User:The Utahraptor/Sandbox 1

This sandbox should only be used by The Utahraptor unless you get permission before editing the sandbox.

Possible future DYK candidates

• Peerless, Utah (currently 180 words, expand to at least 820 words)
• National, Utah (currently 156 words, expand to at least 780 words)
• Standardville, Utah (currently 248 words, expand to at least 1,240 words)

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Draft for Gaza War

In March 2010 the most high-profile criminal case from Operation Cast Lead began. Two IDF soldiers were suspected of using a nine-year-old Palestinian boy, Majd Rabah, as a human shield by forcing him at gunpoint to open a number of bags that the soldiers thought might contain explosives. On October 3, 2010 in what has been reported as a first in Israeli history, both soldiers were convicted of reckless endangerment and unbecoming conduct. At sentencing, the soldiers were demoted to the rank of Sergeant and placed on two years' probation with a three-month suspended jail term. Bill Van Esveld, an Israel-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, noted that using civilians as human shields is a war crime.

In June 2010, Israeli Advocate-General Avichai Mandelblit summoned a recently discharged soldier for a special hearing. The soldier was suspected of opening fire on Palestinian civilians when a group of 30 Palestinians that included women and children waving a white flag approached an IDF position. The incident, which occurred on January 4th, 2009, resulted in the death of two non-combatant women. Israeli Advocate-General Avichai Mandelblit decided to indict the IDF soldier on a single charge of manslaughter, despite some contradictory testimony. The soldier admitted to firing on a woman he says he feared endangered his life.