Staff Writer

A Jeep brimming with explosives barrels down an Israeli road, destined for a crowded schoolyard or home.

An Israeli soldier spots the vehicle and aims his gun at the driver, yet hesitates to pull the trigger.

Why?

For those serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, the decision to shoot is not always self-evident. Warfare -- even of the guerilla sort -- is governed by a strict ethical code.

Rather than relying on gut instinct or a snap judgment, Israeli soldiers are directed to uphold an explicit "code of ethics," according to IDF Col. Ben-Tzion Gruber, speaking at an EMET -- the Endowment for Middle East Truth -- event.

Displaying video footage of the Jeep incident to a group of about 50 Hill staffers and onlookers in a Capitol Hill conference room on Wednesday of last week, Gruber explained that soldiers have no more than "eight seconds" to spot an assailant, and react accordingly.

In the Jeep incident, the IDF soldier intercepted the vehicle, firing upon it from the cover of an armored Humvee. The decision likely prevented a horrific crime, but cost the soldier his legs.

"I found the driver 10 minutes later, without his legs, but still alive," said Gruber, who spent nearly three weeks in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, commanding an armed division of about 20,000 soldiers.

Had the Jeep been carrying not only explosives, Gruber said, but also Palestinian children -- a tactic often employed by Hamas terrorists -- the IDF soldier would have been required to hold his fire until definitive evidence confirmed the driver's murderous intent.

The United Nations-backed Goldstone report, which accused Israel of numerous war crimes during last winter's war, blatantly ignored ethical distinctions such as this, Gruber said.

If necessary, "[w]e'll shoot and kill the kids, but we won't shoot" if there is any doubt as to the immediate threat posed by an assailant, even if that person is a known terrorist, Gruber said, summing up the IDF's policy as "shoot or not to shoot."

Waging war within a densely populated city against an enemy who wears no uniform can be problematic, Gruber said, admitting that it leads to civilian casualties. (The IDF, he noted, went out of its way to inform citizens of attacks beforehand by dropping swarms of leaflets and placing phone calls to households.)

"The terrorists wear the same clothes as everyone else. So who's a terrorist?" he asked. "I thought Goldstone would deal with that question," but the report did not.

Further evidence of the IDF's combat dilemma was revealed in what Gruber said was rarely seen news footage.

As the camera focuses on a wounded Arab man with a Kalashnikov rifle lying by his side, an arm is suddenly seen removing the smoking weapon. This, said Gruber, is a media-savvy tactic that, if the camera had not captured the gun being removed, makes it appear as though the IDF has injured a civilian.

IDF statistics from Cast Lead, however, paint a different story, Gruber said.

According to military estimates, 295 civilians were killed during the war (including 15 women and 89 children under the age of 16), compared with 709 known combatants. One-hundred-and-sixty-two deaths still remain undetermined.

"The meaning of those numbers is that we work with a laser knife," Gruber said, labeling claims that the IDF intentionally targeted civilians nonsense. "Goldstone, in the beginning of his report, said Israel intentionally targeted civilians. No way! This [the statistics] is aiming at civilian targets? No way!"

Chaotic combat situations in Gaza were further complicated by several deceptive ploys, Gruber said, showing footage of armed Hamas militants emerging from the back of a U.N.-marked ambulance.

"They use almost every place as a shield," Gruber said, as footage showed seven gun-wielding militants exiting the ambulance's rear hatch.

Marvin Klemow, a Fairfax resident, wondered why the IDF's moral dictates are not widely known.

"I don't see any of this presented in the media," said the 72-year-old during a question-and-answer session. "You know you're losing the propaganda war."

Gruber acknowledged that Israel is "losing the war outside," but said his presentations are "not for the media. We are doing it for us."