Duke junior discusses Israel Defense Forces conflict rules

Eli Kozin, Duke junior and former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, spoke Wednesday in McClendon Tower about Israel’s Rules of Engagement.

Hosted by the Duke Israel Public Affairs Committee, Kozin—who served from 2012-2014 in the IDF—discussed ROE he learned and the temporarily revised guidelines recently released by Israel that generated controversy among Israeli soldiers. He said he hoped to clear up confusion surrounding ROE—or the rules soldiers must abide by in using lethal and non-lethal force in civilian contexts, specifically in the West Bank—and wanted to leave politics out of the discussion.

“When you have situations where people are making decisions such as these—often in very stressful circumstances like riots or protests going on with immediate danger to civilians or soldiers—people often have split seconds to make this decision,” Kozin said. “Human error is going to be introduced and I think that might be where some of the controversies in the media have come up.”

Kozin described the ROE he was instructed to follow during his two stints in the West Bank.

When dealing with a suspicious person, the IDF soldiers must verbally warn the suspect several times before firing warning shots into the air, he explained. If he or she continues, they may they aim for lower extremities, and only if he or she persists and poses mortal danger may they shoot to kill.

“I wish that more American police forces would build that into their training—I think it would save some loss of life,” he said. “As far as I’m aware, we are the only military that teaches its soldiers that it’s preferable in most instances to not kill the person but rather incapacitate them.”

The throwing of Molotov cocktails and stone throwing are all scenarios in which the soldiers are instructed to shoot in the air, unless an immediate and mortal threat is posed to civilians or soldiers, Kozin noted.

Although soldiers were previously permitted to shoot at suspects’ legs and lower extremities to stop them, Israel recently modified its ROE so that soldiers may only shoot in the air and not at the legs, and still may shoot at major organs if immediate life-threatening danger is posed.

“There isn’t the opportunity to just incapacitate someone now,” he explained.

Kozin also discussed the “fog of war” that often leads soldiers who are faced with split-second decisions in civilian contexts to make mistakes.

“There are plenty of places where human error can come into the equation and potentially cloud decision-making and force people to make decisions that might not be prudent,” he said. “Even when it’s not army against army, there can be a certain fog that surrounds a situation.”

By adjusting ROE to not allow shooting at the lower extremities, Israel hopes to cut down on the margins for human error and minimize the amount soldiers are shooting at all. According to Kozin, during times of stress, ROE often get stricter.

“They would rather have a situation that errs against the soldiers at this point and almost protects their status in court and public opinion at the potential expense of the soldiers,” he said. “That’s why soldiers got angry—they said you’re making our job and the ROE very difficult.”

Despite the element of human error, Kozin defended the objectivity of Israeli soldiers. Although his own unit mostly consisted of soldiers “who did not necessarily care for their neighbors of different faiths,” they were always strictly instructed to not discriminate based on religion.

“We all took a great amount of pride in our professionalism and doing what we were called upon to do in the most evenhanded way possible,” he said.

Stephanie Wu contributed reporting.