Were Israeli Soldiers Trained in the Laws of War?
Israel’s State Comptroller recorded in March 2018 that IDF international-law training was conducted, and what the training instructions did not cover.
The 129-page special report the State Comptroller of Israel published in March 2018 records that international-law training was conducted in the IDF, and that the training instructions of the IDF’s Doctrine and Training Division did not provide that soldier and commander training would include the humanitarian rules of international law applying to activity among an uninvolved civilian population. The Israel Defense Forces separately publishes an ethical code binding soldiers not to follow illegal orders. No Israeli body publishes a count of how many soldiers have received that training.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 129 pages | Special report on IDF activity in aspects of international law and on the examination and control mechanisms | State Comptroller of Israel | Published March 2018 |
| 2 audit windows | Periods examined in that report, with completion checks to January 2017 | State Comptroller of Israel | November 2012 to December 2013, and May 2015 to January 2016 |
| 100 sessions | Hearings in the military court trial of the eleven Kafr Qasim defendants | Israeli military court record, published by the Akevot Institute | March 1957 to January 1958 |
| 8 of 11 defendants | Convicted at that trial, with 3 acquitted | Israeli military court record, published by the Akevot Institute | Judgment October 1958 |
| 74 criminal investigations | Investigations opened into alleged misconduct in Gaza, the Corps’ own count of its own processes | IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps | As at 3 August 2024 |
| 2,125 | Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge, on the Ministry’s published figures | Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relayed in the 2018 audit | 2014 |
The 2018 State Comptroller audit records international-law training, and one gap
The State Comptroller of Israel, the state audit institution that reports to the Knesset, examined whether the political echelon and the IDF discharged their responsibilities under international humanitarian law during Operation Protective Edge. The audit records that international-law training was conducted, and that the training instructions of the Doctrine and Training Division did not provide for the humanitarian rules applying to activity among an uninvolved civilian population. It audited COGAT, the IDF and the National Security Staff, with completion checks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Public Diplomacy Headquarters.
| Audit component | Period examined |
|---|---|
| Preparedness for reducing harm to uninvolved persons | November 2012 to December 2013 |
| The political echelon in cabinet discussions, implementation of the second Turkel report, the Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, and certain IDF standing orders | May 2015 to January 2016 |
| Completion checks | To January 2017 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, special report, March 2018.
The Spirit of the IDF binds soldiers to refuse illegal orders
The Israel Defense Forces publishes its ethical code, which states that the code, “together with the practical rules derived from it, constitutes the ethical code.” This is the force’s own published doctrine, a statement of what it requires of its soldiers rather than a count of anything. Its Discipline value is the clause that speaks to orders directly. The full set of six stated values sits in the same published code.
- Discipline: the soldier “will ensure they are only giving out legal orders, and do not follow illegal orders.”
- Purity of Arms: a soldier “will not use their weapon or power to harm uninvolved civilians and prisoners,” and will do everything in their power to prevent harm to their lives, bodies, dignity and property.
- Human Life: the soldier “will recognize the critical importance of human life,” and in combat will accept risk only to the extent required to fulfil the mission.
- Professionalism, Camaraderie and a Sense of Mission are the three remaining stated values.
The manifestly illegal order test comes from the 1958 Kafr Qasim judgment
The trial of the eleven Kafr Qasim defendants ran across 100 sessions between March 1957 and January 1958, and eight of the eleven were convicted in October 1958, with three acquitted. The presiding judge’s ruling is the origin of the manifestly illegal order test in Israeli law, in his words that above such an order “should fly, like a black flag, a warning saying: ‘Prohibited!’” The Akevot Institute publishes the digitised record of the proceedings, including the trial transcripts and the dated chronology below.
| Stage | Date | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Judgment and sentencing | October 1958 | 17 years for the battalion commander convicted of the murder of 43 civilians, 15 years each for two others, 7 years each for five others |
| Appeal | 3 April 1959 | The longest sentence reduced to 14 years, two from 15 to 10, five from 7 to 3 |
| Commutation by the Chief of Staff | 8 May 1959 | The three longest commuted to 10, 8 and 7 years |
| Commutation by the President | 12 November 1959 | The last two commuted to 7 and 5 years |
| Release | 4 March 1960 | All convicted prisoners free |
Source: Israeli military court record, published by the Akevot Institute.
