Pacifying Gaza - Ran HaCohen

Antiwar.com, December 30, 2008 - ....A couple of months ago, journalist Amos Harel quoted an article of a leading military figure regarding Israel's next war policy, be it in Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza: "Using power without any proportion to the enemy's threat and actions, in order to damage and punish to an extent that would require long and expensive rehabilitation processes." Another Israeli general explained that villages from which shots are fired will be devastated; "we consider them as military bases" (Ha'aretz, Oct. 5; the names of the two generals – for The Hague's ICC – are Gaby Siboni and Gadi Eisenkot). Once the war started, Maj.-Gen. (Reserve) Giora Island – former head of the National Security Council – spelled it all out on television, without a shade of shame: Israel should not confine its attacks to military facilities, he said, but must hit civilian targets as well. The damage to the civil population should be maximized, because the worse the humanitarian crisis is, the better and the sooner the operation would end. It's the same major-general, by the way, who just a year ago caused outrage by urging the Israeli government to negotiate directly with Hamas. Do not to look for consistency, integrity, or intelligence where war criminals are involved.

Ran HaCohen is an Israeli who teaches at Tel-Aviv University and is a literary critic for the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot.