At that time, it was decided to bring in an armored Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9 bulldozer to destroy the house, burying the terrorists alive in the ruins - a standard operating procedure when no hostages are present. When the bulldozer approached the house, a terrorist tried to fire at the driver and was taken out by a sniper.
An IDF armored D9 destroying the terrorists stronghold while Unit YAMAM
operators providing fire support. Note an EOD robot in front of the fence.
D9 destroys the terrorists house
A dead terrorist taken out from the ruins.
Note the label "CAT" on the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer.
A campaign is now being launched to get the Caterpillar Company to condemn the illegal use of bulldozers it supplied.
Such an action may have an effect. The Caterpillar Company is not insensitive to its image as may be concluded from its public relations campaign emphasizing it's involvement in efforts to save rainforests.
Please, send an email to:
ATTN Head spokesman of Caterpillar & Media Rep. For Social Responsibility
Benjamin Cordani<cordani_benjamin_s@cat.com>
Please, send us a copy.
[Sample letter]
Dear Mr Benjamin Cordani
As Caterpillar's Media Rep. For Social Responsibility I ask your attention for the following.
The whole world was shocked a few days ago by the Israeli army's massive house demolition campaign in the Rafah Refugee Camp in the occupied Gaza Strip, robbing 700 Palestinians, young and old, men, women and children of all they had. This action was not the first time that that the Israeli army destroys the homes of occupied Palestinians. Such acts are a manifest violation of the Geneva Conventions.
It is important that a company such as Caterpillar would publicly condemn this illegal use made of its products. After all, Caterpillar is a company which recognizes its social responsibility and condemnation is the least you can do. It would of course make sense to go a bit further and have such a condemnation imply a stop on further sales of bulldozers and the immediate refusal to supply spare parts to the customer who made the abusive use of the Caterpillar product.
I hope that you agree that it is in the interest of Caterpillar to take this initiative before the origin of the bulldozers used in the widely-condemned house demolitions becomes a media issue.
Sincerely
[your name and address]
---