The 2018 audit found civilian-casualty effects absent from IDF exercises
The State Comptroller of Israel records that the IDF had not incorporated into its exercises the effects of a large number of civilian casualties during an attack, measured against its ability to achieve the operation’s military and political objectives. The same report carries casualty figures it did not produce itself: the 2,125 is the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own published figure, and the wounded and housing figures are attributed by the Comptroller to Palestinian bodies and international organisations. The report also records that an audit of the civilian component in combat, drafted and circulated in February 2014 and updated that May, was not published because the operation intervened.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it |
|---|---|---|
| 2,125 | Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip during the operation | Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| About 11,000 | Palestinians wounded | Palestinian bodies and international organisations |
| About 10,300 | Houses destroyed outright | Palestinian bodies and international organisations |
| About 5,800 | Houses damaged beyond habitation | Palestinian bodies and international organisations |
Period: 2014, as relayed in the State Comptroller’s March 2018 special report.
No Israeli body publishes a count of soldiers trained in these rules
Neither the State Comptroller’s March 2018 audit, nor the published IDF ethical code, nor the Military Advocate General’s Corps publication of 2024 carries a number of personnel trained in the laws of armed conflict or of instruction hours delivered. What the Corps publishes are counts of its own processes: 74 criminal investigations opened into alleged misconduct in Gaza as at 3 August 2024, its own count, produced under a reasonable-suspicion standard that the Corps states is not met, in most cases, by civilian death or injury alone. Those 74 are investigations opened, not findings, indictments or convictions.
Which figures on this page may not be added together?
The 74 is the Military Advocate General’s Corps’ own count of investigations opened by it, under its own stated threshold, and it is not a count of findings, indictments or convictions. The 2,125 belongs to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the wounded and housing figures to Palestinian bodies and international organisations, so they come from different bodies with different universes and are not one series. The wounded and housing figures carry the source’s own “about” and stay approximate. The IDF ethical code states a requirement and produces no figure of any kind.
Questions readers ask
Which Israeli body examined IDF training in the laws of war?
The State Comptroller of Israel examined it in a special report published in March 2018 on IDF activity in aspects of international law.
What did that audit record about training?
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded that international-law training was conducted, and that the Doctrine and Training Division’s training instructions did not provide for the humanitarian rules applying among an uninvolved civilian population.
What did the audit record about exercises?
The State Comptroller of Israel found that the IDF had not incorporated into its exercises the effects of a large number of civilian casualties during an attack.
Does the IDF publish a written ethical code?
The Israel Defense Forces publishes “The Spirit of the IDF,” which states that it, together with the practical rules derived from it, constitutes the ethical code.
What does that code say about illegal orders?
The Israel Defense Forces states, under its Discipline value, that a soldier “will ensure they are only giving out legal orders, and do not follow illegal orders.”
Where does the manifestly illegal order test come from?
The Akevot Institute publishes the record of the Kafr Qasim trial, whose presiding judge wrote the black flag formulation that is the origin of the test in Israeli law.
How many people were convicted at that trial?
The Israeli military court convicted 8 of the 11 defendants and acquitted 3, in a judgment handed down in October 1958.
Were those sentences served in full?
The military court record published by the Akevot Institute records that every sentence was reduced on appeal on 3 April 1959, that the longest were further commuted, and that all convicted prisoners were free by 4 March 1960.
How many criminal investigations has the IDF opened over Gaza?
The Military Advocate General’s Corps opened 74 criminal investigations as at 3 August 2024, on its own count of its own processes.
What threshold produced that count?
The Military Advocate General’s Corps states that death or injury to a civilian in armed conflict in most cases does not by itself indicate a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.
Does any Israeli body publish how many soldiers were trained?
The State Comptroller of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces and the Military Advocate General’s Corps publish no figure for personnel trained or instruction hours delivered in the publications listed below.
Sources
- Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, with Adam Raz, ongoing. Kafr Qasim Massacre: Document Library. kafr-qasim-massacre.akevot.org.il. Research and archive institute publishing the Israeli military court record.
- Israel Defense Forces. The Spirit of the IDF: the ethical code and its values. idf.il. Official or primary record, the party’s own published doctrine.
- Israel Defense Forces, Military Advocate General’s Corps, 2024. Addressing Alleged Misconduct in the Context of the War in Gaza. Published 24 February 2024, updated 3 August 2024. idf.il. Official or primary record, the party’s own reported counts.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2018. Operation Protective Edge: IDF Activity in Aspects of International Law, and the Examination and Control Mechanisms of the Civilian and Military Echelons. Special report, March 2018. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
