Did you ever hear of the ‘Hannibal Directive’?

It compels the Israeli army to kill Israelis rather than let them be taken hostage. It usually applies to military personnel, and has been used a number of times in the past.

And there are plenty of indications to suggest it was applied as policy towards Israeli civilians during the Hamas attack on October 7. In other words, the army appears to have preferred to kill both the Israelis and Hamas militants holding them in communities near Gaza rather than try to negotiate a release.

That’s what prizewinning journalist Jonathan Cook fears, in a series of posts on ‘X’, starting here.

He refers to an article on the Mondo Weiss website, by a person labelled “Anonymous Contributor” as they are “fearing for their personal safety due to the intensification of fascist persecutions against critical voices in Israel”.

Let’s make a note of that. We’ve heard plenty about moves to silence people supporting Palestine/Gaza in the UK; it seems those within Israel who criticise its genocide are being silenced, possibly in a far more brutal way.

The article starts by referring to a Haaretz report of the Hamas attack on the Gaza division of the Israeli Defence Force [boldings mine]:

They advanced into the military base, killing and kidnapping the soldiers of the Civil Administration, though a few of them managed to return fire before being hit… Brig. Gen. Rosenfeld entrenched himself in the division’s subterranean war room together with a handful of male and female soldiers, trying desperately to rescue and organize the sector under attack. Many of the soldiers, most of them not combat personnel, were killed or wounded outside. The division was compelled to request an aerial strike against the base itself in order to repulse the terrorists.”

The author of the article draws a logical conclusion:

This dry, complimentary description of the high commander, hiding with a few soldiers in an underground bunker and ordering an aerial bombardment of “the base” where his soldiers were fighting against Hamas militants, maybe wounded and maybe taken as prisoners, has a lot to say about the Israeli psyche in these bloody times.

It is a well-documented official policy of the Israeli army, at least since 1986, known as the “Hannibal Directive,” the “Hannibal code,” or the “Hannibal doctrine.”

It may not have ended with General Rosenfeld ordering the bombing of his soldiers. It will take years until we may (or may not) have a full picture of what happened on October 7 and the following days. But in addition to military deaths, there are also some details regarding the Israeli role in Israeli civilian deaths that can already be found amid the heavy flow of propaganda around the events of the day.

We have already heard that deaths of civilians in Kibbutz Be’eri were caused by the IDF, from the interview with escaped hostage Yasmin Porat (which This Site covered here).

The article states:

According to her account, the kidnappers treated her and other hostages “humanely,” believing they would be allowed to retreat safely to Gaza due to the protection of the Israeli captives. However, when the Israeli soldiers arrived, “they eliminated everyone, including the hostages. There was very, very heavy crossfire.”

Her testimony is complemented by evidence from Israeli soldiers who described how the Israeli military shot tank shells into buildings where militants and their hostages were hiding.

Another Haaretz article, available only in Hebrew for some reason, states as described in the article:

This testimony would seem to indicate that many Israeli captives were still alive on Monday, October 9, a full two days after the events of Saturday, October 7. While it might be understandable if captives had been killed in the hectic crossfire of an initial Israeli response to the attack on the 7th, this account would seem to indicate that the decision to assault the kibbutz and everyone inside was made as a clear military calculation.

It is clear Palestinian militants were hiding in these buildings with their Israeli captives as Israeli soldiers were blasting their way in with massive tank shells in close quarters. It deserves to be investigated who caused most of the death and destruction that took place. This is especially important as these deaths are now being used to justify the destruction of Gaza and the killing of thousands of civilians there.

And what about the implications for Gaza and the more-than-200 people Israel claims have been taken hostage there?

Israel, as it has proved many times in the past and as recent events may indicate, may be ready to put the lives of its soldiers and citizens at risk rather than witness the joy of freedom celebrated on both sides of the border.

Going back to Jonathan Cook, his ‘X’ thread refers to the release of two hostages last week by Hamas as an attempt to show the world that there is a willingness to talk:

Hamas knows all about the directive. It assumes Israel will choose to kill all the hostages rather than engage in negotiations for their return.

Hamas therefore also understands that Israel will make the case that there was no chance to bring the hostages home. Hamas is trying to show it is ready to release hostages and do a deal.

The problem for Hamas is that western media is in lockstep with Israeli spin that Hamas is a death cult like Islamic State and can’t be talked to. As a result, many of the hostages are likely to die unnecessarily.

And now we have evidence from another freed hostage that Hamas treated them humanely:

It seems clear that the greatest danger – not just to innocent civilians in Gaza, more than 5,000 of whom have been killed by Israel, but to innocent Israeli civilians as well (who knows how many of the 1,400 claimed deaths were caused by Israel’s armed forces?) – is Israel itself.

Why are western nations like the US, UK and (today) France still supporting these mass murderers?

Source: A growing number of reports indicate Israeli forces responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths following October 7 attack – Mondoweiss

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