11.09.

2014

To:

Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu

Chief of General Staff, Benny Gantz

Military Intelligence Director, Major General Aviv Kochavi

Commander of Unit 8200,



We, veterans of Unit 8200, reserve soldiers both past and present, declare
that we refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to
continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the
Occupied Territories.

It is commonly thought that the service in military intelligence is free of
moral dilemmas and solely contributes to the reduction of violence and harm
to innocent people. However, our military service has taught us that
intelligence is an integral part of Israels military occupation over the
territories. The Palestinian population under military rule is completely
exposed to espionage and surveillance by Israeli intelligence. While there
are severe limitations on the surveillance of Israeli citizens, the
Palestinians are not afforded this protection. There's no distinction
between Palestinians who are, and are not, involved in violence. Information
that is collected and stored harms innocent people. It is used for political
persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting
collaborators and driving parts of Palestinian society against itself. In
many cases, intelligence prevents defendants from receiving a fair trial in
military courts, as the evidence against them is not revealed. Intelligence
allows for the continued control over millions of people through thorough
and intrusive supervision and invasion of most areas of life. This does not
allow for people to lead normal lives, and fuels more violence further
distancing us from the end of the conflict.

Millions of Palestinians have been living under Israeli military rule for
over 47 years. This regime denies the basic rights and expropriates
extensive tracts of land for Jewish settlements subject to separate and
different legal systems, jurisdiction and law enforcement. This reality is
not an inevitable result of the state's efforts to protect itself but rather
the result of choice. Settlement expansion has nothing to do with national
security. The same goes for restrictions on construction and development,
economic exploitation of the West Bank, collective punishment of inhabitants
of the Gaza Strip, and the actual route of the separation barrier.

In light of all this, we have concluded that as individuals who served in
Unit 8200, we must take responsibility for our part in this situation and it
is our moral duty to act. We cannot continue to serve this system in good
conscience, denying the rights of millions of people. Therefore, those among
us who are reservists, refuse to take part in the states actions against
Palestinians. We call for all soldiers serving in the Intelligence Corps,
present and future, along with all the citizens of Israel, to speak out
against these injustices and to take action to bring them to an end. We
believe that Israel's future depends on it.



Senior academic officer Or
First sergeant Ori
Sergeant Ella
Sergeant ***
Sergeant first class Amitai
Captain Assaf
Lieutenant Assaf
First sergeant Ariel
First sergeant Guy
Sergeant first class Galia
Lieutenant Gilad
First sergeant Doron
Captain D
Professional academic officer H
First sergeant T
First sergeant Tal
Sergeant first class Yair
First sergeant Yoav
First sergeant Yuval
Lieutenant Yonatan
Sergeant first class Lior
Sergeant Liron
Sergeant Maya
Sergeant Michal
First sergeant Menahem
First sergeant Nadav
Sergeant Noa
First sergeant Sa'ar
First sergeant Eden
Sergeant Idan
Professional academic officer Amir
First sergeant Amit
Sergeant K
Sergeant Keren
Sergeant first class Regev
First sergeant Roi
Sergeant R
First sergeant Rotem
First sergeant Shira
Major Shmulik
First sergeant Schraga
Sergeant Sheri
Senior academic officer Tomer



