Since the first Lebanon war over 30 years ago, Israel's main strategy has been killing Arabs. The current atrocious war in Gaza is no different.
By Gideon Levy
The goal of Operation Protective Edge is to restore
the calm; the means: killing civilians. The slogan of
the Mafia has become official Israeli policy. Israel
sincerely believes that if it kills hundreds of
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, quiet will reign. It
is pointless to destroy the weapons stores of Hamas,
which has already proved capable of rearmament.
Bringing down the Hamas government is an unrealistic
(and illegitimate) goal, one that Israel does not want:
It is aware that the alternative could be much worse.
That leaves only one possible purpose for the military
operation: death to Arabs, accompanied by the cheering
of the masses.
The Israel Defense Forces already has a “map of pain,”
a diabolical invention that has replaced the no less
diabolical “bank of targets,” and that map is spreading
at a sickening pace. Watch Al Jazeera English, a
balanced and professional television channel
(unlike its Arabic sister station), and see the extent
of its success. You won’t see it in Israel’s “open”
broadcast studios, which as usual are only open to
the Israeli victim, but on Al Jazeera you will see
the whole truth, and perhaps you will even be
shocked.
The bodies in Gaza are piling up, the desperate,
constantly updated tabulation of mass killing that
Israel boasts of, which already numbers dozens of
civilians, including 24 children as of noon on Saturday;
hundreds of people injured, in addition to horror and
destruction. One school and one hospital have already
been bombed. The aim is to strike homes, and no
amount of justification can help: It’s a war crime,
even if the IDF calls them “command-and-control
centers” or “conference rooms.” Granted, there are
strikes that are much more brutal than Israel’s, but in
this war, which is nothing other than mutual attacks
on civilians — the elephant against the fly — there
aren’t even any refugees. In contrast to Syria and
Iraq, in the Gaza Strip the inhabitants do not have
the luxury of fleeing for their lives. In a cage, there’s
nowhere to run.
Since the first Lebanon war, more than 30 years ago,
the killing of Arabs has become Israel’s primary
strategic instrument. The IDF doesn’t wage war
against armies, and its main target is civilian
populations. Arabs are born only to kill and to be
killed, as everyone knows. They have no other
goal in life, and Israel kills them.
One must, of course, be outraged by the modus
operandi of Hamas: Not only does it aim its rockets
at civilian population centers in Israel, not only does
it position itself within population centers — it may
not have an alternative, given the crowded conditions
in the Strip — but it also leaves the Gazan civilian
population vulnerable to Israel’s brutal attacks,
without seeing to a single siren, shelter or protected
space. That is criminal. But the barrages of the Israel
Air Force are no less criminal, on account of both the
result and the intent: There isn’t a single residential
building in the Gaza Strip that is not home to dozens
of women and children; the IDF cannot, therefore,
claim that it does not mean to hurt innocent civilians.
If the recent demolition of the home of a terrorist in
the West Bank still stirred a weak protest, now
dozens of homes are being destroyed, together
with their occupants.
Retired generals and commentators on active duty
compete to make the most monstrous proposal:
“If we kill their families, that will frighten them,”
explained Maj.Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor, without
batting an eyelid. “We must create a situation such
that when they come out of their burrows, they
won’t recognize Gaza,” others said. Shamelessly,
without question — until the next Goldstone
investigation.
A war with no goal is among the most despicable of
wars; the deliberate targeting of civilians is among
the most atrocious of means. Terror now reigns in
Israel as well, but it’s unlikely there is a single Israeli
who can imagine what it’s like for Gaza’s 1.8 million
inhabitants, whose already miserable lives are now
totally horrific. The Gaza Strip is not a “hornet’s
nest,” it is a province of human desperation. Hamas
is not an army, far from it, despite all the fear tactics:
If it really did build such a sophisticated network of
tunnels there, as is claimed, then why doesn’t it
build Tel Aviv’s light rail network, already?
The 1,000-sortie and 1,000 tons of explosives
marks have almost been reached, and Israel is
waiting for the “victory picture” that has already
been achieved: Death to Arabs.
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