If no serious debate concerning Israel’s conduct during last Winter’s Operation Cast Lead is to take place in the country, it is all Mr. Goldstone’s fault, according to David Landau (The Gaza Report’s Wasted Opportunity).
The report issued by the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict so offended the Israelis that nothing or no one can now induce them to revisit the important issues that the report, and the conflict raised, and first and foremost: how does the modern, efficient army of a democratic state, possessing the most technologically advanced weapons confront the militants of a resistance movement devoid of but the crudest of weaponry, in a densely populated urban setting?
According to Mr. Landau, the report could have stirred the conscience of the nation.
The fact that it shall not is Mr. Goldstone’s sole responsibility.
One would have thought that a twenty-two day onslaught on the Gaza Strip, whose borders were sealed by Israel, which destroyed entire neighborhoods, and killed some 1,400 Palestinians, a third of them children, would already have achieved that awakening.
Apparently not, and now Mr. Goldstone, who happens to be Jewish himself, and his report are to blame if that essential national debate that should have taken place does not…
As a democratic and civilized nation, whose army never lacks an opportunity to describe itself as the most moral in the word, Israel should not need to be coaxed or bullied into initiating that debate.
Mr. Ragev, the prime minister’s spokesman, recently told the world that Israel was conducting its own enquiries, a thousand times more serious than the UN’s.
What conclusions did these enquiries, conducted by the IDF (that is to say, the IDF was asked to assess the conduct of…the IDF), draw?
Apparently, none, other than Israel’s Defense Forces rigorously respected the laws of war, and their own strict code of ethics.
Mr. Landau takes exception to the mission’s conclusion, namely that it considers the (military operation’s ) plan to have been directed, at least in part, at a different target: the people of Gaza as a whole.
Considering that Israel has been imposing a blockade on Gaza since 2007 in order to punish the Gazans for having democratically elected Hamas to govern the area, it is not altogether surprising that so many civilians died in the onslaught.
This form of collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Convention and of international law, is still rigorously imposed, such that the Israelis have even prevented the Gazans from rebuilding all that the IDF so thoroughly destroyed in twenty-two days of bombing, including civilian infrastructure and thousands of homes.
Whereas more than four hundred products were allowed into the territory before the blockade, only thirty-two are now authorized, principally only food and medicine.
Everything else is prohibited, so as not to benefit Hamas.
Only last week, a request to allow the importation of clothes, shoes and candy for the celebration of the Eid al Fitr festival marking the end of the Ramadan was denied by the Israeli authorities.
Israel’s conflict with Hamas spares no one in time of peace.
Why should it spare anyone in time of war?
Furthermore, overwhelming force, inevitably producing unacceptably high casualty figures, is part and parcel of Israeli military doctrine.
Daniel Levy (Israel must now heal itself) referred to it as the Dahiya doctrine.
Dahiya is a Beirut, pro Hizbullah suburb that was flattened by the IDF during the 2006 war with Lebanon (incidentally, over 1,100 Lebanese civilians were killed in that conflict).
The UN report quotes a senior military official as having stated the following:
what happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on … we apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there … This is a plan, and it has been approved.
Levy’s conclusion: Israel applied the Dahiya doctrine in Gaza.
Considering the Israeli approach- collective punishment on the Gazans, and a military doctrine emphasizing the use of overwhelming force,- should any one be surprised by the extent of the destruction and loss of innocent life? As Uri Avnery points out (War Crimes Denial), the casualty ratio was 200 to one…
Consequently, should Mr. Landau be surprised that many observers indeed concluded that the Israelis went after civilians?
In essence, the idea was to teach Hamas and the Gazans a lesson they will never forget, in Mr. Avnery’s words.
Lambasting the report, and impugning the character of Mr. Goldstone or the credentials of the UN Human Rights Council (of which the US is a member) and which commissioned the report, is a waste of time.
It must be emphasized that there would have been no commission to begin with had Israel launched a rigorous, independent enquiry of its own.
It steadfastly refused to do so, and when the UN intervened, Israel refused to cooperate with the UN mission. Mr. Goldstone’s commission was barred from entering Israel and could only access Gaza through Egypt.
Israel, therefore, has only itself to blame if it feels that the report does not sufficiently take into account its point of view.
So, there will be no national introspection, and no investigation.
Nine Israeli human rights organizations requested that such an investigation take place, but were rebuffed.
Why?
Is it because, according to Uri Avnery, they knew that the commission, any commission, would have to reach the conclusion it (UN Goldstone commission) did reach?
It is not too late…
Let the Israelis confound all those who claim that they dare not investigate the doings of the IDF because they fear the results, and that Pandora’s box would then be opened, and the nation’s attitude towards the Palestinians would need to be reexamined?
Would that be such a negative development?
Only authoritarian regimes fear the truth.
Democracies are strengthened and vivified by it…
Israel has six months to decide…
Then, if the situation has not evolved, the matter will be referred to the UN Security Council for deliberation.
Is that truly what Israel wants?
A democratic society cannot long afford to turn its back on inconvenient, corrosive truths, if it hopes to remain one.