TESTIMONIES
As a soldier in Unit 8200, I collected information on people
accused of either attacking Israelis, trying to attack
Israelis, desiring to harm Israelis, and considering
attacking Israelis. I also collected information on people
who were completely innocent, and whose only crime was
that they interested the Israeli security system for various
reasons. For reasons they had asolutely no way of
knowing. All !alestinians are e"posed to non#stop
monitoring without any legal protection. $unior soldiers can
decide when someone is a target for the collection of
information. %here is no procedure in place to determine
whether the violation of the individual&s rights is
necessarily 'usti(ale. %he notion of rights for !alestinians
does not e"ist at all. )ot even as an idea to e
disregarded. Any !alestinian may e targeted and may
su*er from sanctions such as the denial of permits,
harassment, e"tortion, or even direct physical in'ury. +uch
instances might occur if the individual is of any interest to
the system for any reason. ,e it indirect relations with
hostile individuals, physical pro"imity to intelligence
targets, or connections to topics that interest 8200 as a
technological unit. Any information that might enale
e"tortion of an individual is considered relevant
information. -hether said individual is of a certain se"ual
orientation, cheating on his wife, or in need of treatment
in Israel or the -est ,ank . he is a target for lackmail.
%hroughout the duration of my service no one in my unit
ever asked, at least not out loud, if there is anything
wrong with this well#oiled system . whether the
transformation of any individual into a target is a
legitimate act.
-hen I 'oined Unit 8200 I was highly motivated. I passed a
course and ecame an Araic translator. %here were
things that I felt uncomfortale with in the work
framework, though the importance of my role and our
missions within the unit in which I served overshadowed
these feelings.
/ne of those moments in which things egan to change
occurred during the (rst war in 0a1a, 2/peration 3ast
4ead2. I was then at the peak of my service, as an
e"perienced translator in a ase which was responsile for
the !alestinian arena .
Upon the start of the operation something seemed wrong
to me. Instead of attacking rocket and weapons caches in
the 0a1a +trip, as a preparatory defense measure for the
campaign against 5amas, the Israeli Air Force attacked a
parade of police o6cers. %he assault killed 87 policemen. I
was a simple soldier, ut I wanted to pass my opinion up
the chain of command that this action was morally
unsound and prolematic. )ot only as regards the attack
on the police o6cers. %hose were precious hours in which
we should have een doing our 'os preventing the
launching of rockets against Israeli civilians, and this did
not serve that purpose. %he home front was e"posed to
volleys of rockets without taking care of them in advance,
as should have een done, and as we were told that
should happen. %he o6cer in charge agreed to pass on
my remarks, ut I never received an answer.
%hroughout the operation I accompanied di*erent teams
engaged in collecting and translating intelligence on
targets in the 0a1a +trip . on oth weapons and humans. I
rememer the overwhelming silence in the rooms from
which we worked, seconds after the Air Force omed
those targets. A tense silence, hopeful of causing harm.
-hen an attack was identi(ed or e"ecuted, cheering and
applause (lled the room. 89s were marked on headsets.
89s were marked on the facial composite sketches that
adorned the walls of the rooms. )o one asked aout
:collateral damage.; I felt ad . it was very di6cult to
reali1e that no one was interested in who else had een
hit. %hroughout the campaign, hundreds of civilians were
killed . men, women, and children. collateral damage . )o
one stopped to ask whether the targets we collect for the
Air Force 'ustify the destruction of the lives of aout one
and a half million inhaitants of the 0a1a +trip.
/n $anuary <, the Air Force attacked the home of )i1ar
=ayan, a 5amas leader in 0a1a. >ighteen civilians were
killed in the assault on his home, most of whom were
memers of his family. %he following day senior leaders of
5amas& military wing were targeted. -hen the Air Force
reported the people harmed, tension (lled the room in
anticipation of (nding out whether the people in'ured were
the targeted o'ectives of the attack. -hen it ecame
clear that they were other unrelated peersons, cries of
disappointment were heard. )ot ecause people had
een killed aritrarily, ut ecause they weren&t the
people we were looking for. It&s hard for me to imagine
what my ase would have looked like during the recent
/peration !rotective >dge. !roaly 'ust as it had in the
past, only much more pronounced.
%hat was the peak of my service within the Israeli army.
%he period during which I collected information on people
who were accused of attacking Israelis, trying to attack
Israelis, the desire to harm Israelis, thinking of attacking
Israelis, in addition to collecting information on completely
innocent people, whose only crime was that they
interested the Israeli defense estalishment for various
reasons. =easons they have no way of knowing. If you9re
homose"ual and know someone who knows a wanted
person # and we need to know aout it # Israel will make
your life miserale. If you need emergency medical
treatment in Israel, the -est ,ank or aroad # we searched
for you. %he state of Israel will allow you to die efore we
let you leave for treatment without giving information on
your wanted cousin. If you interest unit 8200 as a
technological unit, and don&t have anything to do with any
hostile activity, you&re an o'ective.
