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Phalangist Officer Admits Participating in Massacre

October 5, 1982
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A Phalangist officer admitted on Israel Television last night that he had participated in the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shafila camps in Beirut and said he planned to kill more Palestinians.

The 24-year-old officer, identified only as Michael, said the Israelis could not have stopped the slaughter in the camps. Nothing could have stopped it. We were determined to kill as many of them as we could,” he said.

He admitted to having killed about 15 himself, explaining that “the Palestinians devastated our country and tortured and murdered our people for years. I myself was cruelly tortured once. We shall continue to kill the Palestinians until we get them out of our country.”

He explained the murder of women and children by saying that the Palestinians trained and used eight-year-olds to fight as soldiers, and they should therefore be shot like soldiers in war.

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