Yehuda Vach
Yehuda Vach (Hebrew יהודה ואך , born 1979), is an Israeli military officer who has served in the Lebanon and Gaza wars. He is also a musician.[1]
Early life and education
Vach was born in 1979 in Kiryat Arba, described as one of Israel's most ideologically extreme settlements in occupied Palestine.[2] He is the son of Shalom and Liat Vach[1] and has ten brothers.[3] He attended the Bnei David Yeshiva in Eli, another West Bank settlement. The school provides religious as well as paramilitary training[4] and advocates for the "literal enslavement of Palestinians".[5] Here Rabbi Giora Redel teaches that "Hitler's ideology was 100% correct, but he was targeting the wrong target", meaning that he should have exterminated the Muslims.[6][7]
Military Career
| Period/Date | Rank | Role/Command |
| Since 1998 | Officer | Active Officer |
| 2006 | Officer | Participant in Lebanon War |
| Until June 2023 | Colonel | Commander of Bahad 1 IDF officers' school[3] |
| July 2024 - Dec 2024 | Brigadier General | Commander of Netzarim Corridor (252nd Div)[5] |
| August 2024 - Present | Brigadier General | Commander of 252nd "Sinai" Division[8] |
Operational Doctrine
Soon after taking command of 252 Division in July 2024, he reportedly instructed his officers that "there are no innocents in Gaza",[8] echoing President Isaac Herzog's assertion that the "entire nation" of Palestinians was responsible for October 7 and that there were no civilians in Gaza "not involved".[9] This became operational doctrine under Vach, meaning "Everyone’s a terrorist", which effectively gave his soldiers permission to kill any Palestinian at will.[10]
Allegations of War Crimes
Targeting of Civilians and Indiscriminate Fire
Vach is reported to have issued direct orders to fire at civilians gathered near UN aid trucks, even when no threat was present.[11] Soldiers under his command stated this policy was widely followed, with one officer noting the intent was to make people clear out, even if they were only there for food. An officer in Vach’s 252nd division reportedly told Haaretz reported that the killing of Palestinians turned "into a competition between units".[12]
The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a case in the ICC, accusing Vach's troops of "gunning down" 15-year-old Yahya Akram Al-Hilu and 16-year-old Muhammad Amer Salouha when they were searching for food.[13][14]
Haaretz reports on the killing of an unarmed 16 year old boy by Vach's soldiers. [15] They were told that "the boy wasn't a Hamas operative – but just a civilian" but the battalion commander "congratulated us for killing a terrorist, saying he hoped we'd kill ten more tomorrow".[15] At one point Division 252 announced the killing of 200 militants. However an officer there recounts that only 10 of those were known Hamas personnel.[15]
Vach was also the commander of the Golani Brigade unit responsible for the Rafah paramedic massacre on 23 March 2025 when a humanitarian convoy was attacked, killed and buried with their crushed vehicles.[16] The forensics report said that the aid workers were killed at close-range in execution-style killings, with "specific and intentional" bullet wounds in heads and hearts. Some of the bodies were found with their hands or feet bound. [17] A video taken by one of the killed medics forced the IDF to change its account of the incident. [18]
Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure
In March 2025, soldiers under Vach's command demolished, through a controlled explosion, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in central Gaza.[19] At the time the IDF claimed that it was "an airstrike against Hamas operatives who were residing at the hospital", though they also confirmed that the hospital had not been used as a hospital for over a year at the time of destruction.[20] News media reported that the hospital had been used as a barracks by the IDF for some time.[21]
Vach is accused of removing the hospital's designation as a sensitive site and ordering its demolition without approval from superiors.[21] The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs[22] and Euro-Med Monitor condemned the destruction of the hospital as a war crime.[23]
Treatment of Deceased and Detainees
After Yahya Sinwar was killed, Vach proposed in an official meeting to abuse the body. He wanted to "strip Sinwar’s corpse naked, put it in a public square, dismember it and pour sewage over the remains".[24]
Under Vach's command, Palestinian detainees were reportedly tortured and humiliated.[25]
Allegations of Misconduct
Reckless Endangerment of Troops
During 17-28 August 2024, Vach ordered his soldiers to enter Zeitoun, a neighborhood of Gaza City leading to the deaths of 8 soldiers.[26] Haaretz accuses Vach of "flawed, even negligent, preparation". A commander who fought in the Netzarim corridor under Vach said that "it was done without suitable tools, without engineering units, without other necessary troops". A number of officers and soldiers said that "Vach acted rashly on more than one occasion".[27][28]
Unauthorized Activities and Misconduct
Vach has been reprimanded twice for the theft of weapons where he was in command. In 2017, he was deputy commander of the Givati Brigade, and was reprimanded after weapons were stolen from the armory of the prison Sde Teiman.[29] In 2020, he was again reprimanded after weapons were stolen from Gibor army base.
