equipped electrical and communication devices constructed and developed by smugglers.
There was a great increase in smuggling since the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Gruber pointed out several facts about the increased weapons trade industry in Gaza: the quantities of guns, bullets, and explosives, such as TNT, smuggled into the Gaza strip jumped in alarming numbers. Just the number of guns smuggled in increased from about 6,000 per year before the pullout to over 20,000 after the disengagement. Gruber pointed out that while there was an Israeli presence in Gaza, the Palestinian residents of the attacked the Gush Katif and Sderot areas with primitive homemade TNT which had a short shelf-life (about 48 hours) and small target range with limited damage capability. Because of the increased smuggling of industrial TNT, Gaza residents are now able to attack areas as deep into Israel as Ashkelon and Tel Aviv using more sophisticated weapons. In the span between 2006 and 2007 alone, the number of rockets launched at Israel increased dramatically- from 1232 to 2910. "We're talking about 3,000 rockets per year", Gruber said.
The Colonel started off by explaining how the smuggling tunnels in Gaza work. A few large and wealthy families rent out the tunnels for about $800/hour, which Gruber called "a fortune in Gaza". The tunnels are used for smuggling women, cheap tobacco from Egypt, and weapons, including guns and ammunition. In order to give the audience a sense of the underground network, Gruber shared a video clip of a commander and his unit digging up a tunnel that they had discovered. The tunnels were large and roomy with stairwells and fully equipped electrical and communication devices constructed and developed by smugglers.
There was a great increase in smuggling since the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Gruber pointed out several facts about the increased weapons trade industry in Gaza: the quantities of guns, bullets, and explosives, such as TNT, smuggled into the Gaza strip jumped in alarming numbers. Just the number of guns smuggled in increased from about 6,000 per year before the pullout to over 20,000 after the disengagement. Gruber pointed out that while there was an Israeli presence in Gaza, the Palestinian residents of the attacked the Gush Katif and Sderot areas with primitive homemade TNT which had a short shelf-life (about 48 hours) and small target range with limited damage capability. Because of the increased smuggling of industrial TNT, Gaza residents are now able to attack areas as deep into Israel as Ashkelon and Tel Aviv using more sophisticated weapons. In the span between 2006 and 2007 alone, the number of rockets launched at Israel increased dramatically- from 1232 to 2910. "We're talking about 3,000 rockets per year", Gruber said.
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