Any such case, in which you :(sh out; an innocent person
from whom information might e s?uee1ed, or who could
e recruited as a collaorator, was like striking gold for us
and for Israel9s entire intelligence community. As such,
!alestinians who are not related to or involved in (ghting
Israel are o'ectives. %hus, in terms of intelligence @aside
from the physical lockade of the 0a1a +tripA, 0a1an
citi1ens are no di*erent from their rethren in the -est
,ank . despite the :disengagement;, so to speak. Buring
my training course in preparation for my service in this
assigned role, we actually learned to memori1e and (lter
di*erent words for :gay;, in Araic.
Any !alestinian is e"posed to non#stop monitoring y the
Israeli ,ig ,rother, without legal protection, and with no
way of knowing when they too would ecome an o'ective
. targeted for harassment, e"tortion, or physical in'ury.
$unior soldiers can decide anyone is a target for the
collection of information. %here is no procedure in place to
determine whether the violation of the individual&s rights
is necessarily 'usti(ale. %he notion of rights for
!alestinians does not e"ist at all. %hroughout the duration
of my service no one in my unit ever asked, at least not
out loud, if there is anything wrong with this well#oiled
system . whether the transformation of any individual into
a target is a legitimate act.
At the conclusion of my service in the army I was a
commander and instructor for several months, teaching
youth who had graduated from 5igh +chool and were
eing prepared to serve as translators for the Intelligence
3orps. I repeatedly tried to raise these ?uestions with
themC is it legitimate to deem as a target any person who
interests the Israeli security system, for whatever reasonD
%he answer I received, time and again, was yes. %oday I
elieve the answer is no.
-hen I enlisted into the Intelligence unit, I thought I would deal with
prevention of terrorism, and do whatever was necessary to protect
national security. %hroughout my service, I discovered that many
Israeli initiatives within the !alestinian arena are directed at things
that are not related to intelligence. I worked a lot on gathering
information on political issues. +ome could e seen as related to
o'ectives that serve security needs, such as the suppression of
5amas institutions, while others could not. +ome were political
o'ectives that did not even fall within the Israeli consensus, such as
strengthening Israel&s stance at the e"pense of the !alestinian
position. +uch o'ectives do not serve the security system ut
rather agendas of certain politicians.
I had a really hard time with some of the things we did, as did the
people who were with me in my section. =egarding one pro'ect in
particular, many of us were shocked as we were e"posed to it.
3learly it was not something we as soldiers were supposed to do.
%he information was almost directly transferred to political players
and not to other sections of the security system. %his made it clear
to me that we were dealing with information that was hardly
connected to security needs.
-e knew the detailed medical conditions of some of our targets, and
our goals developed around them. I&m not sure what was done with
this information. I felt ad knowing each of their precise prolems,
and that we would talk and laugh aout this information freely. /r,
for instance, that we knew e"actly who was cheating on their wife,
with whom, and how often.
I knew people in the unit and I heard good things aout it,
ut I didn&t do anything special to enlist into this particular
unit. I knew it was a good 'o with high#?uality people,
earing a lot of responsiility, and it sounded good. From
the (rst day of the course one is made to feel really
important, and that you&re going to e e"posed to
interesting classi(ed things, and to have a lot of
responsiility.
I assumed a role in which people are called 2targets2, and
those people who really interest us are in no sense
terrorists, ut rather generally normative people . who
interest us ecause of their roles, so that we can otain
more intelligence and achieve greater access. -e take
advantage of the capailities that we have over these
people in order to put ourselves at ease. -e take
advantage of the impact that we have on their lives.
+ometimes it involves truly harming a person9s life, or
their soul. I mean e"tortion wherey they must hide things
from people around them. It can really screw up their
lives. It made me feel omnipotent.
-hen I egan this 'o I was surprised y the e"tent of my
responsiility. I felt I had a say aout important things. I
could initiate things that would impact the lives of
!alestinians . I could urge my unit to take all kinds of
measures. %he attitude was 2-hy notD2 2-e can, so let&s
do it.2 I thought that what I was ale to do was cra1y. -e
were the osses.
%hey really relied on our 'udgment calls. I had access to
many systems and capailities, and I felt it was too much.
)o oundaries were set for us, for oth passive activities
such as gathering intelligence, and for active initiatives
that had an impact on people&s lives.
If there anyone interests us, we&d collect information on
his or her economic situation and mental state. %hen we
would plan how we can perform an operation around this
individual, in order to turn them into a collaorator or
something of the sort.
,ut I was uncomfortale with this, so I chose to disconnect
from it. # %o clock in my hours, and check out.
%here are always two unit representatives in the (eld, one
at the -est ,ank division 5E and one in 0a1a. -e would
take turns, and what I recall most aout this are the
assassination missions. -e would collect intelligence for
the operation, incriminate the person, and pass on the
information to the Israel Air Force.

