IDF fighters arrested on suspicion of plunder

[oberliner]

For the first time since the end of Operation Cast Lead, two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of plunder in the Gaza Strip, Ynet has learned.

The two fighters, who serve in a Givati Brigades' patrol battalion, are suspected of taking a credit card from a Palestinian house during their activity in Gaza, and later using it to purchase products worth thousands of shekels.

The complaint which led to a secret investigation launched by the Investigating Military Police was filed on April 14, about three months after the end of the offensive. According to the complaint, the credit card disappeared from a house in the northern Strip, and its owner later discovered that it had been used to purchase different products in Israel.

Major Raanan Avtavi, commander of the Investigative Military Police in Beersheba, presented a military judge with a secret report containing details about the investigation. According to the investigating officer, the suspicions include drawing different amounts of money.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3713931,00.html

[ThomCat]

1. I'll bet there is no systematic study of how often soldiers

are plundering Palestinian homes when they occupy them.

It can't be all that high just because of poverty levels. If families don't own anything of significant value then you can't take it.

But I'm sure if soldiers find anything of value it's probably pretty common for it to just disappear. What's to stop them? If it is small enough to fit into a pack or pocket it's gone.

The difference here was that the soldiers were dumb enough to steal something traceable, and then use it in a way that could be traced back to themselves.