Using a multi-pronged strategy, the army spokesperson's office launched a full social media assault via YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, with the latter in English, Hebrew, Arabic, French and Spanish. No word yet on the tumblr blog, though. In what is possibly a social media precedent, the Israeli army spokesperson's office (@idfspokesperson) today announced a military action against Gaza — on Twitter. This came shortly after the IDF announced — again on Twitter — that that the Israeli Air Force had assassinated senior Hamas operative Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jaabari. The responses came in immediately, from various sources and in…

A photographer and two women, one reportedly a French national, were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at this Friday's anti-occupation demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. UPDATE: A video of the incident is now embedded, below Three civilians were injured in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh today and required hospitalization, according to reports from several eyewitness. A French national, whose name is reportedly Amissy (unconfirmed), was hit in the neck with a projectile - either a tear gas canister or a rubber-coated steel bullet. The Israeli army reports that a border police…

Following the killing of Mustafa Tamimi in his village Nabi Saleh, Spokesperson for the IDF presented pictures of a slingshot Tamimi had on him when he was brought to the hospital. This was to be the indicting evidence that the protester was taking part in hostile action against the army – i.e. throwing stones – and therefore responsible for his own death. Only in the context of the occupation can throwing stones at a bullet-proof army jeep be seen as an offense deserving the death penalty, carried out on the spot (clearly, the soldiers weren't acting in self-defense). Furthermore, as…

IDF Spokesman, Major Peter Lerner, expresses a political opinion. Problem: That’s forbidden to soldiers Everyone who has had the misfortune to serve in the IDF – most Israeli Jews are forced to – has heard, time and time again, the slogan that “soldiers are not allowed to deal with politics.” Naturally enough, this was never true in the higher levels of the army: The Chief of Staff is generally a uniformed politician-to-be. When Dan Halutz said, as deputy CoS, that “[the soon-to-be evacuated settlements] Ganim and Qadim are home”, he was making a clear political statement. But, as a rule, the…

Major Peter Lerner, spokesman for the IDF's Central Command, appears to endorse proposed legislative bills that would, if approved by the Knesset, severely limit funding for Israeli human rights NGOs. The proposed bills, which received approval from the Knesset Legislative Committee on Monday but have not yet passed a first reading in the Knesset, are, as my colleague Noam Sheizaf explains, highly controversial; in effect, they would amount to a severe limitation on freedom of speech, particularly since the targeted NGOs are critical of the army and the government's policies. The bills were condemned by Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, head…