/nce when I was the unit representative, there was
someone suspicious ne"t to a weapons warehouse in 0a1a
and we thought he was our target. It had taken us a long
time to (nd him. $udging y his location, the time and
similar data, we concluded it was him. After we
assassinated him it turned out that he was a kid. Fy 'o
there was supposedly technical. %he atmosphere was that
of an o6ce 'o. In real timeyou can see maps and images
from the helicopter, ut you&re sitting in an o6ce so it&s
very easy to feel detached and distance yourself. )or was
it my 'o to ask ?uestions. I was told what was needed and
that9s what I did. I rememer an image on the screen of
him in an orchard, and the e"plosion on the screen, the
smoke clearing and his mother running to him, at which
point we could see he was a child. %he ody was small. -e
reali1ed we had screwed up. It got ?uiet and
uncomfortale. %hen we needed to carry on as there were
other things to do, though the mood was grim. I don&t
know of any investigation of what had happened, or if it
was reviewed at a later date.
I
I enlisted into the Intelligence 3orps with a clear understanding that
regarding anything that involves the !alestinian arena, I will engage
in self#defense. %hroughout my service in my unit I did and
encountered things that seemed irrelevant from a security
standpoint, and I did not have a clear conscience participating in
such activities. 3ontrary to my e"pectations, our dataase included
not only security#related intelligence ut also personal and political
information. %hat is to say, on a personal level, there is no respect
for !alestinian privacy.
From a political standpoint, information is collected that can serve to
manipulate Israeli, !alestinian, and international politics.
Although ours is not actual (eld#work, it has serious impact on the
lives of many people, and this is something that I think soldiers in
the unit forget when everyone 'ust does their part. +ince we&re so
focused on not missing any important developments, we always
prefer to assume the worst. For e"ample, if anyone is suspected,
even very faintly, it is possile that the stain will never fade, and
that person will su*er sanctions as a result.
/ur daily service dulls everyone&s sensitivity and this is reGected, for
e"ample, in running 'okes aout very personal things that come up
in our intelligence material. /r, for instance, in the e"pression
2lood on the headset;, or 8&s marked on our headsets after
assassinations.
II
After my discharge from the Intelligence 3orps, I had a moment of
shock while watching the (lm 2%he 4ives of /thers;, aout the
secret police in >ast 0ermany.
/n the one hand, I felt solidarity with the victims, with the
oppressed people who were denied such asic rights as I take for
granted to e mine. /n the other hand, I reali1ed that the 'o I had
done during my military service was that of the oppressor.
Fy (rst reaction as a discharged soldier was that we do the same
things, only much more e6ciently.
I was a course instructor for soldiers assigned to the !alestinian
arena. As the course was eing organi1ed we would go to some
storeroom full of :ooty; and receive uniforms, weapon parts,
e"ploded grenades, Gags of !alestine, Fatah and 5amas. !ersonal
family items like photos of children, watches, family photos, medals,
footall trophies, ooks, Eurans, 'ewelry . !alestinian
:memorailia.; I don&t know for sure, ut I reali1ed that all these
things came from arrest missions, either from peoples& homes or
from people who were killed. It is all 'ust piled up. -e were taken to
this storeroom and told to take whatever we pleased, signing the
stu* out afterwards. I took some Gags and uniforms. At the end of
the course we didn&t even return them. I still have them signed out.
-e took all the stu* to the classrooms and hung it up on the walls
for display. %he idea was to :poison; the students. At the eginning
of the course they have no idea to which arena they&ll e assigned.
+o on the morning when they receive their assignments they enter
the class and we motivate them with the items hanging on the
walls, among other things. -e didn&t e"actly e"plain what they
wereH we 'ust said :ooty.; %here is not much talk aout it. It
arouses their curiosity and amuses them.
%owards the end of the course one of the participants dressed as a
5amas (ghter, in uniform, to entertain everyone. %here is also
something called a :demonstration.; >veryone puts on those
uniforms and headands, takes up the Gags and stages a
demonstration. It&s done in the auditorium for the all the other
course participants. It&s the entertainment event of the entire
course. >veryone is seated and the class gets on stage and egins
to shout all sorts of stu*. %he highlight of the !alestinian#arena track
was to put on a demonstration. -hen I was a course participant we
