I was brought up in a generation that was aware of the guilt that we all carried for the Nazi death camps and the ethnic cleaning of the Jewish People. My father was in the spearheads that had “liberated” Belsen and he refused to speak of it for the rest of his life. The world had stood by and allowed the murder of 6 million Jews and stood in the dock at the end of the Second World War. A Jewish Homeland was agreed and guaranteed by the UN and the rest of the world stood by again and watched 6 Arab Nations attack a fledgling country within hours of its declaration of its sovereignty. The world stood by and marveled at the martial prowess of the IDF in the period that followed. The 6 day and Yom Kippur Wars, as well as the Entebbe rescue, characterized the IDF’s ability for boldness and innovation in its war fighting. I carried a rifle for my country and my best friend, now departed did too, and he was Jewish. That did not stop our families becoming friends; a friendship that remains to this day despite an ocean between. The mentality behind an eye for an eye was tarnished by the Invasion of Lebanon but mostly by the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut. As the century rolled on and the Intifada commenced it became clear that Internal Security or Counter Insurgency was not part of the IDF’s military portfolio and the inability to secure a political solution because of the fragmentary and polarized nature of Israeli politics meant that these would be the operations on which they would be focused. On the other side of the Gaza equation we have a Hamas faction intent on using its own people as human shields in industrial strength. No one to one shields here, but one of the most densely populated areas in the world has become a rocket launching baseplate which even the people living there are powerless to stop. What manner of strategy is it that you hope as many of your own civilians are killed by an eye for an eye enemy as possible, merely to appeal to the rest of the Arab and non aligned nations that you are justified in that stance. And what manner of strategy is it to invade a heavily built up area in order to stop rocket launches costing pennies by the most powerful war machine in the Middle East because if you didn’t you are terrified your government would fall or that your countrymen would have to confront the reality that Israel has frittered away the good will it gained in the hearts of all free people because of Hitler. This remains the core problem of the Middle East and it is insoluble because of the stance of the protagonists, Israel defending its right to live and its citizens and Hamas attacking a country that stole its homeland and whom it refuses to recognise as having the rights to survive. One thing is clear, many people in the former Yugoslavia and other areas of the world have been arraigned before the War Crimes Court for much much less that what is happening in Gaza. Some of my friends will defend the Israeli’s rights to do what it is doing – I would ask you to consider the Warsaw Ghetto and the role of the Waffen SS in that siege and ask which role are the IDF adopting in this one. I would also ask those who support the Hamas strategy to think rationally about what kind of place is it where your government or a random group of guys with guns can go about starting a war in order to kill as many as possible of your friends and families in order to make political points.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 10:51:54 +0000
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