Personal Responsibility of Warriors

Soldier, officer, non-commissioned officer in the Israel Defense Forces,

Greetings,

Out of sincere concern for the future of the people of Israel and its members, and for its continued security following the army’s operations in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. The reality in which we currently operate, especially in the arenas of combat and civilian control, places the policy makers and the IDF at the forefront of the world’s eyes. But it is important to emphasize – responsibility for war crimes does not stop at the political level alone.

According to international law (First Protocol to the Geneva Convention, Article 86), Israeli Penal Law (Section 125), and rulings of the High Court of Justice over the years, criminal command responsibility is also imposed on commanders in the army, at all ranks, to prevent the commission of crimes and to refuse manifestly illegal orders. The Goldstone Report (2009) even sharpened this principle by pointing to the responsibility of senior command levels in the IDF for actions carried out by their forces.

Claims such as "we acted according to the instructions of the political echelon" will not stand as a defense before international law. History teaches this well from the Nuremberg trials, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, up to today’s Ukraine.

I urge you, as a person and as a commander, to remind your comrades in the chain of command: personal and command responsibility applies to each and every one of us, and every decision today will be tested by the law tomorrow. And it will be tested, and those who took part will be held accountable.

The harsh reality in Gaza, the depletion of forces and ammunition waste, and the lost legitimacy all provide backing to new arenas and place Israel in an immeasurable security danger. Cease immediately.

It is important to clarify: the existence of legal counsel, whether civilian or military, does not grant immunity – neither to the executor of the order, nor to the commander who approved it, nor to the legal advisor who authorized it. Personal responsibility for war crimes also applies to the legal echelon that facilitates the violations; we see them as full partners and responsible for the military failings.

Please pass these words forward, for the moral resilience of us as a healthy human society, and for all the House of Israel.

"Black flag" is not an abstract concept, it is an order that you are personally obligated to refuse, because it is clear to any reasonable person that it is manifestly illegal.

• According to international law – absolute prohibition to harm civilians not participating in hostilities (Geneva Convention, Protocol 1, Article 51): "The parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants, and shall direct attacks only against military objectives. Attacks the purpose of which is to strike the civilian population as a means of pressure are strictly prohibited."
• Israeli Penal Law, Section 125, obligates commanders to prevent offenses committed by their forces – and not accept them as fate.
• The High Court of Justice (Qawasmeh, Ganimat) explicitly ruled that commanders in the field are obligated to supervise and act to stop offenses — even if the orders came from political levels.

Collective punishment by restricting humanitarian passage, blocking water, food, fuel – alongside public declarations that this is a "bargaining chip." This is a direct violation of civil rights – not of combatants.

Moreover, uncontrolled bombings and killings with disastrous results of dozens and hundreds of civilian casualties including children, women, and infants.

Sincerely,

Nachaliel Shila

Voice of Truth and Peace, 17.05.2025

To the Chief Military Advocate,

I address you with a personal and clear appeal:

The responsibility for war crimes in Gaza is your personal responsibility. And you, Madam, bear direct and criminal responsibility in this matter.

According to the Geneva Convention (Protocol 1, Article 51), there is an absolute prohibition on harming civilians not participating in hostilities.

Any legal approval given to military actions harming the civilian population — bombing populated areas, starving the population — is direct cooperation in war crimes.

Your role is to prevent war crimes, not to facilitate them.

The legal advice you provide makes you a full partner in serious violations of international and Israeli law (Penal Law, Section 125).

When the time comes, you will not stand behind "government policy" nor hide under "security constraints."

The criminal responsibility is yours — personal.

History will remember, and the law will demand its reckoning.

The black flag is already raised over your actions.

Yugoslavia, Srebrenica, and the officers who thought legal advice would protect them — today they are in prison.

To my comrades in the IDF, the prosecution, and among commanders in the field — consider yourselves warned!

In the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, officers acted exactly like you. They too had legal advisors. They too operated in a democratic state. They too were told it was "under approval."

And it did not save them.

• Radislav Krstić,a general in the Serbian army in Bosnia, convicted of genocide in Srebrenica, sentenced to 35 years imprisonment.His defense?"Acting according to government policy and with commanders’ approval." — rejected.
• Stanislav Galić, commander of the siege of Sarajevo, convicted of war crimes.
  For indiscriminate shelling of civilians — life imprisonment. He too claimed he had legal advice. It did not help.
• Drago Nikolić, commander of a detention camp, convicted of torture and murder of civilians, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He too had "advice" and a "proper judicial system."

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled in landmark decisions:

"Responsibility for war crimes is personal and command responsibility."

One cannot hide behind 'I received orders' nor behind 'the legal advisor approved it.'

They were not politicians. They were commanders. Like you. Also in Israel the Geneva Convention obligates:

"Distinction between combatants and civilians (Article 51) is an absolute duty. Harm to innocent civilians is completely forbidden."

It does not matter how many legal advisors approve. The black flag is raised not only over the command and senior officers, but over every immoral action in the field.

Whoever orders shooting into a civilian neighborhood, whoever assists starving a population for the purpose of "pressure" — will not escape personal responsibility. Not today, not tomorrow, and not at the Hague Tribunal. Do not say you did not know. Do not say you did not see. Yugoslav officers thought exactly like you — today they are in prison.

Sincerely,

Nachaliel Shila

Voice of Truth and Peace, 17.05.2025