Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
A former Air Force pilot Israel, Jonathan Shapira, called the country’s government and armed forces a group terrorist carried out by war criminals.
He made the statement in an interview with a Turkish news agency, Anadolu Agency, which is quoted Middle East Monitor.
“I realized that during the Second Intifada it turned out that the Israeli Air Force and military committed war crimes, terrorizing millions of Palestinians. As soon as I realized, I decided not only to leave the unit but also persuade other pilots who also refused to commit the crime,” said Shapira.
Shapira, who holds the last rank of captain, decided to leave the Israeli Air Force in 2003. At that time, the Second Intifada resistance was raging.
“As a child in Israel, I grew up with a militaristic Zionist understanding and education. We never know about Palestine at all, we don’t know about the 1948 Tragedy (Nakba), we don’t know about the persecution that occurred,” continued Shapira.
After leaving the Israeli Air Force, Shapira increasingly persisted in inviting fellow pilots or officers to refuse orders from superiors who ordered to attack Palestinian residents.
Since 2003 until now there have been 27 Israeli Air Force pilots who have left following Shapira’s steps.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas erupted on May 10, a few days before Eid. The reason Hamas launched the rocket attack was to retaliate against the attitude of Israeli security forces who obstructed and attacked Palestinians who were praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
In addition, they also retaliated against the attitude of illegal Israeli settlers who wanted to evict Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah area, east of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israel said it retaliated against Hamas attacks and tried to protect its inhabitants from terrorist acts.
To date, 212 residents of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, have died as a result of Israeli attacks.
Of the total number of victims who died, 61 people were children and 36 people were women. Then the injured victims currently reach more than 1,400 people.
Meanwhile the Israeli casualties in the incident of attacking each other with Hamas reached ten people. Among them are a nurse from India, a five year old child and a soldier.
(ayp/ayp)
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