yelled, :>nough with !alestine, we want to relocate to AustraliaI;
-hen I was an instructor a talk show was staged, with characters, I
don&t recall e"actly.
Along with the weekly ?ui1 there is something called :onus; . all
sorts of funny stu*. +ometimes funny conversations are played that
we heard y mistake and kept. %hese are unimportant things,
useless intelligence#wise, ut they are kept ecause they are funny,
and held onto for years. For e"ample :women talk.; %hese are
womens& conversations, 77J private nonsense. /r all sorts of
conversations aout very private matters, including yelling, crying,
(ghting and cursing.
As an instructor I gave a class called :Forality and Intelligence;,
which I had also participated in as a student. %he 4ieutenant A.
A*air was a ma'or part of this class. As an instructor I had access to
the army&s in?uiry into this a*air. In hindsight I discovered that it
had een a fake in?uiry. %he report said the o'ective of that
operation was to demolish a uilding empty of people, and that
4ieutenant A.&s 'o was to make sure the uilding was indeed empty
. when in fact the contrary was true. %he o'ective was to om a
uilding containing innocent people, and the 4ieutenant was
supposed to inform the unit when they were inside. -e discussed
this a*air in class. >veryone said what they would have done in A.&s
stead. %he conclusion was that he meant well ut did not do the
right thing. 5e should have clearly stated his fears. )ow I know what
really went on, and that in hindsight this whole discussion was
ridiculous. Anyway, the only conclusion reached was that in this unit
there is no such thing as an illegal order. It is not we who decide
what is moral and what isn&t. )owadays I reali1e that this is what the
oming pilot says tooC :It&s not for me to say what is moral and
what isn&t.; >veryone passes the responsiility onto others. After
delierating a it, as that was the method of the class, the (nal
message wasC :Bo what you&re told.; -e also talked aout what is
done with information on a target&s se"ual preferences. 5ere, too,
there was some would#e delieration, ut the message was that
there is no prolem with this issue. As an instructor I said that one
should apply one&s own 'udgment and not always pass on such
information. I did not feel I could e"press a stronger message.
Anyway, class consensus was that this did not pose a prolem.
I was once made to listen to a talk that an Israeli security o6cer had
with a !alestinian who he tried to recruit. It&s an e"cellent talk for
instruction and learning. It was used y the unit for some years.
%here&s a point where he says, :Kour wife&s rother has cancer.; %he
!alestinian answers, :+oD; And he says, :-ell, you knowL; and
they go on to speak aout something else, and the Israeli keeps
going ack to the cancer issue. 5e said something like :/ur
hospitals are good; and he was clearly o*ering something to the
!alestinian, or threatening him.
!alestinians& se" talks were always a hot item to pass on from one
person in the unit to the other, for a good laugh. /ne person would
call over another to come listen. /r some other entertaining talks.
For e"ample, :funny; medical conditions like hemorrhoids. It&s part
of the unit&s morale. Kou also pass on photos for laughs that elong
to targets, or 'ust to !alestinians. $ust photos, family photos, and the
guys have a laugh when the children are ugly. %here are also private
photos, for e"ample, that couples& took for one another. At some
point I distanced myself from this stu*. I told my friends this was
wrong, ut they all said it wouldn&t hurt anyone. /ur superiors knew
aout it, no ?uestion aout that. I would not even say they looked
away, ecause it was ovious that it was okay and that there was no
prolem. It there was a prolem it would only e for wasting work
time, focusing on nonsense.
%he Israeli pulic thinks that intelligence work is only against
terrorism, ut a signi(cant part of our o'ectives are innocent
people, not at all connected to any military activity. %hey interest
the unit for other reasons, usually without having the slightest idea
that they&re intelligence targets. %hey cannot egin to guess for
what reasons they interest the unit. -e did not treat those targets
any di*erently than we did terrorists. %he fact that they were
innocent was not at all relevant as far as we were concerned, with
regard to how we treated them.
+omething I had a really hard time with was that all kinds of
personal data was stored in the unit, such that could e used to
e"tortMlackmail the person and turn them into a collaorator. At the
ase we were told that if we (nd out some :'uicy; detail aout
them, that it&s important to document it. >"amples of this were a
di6cult (nancial situation, se"ual preferences, a person&s chronic
illness or that of a relative, and necessary medical treatment.