Personal life
Vach is married to Osnat, and they have six children.[1] They live in Meirav, religious kibbutz in northern Israel.[27]
One of his brothers is Colonel Golan Vach, who was prominent in the beheaded babies hoax.[30]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 פינקלר, קובי (2021-08-25). "מפקד חדש לבית הספר לקצינים - אל"מ יהודה ואך" [New Commander for the Officers' School - Col. Yehuda Vach]. [Channel 7 Israel National News] ערוץ 7 (in עברית). Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ↑ "UN rights expert urges Israel to prevent takeover of West Bank building by settlers | UN News". news.un.org. 2014-04-15. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Report: Soldiers allege division commander recklessly endangered troops in Gaza". The Times of Israel. 1 January 2025. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ↑ "Institutions | The Mechinah Program". www.bneidavid.org. Archived from the original on 2025-05-01. Retrieved 2025-06-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sheen, David (2025-04-29). "The Vach brothers: Israel's first family of genocide". Lemkin Institute. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ↑ Cypel, Sylvain (2025-02-10). "Israël. L'armée coloniale à l'heure du messianisme". Orient XXI (in français). Archived from the original on 2025-06-29. Retrieved 2025-06-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Pileggi, Tamar (30 April 2019). "Embracing racism, rabbis at pre-army yeshiva laud Hitler, urge enslaving Arabs". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Archived from the original on 2025-06-26. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kubovich, Yaniv. "IDF soldiers expose arbitrary killings and rampant lawlessness in Gaza's Netzarim corridor". Haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 2025-05-28. Retrieved 2025-06-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Bronner, Luc (2025-05-21). "In Israel, rhetoric dehumanizing Palestinians and calls for eradicating Gaza have become commonplace". Archived from the original on 21 May 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Israel media report accuses troops of indiscriminate killing of Gaza civilians". France 24. 2024-12-20. Archived from the original on 2025-06-29. Retrieved 2025-06-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Israeli soldiers deliberately shoot at unarmed Gazans near aid sites: Report". www.aa.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-07-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kubovich, Yaniv (Dec 19, 2024). "IDF Is Not Updating List of Gaza Targets, Resulting in Killing Innocent Civilians Seeking Shelter". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 19 Dec 2024. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Hind Rajab Foundation Files ICC Complaint and Calls for Immediate Arrest of Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, Described as the Most Brutal IDF War Criminal". THE HIND RAJAB FOUNDATION. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint with the ICC against Israeli brigadier general". DAWN.COM. 2025-06-28. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Kubovich, Yaniv (Dec 18, 2024). "'No Civilians. Everyone's a Terrorist': IDF Soldiers Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness in Gaza's Netzarim Corridor". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 28 Jun 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ McKernan, Bethan (2025-04-12). "IDF unit involved in Gaza paramedics' killing was under command of brigade led by notorious Israeli general". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Palestinian aid workers likely shot 'execution style', forensic expert says". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ Fassihi, Farnaz; Koettl, Christoph (2025-04-05). "Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ Burki, Talha (2025-05-01). "Destruction of Gaza's only cancer specialist hospital". The Lancet Oncology. 26 (5): 551. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(25)00192-5. ISSN 1470-2045. PMID 40158512 Check
|pmid=value (help). Archived from the original on 2025-06-05. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Fabian, Emanuel (21 March 2025). "IDF confirms it blew up Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza, says it wasn't in use". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Archived from the original on 21 Mar 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Israeli army 'is investigating' officer who ordered destruction of cancer hospital in Gaza". Middle East Monitor. 2025-03-25. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Palestinian Foreign Ministry Condemns Israeli Destruction of Al-Sadaqa Hospital as a War Crime". Safa News Agency - English Edition (in العربية). 2025-03-23. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Israel's Targeting and Disabling of Gaza Hospitals: Dismantling Life and Destroying "Last Refuges" [EN/AR] - occupied Palestinian territory | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2025-05-14. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Another expert report finds Israel is committing genocide. The West yawns". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 2025-05-25. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Hind Rajab Foundation Files ICC Complaint and Calls for Immediate Arrest of Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, Described as the Most Brutal IDF War Criminal". THE HIND RAJAB FOUNDATION. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ Staff, ToI (January 2025). "Report: Soldiers allege division commander recklessly endangered troops in Gaza". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Kubovich, Yaniv (Jan 1, 2025). "'Flatten' Gaza, Halt Aid: The Israeli Division Commander Overseeing Gaza's Brutal Netzarim Corridor". pp. Haaretz. Archived from the original on 6 Jan 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Editorial | Vach's Private Army: The Growing Gap Between the IDF and Rogue Commanders". Haaretz. 2025-01-02. Archived from the original on 2025-01-01. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Levy, Elior (2017-08-21). "Givati Brigade commander to be reprimanded after mass M-16 theft". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ Maad, Assma; Audureau, William; Forey, Samuel (2024-04-03). "'40 beheaded babies': Deconstructing the rumor at the heart of the information battle between Israel and Hamas". Le Monde. Archived from the original on 22 Jan 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-04. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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