How "The Most Moral Army In the World" Urinates On the Floor of University Professors

It shouldn't surprise me to learn how the Israel Defence Force bombs children deliberately (see under "double effect" or "collateral damage"), or how Israeli soldiers wreck buildings and cars for the sheer kef (fun), or how soldiers routinely steal from the homes they occupy. In a military operation like Cast Iron, or Defensive Wall, this is the norm, not the exception -- this is what soldiers do. Further proof is given by the IDF denials. As I have pointed out here before, the IDF spokespeople often lie, and their lies have been documented by various organizations.

One such organization is "Breaking the Silence" (Shovrim Shtika), which does a wonderful job collecting soldier's testimonies, e.g., about the combat unit that trashed a Palestinian doctor's office, leaving a pile of human excrement in the middle of the office. Now is this official IDF policy? Of course not, it doesn't have to be. It is an extension of real policies known as "hafganat koah" (displaying power) or "hafganat nokhekut" (displaying presence) -- showing the Arabs who is boss.

When soldiers steal -- oops, sorry, take souvenirs -- when they are caught, and when somebody in the press makes a stink, or when a slightly humane commander reports them, they are punished. That happens in the few cases, and they are trumpeted as evidence of the way the IDF prosecutes offenders.

All this is common knowledge and, as I said, denied only by the apologists or the naive.

So when I read something like the following in today's New York Times

Others here who might seem like natural liaisons with Israel in future peace-building dealings were also enraged. Fakhr Abu Awwad, a chemistry professor at Islamic University, who earned a doctorate at the University of New Orleans, had his house taken over by Israeli commandos days ago after he and his family fled.

When he returned to the house on Monday, he found bullet holes in the walls, televisions, closets and clothing. His toilets had been shot up; his cigars, watch and wife’s jewelry pilfered; and his floor urinated on, he said.

“This is the most moral army in the world,” he said in fluent English, a sarcastic reference to how Israelis speak of their military, as he walked around the house pointing out the damage. Mr. Abu Awwad said he was affiliated with neither Hamas nor Fatah.

I said to myself, "Well, maybe this is improvement. Now IDF soldiers urinate on a doctor's floor, instead of defecating on it. "

Maybe they were aiming their urine at the toilet and inadvertantly it ended up on the floor -- collateral damage. After all, it is hard to believe that the most moral army in the world would intentionally shoot up a house, steal from it, and then piss on it.

Ah, what better way to ensure that no rockets will be fired at Israeli settlements?