Amnesty International says the world should stop supplying weapons to Israel to protest Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. In a 74-page report entitled “Trigger-Happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank,” Amnesty details case studies of Palestinians civilians killed by the Israeli army since 2011. Most of those killed were under the age of 25 and four were children. According to Amnesty, at least 14 of the deaths occurred during protests against Israel, when the soldiers lives were presumably not in danger. The organization goes even further saying that in some of the cases, “there is evidence that they were victims of willful killings, which would amount to war crimes.”
The Israeli army responded harshly to the report saying that Amnesty “wholly ignores the substantial increase in Palestinian violence initiated over the past year, and shows a complete lack of understanding as to operational challenges the IDF (Israeli army) is posed with.
The army says there was a sharp increase in rock throwing incidents in 2013, for a total of more than 5000 incidents, which jeopardize both military and civilian lives. The statement said the army uses non-lethal means such as sirens, water cannons, sound grenades and tear gas first, and only when these means have been exhausted, will soldiers fire rubber bullets and live ammunition.