The investigation into whether Israel Defense Forces committed war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead has finished and:
"It greatly disturbed me, and everyone, the 'testimonies' of soldiers that have been published about inappropriate acts and the apparently intentional harming of the civilian population," Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi wrote in a letter to IDF soldiers to mark the upcoming Jewish holiday of Pesach.
"These testimonies have been fully examined and investigated by the Military Police and Military Advocate's Office, and have been found, to my joy, to be completely unfounded and lacking in any evidential basis."
Now that we know that the accusations these soldiers made to newspaper reporters were unfounded, the real question is who were these soldiers, and why would they report false atrocities? Does Israel have a Private Scott Beauchamp on its hands? (If you don't remember, Pvt. Beauchamp had his diaries published in The New Republic, filled with inaccuracies, hearsay, etc.)
It's quite possible the "statements" that led to Haaretz's huge "exposee" were nothing more than tall tales that an author hoped would be his ticket to fame. Considering all the publicity the story got, that would make sense:
Haaretz published last month accounts by soldiers who fought in Operation Cast Lead saying that Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property.
The soldiers' testimonies were picked up by other Israeli news outlets and media across the world, sparking a controversy as the troops seemed to confirm Palestinian accounts of IDF behavior during the campaign.
The IDF may not be the "most moral army in the world", but it looks like they are a lot more moral than they've been given credit for.