Gaza.

Burning Conscience: Israeli Soldiers Speak Out

Avichai Sharon and Noam Chayut, both veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces and members of Breaking the Silence. Sharon and Chayut served during the second intifada.

“…the order were just go there, shoot to kill… they were told that this is revenge… this is not some spontaneous twenty year old kid… this was policy…people sat down in convenient comfortable offices and decided to kill people… this is the system, this is the government, this is the policy…”

The video above was posted in 2006.

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifadah. Soldiers who serve in the Territories are witness to, and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but are still excused as military necessities, or explained as extreme and unique cases.

Related — 2004 interview with an IDF soldier: What the IDF is doing in Nablus…

A 2008 Storyville documentary showed where 60% of these young people go after the IDF has done its work:

Flipping Out - Israel’s Drug Generation — [YouTube]
“of the 50,000 soldiers discharged from compulsory military service every year, 30,000 travel to India, 90% experiment with drugs, 2,000 suffer a mental breakdown.”