The mindset of a soldier is determined by his training and the mindset of a young soldier is extraordinarily easy to control.

The IDF are trained to believe that their 'enemy' in Gaza (or Lebanon) is sub-human and can therefore be killed without compunction or regret - (or subsequent nightmares at home with their wives and children in Bat Yam or Herzalia). Dehumanization is a necessary pre-requisite when training men to kill. Germany, Poland, Russia, Rwanda ... That's how the military works. Subvert the the mind and you have an automaton willing to kill or torture without question but with extraordinary zeal. Any soldier will confirm this, in his later years, for initially during combat he is unaware of the fact that he is but a killing tool of his political masters.

Of course, Jewish ex-servicemen like myself in the Diaspora remain incredulous that the 2nd generation offspring of Holocaust survivors could act in this way. We have had to painfully accept that they, and therefore we, are no better than the brutal killers in any conflict, carrying out the orders of our temporary masters. And it is those masters who need to be identified and dealt with, and that is why the international community has established the ICC to bring to justice those who subvert the minds of young people to dehumanize and murder hundreds of men women and children, in this case on the pretext of self-defence.