(the photograph of the child in front of the ruins of Gaza can be found here)
The report issued by the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict so offended the Israelis that nothing or no one can now induce them to revisit the important issues that the report, and the conflict raised, and first and foremost: how does the modern, efficient army of a democratic state, possessing the most technologically advanced weapons confront the militants of a resistance movement devoid of but the crudest of weaponry, in a densely populated urban setting?
According to Mr. Landau, the report could have stirred the conscience of the nation.
The fact that it shall not is Mr. Goldstone’s sole responsibility.
One would have thought that a twenty-two day onslaught on the Gaza Strip, whose borders were sealed by Israel, which destroyed entire neighborhoods, and killed some 1,400 Palestinians, a third of them children, would already have achieved that awakening.
Apparently not, and now Mr. Goldstone, who happens to be Jewish himself, and his report are to blame if that essential national debate that should have taken place does not…
As a democratic and civilized nation, whose army never lacks an opportunity to describe itself as the most moral in the word, Israel should not need to be coaxed or bullied into initiating that debate.
Mr. Ragev, the prime minister’s spokesman, recently told the world that Israel was conducting its own enquiries, a thousand times more serious than the UN’s.
What conclusions did these enquiries, conducted by the IDF (that is to say, the IDF was asked to assess the conduct of…the IDF), draw?
Apparently, none, other than Israel’s Defense Forces rigorously respected the laws of war, and their own strict code of ethics.
Mr. Landau takes exception to the mission’s conclusion, namely that it considers the (military operation’s ) plan to have been directed, at least in part, at a different target: the people of Gaza as a whole.
Considering that Israel has been imposing a blockade on Gaza since 2007 in order to punish the Gazans for having democratically elected Hamas to govern the area, it is not altogether surprising that so many civilians died in the onslaught.
This form of collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Convention and of international law, is still rigorously imposed, such that the Israelis have even prevented the Gazans from rebuilding all that the IDF so thoroughly destroyed in twenty-two days of bombing, including civilian infrastructure and thousands of homes.
Whereas more than four hundred products were allowed into the territory before the blockade, only thirty-two are now authorized, principally only food and medicine.
Everything else is prohibited, so as not to benefit Hamas.
Only last week, a request to allow the importation of clothes, shoes and candy for the celebration of the Eid al Fitr festival marking the end of the Ramadan was denied by the Israeli authorities.
Israel’s conflict with Hamas spares no one in time of peace.
Why should it spare anyone in time of war?
Furthermore, overwhelming force, inevitably producing unacceptably high casualty figures, is part and parcel of Israeli military doctrine.
Daniel Levy (Israel must now heal itself) referred to it as the Dahiya doctrine.
Dahiya is a Beirut, pro Hizbullah suburb that was flattened by the IDF during the 2006 war with Lebanon (incidentally, over 1,100 Lebanese civilians were killed in that conflict).
The UN report quotes a senior military official as having stated the following:
what happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on … we apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there … This is a plan, and it has been approved.
Levy’s conclusion: Israel applied the Dahiya doctrine in Gaza.
Considering the Israeli approach- collective punishment on the Gazans, and a military doctrine emphasizing the use of overwhelming force,- should any one be surprised by the extent of the destruction and loss of innocent life? As Uri Avnery points out (War Crimes Denial), the casualty ratio was 200 to one…
Consequently, should Mr. Landau be surprised that many observers indeed concluded that the Israelis went after civilians?
In essence, the idea was to teach Hamas and the Gazans a lesson they will never forget, in Mr. Avnery’s words.
Lambasting the report, and impugning the character of Mr. Goldstone or the credentials of the UN Human Rights Council (of which the US is a member) and which commissioned the report, is a waste of time.
It must be emphasized that there would have been no commission to begin with had Israel launched a rigorous, independent enquiry of its own.
It steadfastly refused to do so, and when the UN intervened, Israel refused to cooperate with the UN mission. Mr. Goldstone’s commission was barred from entering Israel and could only access Gaza through Egypt.
Israel, therefore, has only itself to blame if it feels that the report does not sufficiently take into account its point of view.
So, there will be no national introspection, and no investigation.
Nine Israeli human rights organizations requested that such an investigation take place, but were rebuffed.
Why?
Is it because, according to Uri Avnery, they knew that the commission, any commission, would have to reach the conclusion it (UN Goldstone commission) did reach?
It is not too late…
Let the Israelis confound all those who claim that they dare not investigate the doings of the IDF because they fear the results, and that Pandora’s box would then be opened, and the nation’s attitude towards the Palestinians would need to be reexamined?
Would that be such a negative development?
Only authoritarian regimes fear the truth.
Democracies are strengthened and vivified by it…
Israel has six months to decide…
Then, if the situation has not evolved, the matter will be referred to the UN Security Council for deliberation.
Is that truly what Israel wants?
A democratic society cannot long afford to turn its back on inconvenient, corrosive truths, if it hopes to remain one.
(the photograph of the child in front of the ruins of Gaza can be found here)
Doesn't Hamas collectively punish Israeli cities by rocket attacks?
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