Summary: Israel fights for its very existence against an enemy who has no regard for life. From a cosmic sense, Israel can lose in two ways. Violent defeat in some fashion (causing economic collapse or out-migration). Or spiritual defeat, becoming inflected by the evil Israel has fought for so long: antisemitism in Christendom, NAZI genocide, and now Islamic racial hatred. The former seems increasingly likely, eventually. The latter might be happening now.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
— Aphorism 146 in Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (1886).
“A spoiled saint, a Pharisee, or an inquisitor makes better sport in Hell than a mere common tyrant or debauchee.”
— Letter 23 from Uncle Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood
Contents
- Prelude to slaughter: Threatening a Gaza holocaust
- Fast Forward to today: the situation heats up
- Portents of the future, echos of the past
- For More Information
(1) Prelude to slaughter: Threatening a holocaust in Gaza
During similar conditions in 2008, from Haaretz on 29 February 2008:
“The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves,” {Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai} told Army Radio on Friday.
… “shoah is “the Hebrew word for holocaust or disaster. The word is generally used to refer to the Nazi Holocaust, but a spokesman for Vilnai said the deputy defense minister used the word in the sense of “disaster,” saying “he did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide.”
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said of Vilnai’s comments: “We are facing new Nazis who want to kill and burn the Palestinian people.”
The Jerusalem Post whitewashed this more adroitly. Als0 see The Telegraph’s terse analysis.
(2) Fast Forward to today: the situation heats up
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This is a typical ethnic war between neighbors. History shows these cycles of attack and reprisal can continue for centuries. Longer. Until one side exterminates the other, or sense returns.
(a) A look at the numbers
For details of Israeli deaths from rocket attacks see the Wikipedia page (and its links). These numbers are disputed; see here for another count with smaller totals.
- 2012 = 3
- Total since 2000: 61
For more numbers about the Israel-Gaza conflict see “Israel and the Palestinians: Gaza abacus“, The Economist, 19 November 2012.
(b) “The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages, only then will Israel be calm for the next 40 years.”, Haaretz, 18 November 2012
(c) “Gaza: four children killed in single Israeli air strike“, The Guardian, 18 November 2012 — “Attack believed to be aimed at Hamas official wipes out 11 members of a single family as onslaught continues.”
(d) “Israeli strikes have killed 32 Palestinians today, taking the Gaza death toll to 109“, AFP, 20 September 2012
(e) “Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi … warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from a ground invasion of the kind that left over 1,400 people dead in Gaza four years ago”, Reuters, 20 November 2012
(3) Portents of the future, echo’s of the past
Read the following to hear a man who knows no mercy, no justice. Who has no empathy, no understanding of what Israel has done to the Palestinians. No regard for the international laws created after WWII. Force is all he knows; all he wants to know. Until some future day, perhaps, when their neighbors’ force crushes Israel. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
“A decisive conclusion is necessary“, Gilad Sharon (son of the great Prime Minister and General Ariel Sharon), op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, 18 November 2012 — “There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip.” Excerpt:
With the elimination of a murderous terrorist and the destruction of Hamas’s long-range missile stockpile, the operation was off to an auspicious start, but what now? This must not be allowed to end as did Operation Cast Lead: We bomb them, they fire missiles at us, and then a cease-fire, followed by “showers” – namely sporadic missile fire and isolated incidents along the fence. Life under such a rain of death is no life at all, and we cannot allow ourselves to become resigned to it.
A strong opening isn’t enough, you also have to know how to finish – and finish decisively. If it isn’t clear whether the ball crossed the goal-line or not, the goal isn’t decisive. The ball needs to hit the net, visible to all. What does a decisive victory sound like? A Tarzan-like cry that lets the entire jungle know in no uncertain terms just who won, and just who was defeated.
To accomplish this, you need to achieve what the other side can’t bear, can’t live with, and our initial bombing campaign isn’t it.
The desire to prevent harm to innocent civilians in Gaza will ultimately lead to harming the truly innocent: the residents of southern Israel. The residents of Gaza are not innocent, they elected Hamas. The Gazans aren’t hostages; they chose this freely, and must live with the consequences.
… We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.
There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire.
Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.
If the government isn’t prepared to go all the way on this, it will mean reoccupying the entire Gaza Strip. Not a few neighborhoods in the suburbs, as with Cast Lead, but the entire Strip, like in Defensive Shield, so that rockets can no longer be fired.
There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip. Otherwise there will be no decisive victory. And we’re running out of time – we must achieve victory quickly. The Netanyahu government is on a short international leash. Soon the pressure will start – and a million civilians can’t live under fire for long. This needs to end quickly – with a bang, not a whimper.
(4) For More Information
(a) Articles about Gaza — these will be updated:
- Important: “A Pillar Built on Sand“, John Mearsheimer, London Review of Books, 16 November 2012
- “Study: Israel leads in ignoring Security Council resolutions“, Haaretz, 10 October 2002 — “Israel holds the record for ignoring United Nations Security Council resolutions, according to a study by Steven Zunes.”
- “Obama’s kill list policy compels US support for Israeli attacks on Gaza“, Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian, 15 November 2012 — “The US was once part of the international consensus against extra-judicial assassinations. Now it is a leader in that tactic.”
- “The Symmetry and Asymmetry of Violence in Gaza“, Paul Pillar (ex-CIA analyst), The National Interest, 15 November 2012
- “Why Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Doomed“, Janine Zacharia, Slate, 16 November 2012 — “Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to bomb Hamas militants will leave Israel more isolated, insecure, and alone.”
- “Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza“, Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian, 17 November 2012 — “The Obama administration’s unstinting financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel is a key enabling force in the conflict”
- “A plea to Israel from the right: End the Gaza war now“, Bradley Burston, Haaretz, 18 November 2012 — “Prominent columnist Ben Dror Yemini, an outspoken critic of the Israeli left, urges Israel to make a move which no one expects – follow a unilateral cease-fire by inviting Hamas to peace talks.”
(b) Posts about Israel:
- Important: The Fate of Israel, 28 July 2006
- Are Israel’s leaders insane? Jeffrey Goldberg thinks so., 15 August 2010
- We can only watch as the nation of Israel slowly commits suicide, 30 November 2011
- Israel leads America on a march to war. A march to folly., 16 February 2012
- Preparing for the Evacuation of Israel, 6 March 2012
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