Commentary
The Logic of the Barbarians - Part II
Following the deliberate bombing of an apartment complex in Gaza on July 23, which resulted in the death of 15 civilians, including nine children, the Israelis suffered what was euphemistically described by a member of the pro-Israeli lobby in the U.S. as a public relations setback.
After initially praising the operation of a success, as the alleged target, Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh was killed along with 14 others, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon quickly backtracked, stating that if Israeli intelligence had been able to predict the loss of civilian life, they would have targeted Shehadeh in another way. Sharon also made a vague commitment to an investigation into what went wrong.
Of course Israeli intelligence could have predicted civilian loss of life when a one tonne bomb was dropped on an apartment complex in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. But, as many have since analyzed, the primary aim of the attack was to destroy any chance of a peace deal with Hamas; just two days before the bombing, Hamas had committed to an immediate halt to suicide bombings while peace negotiations were to get underway. The attack also allowed Israeli to establish a precedence of civilian casualties as "collateral damage" in its policy of extra-judicial assassinations.
The Hamas retaliation came within a week, with a bombing which killed seven at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
What has emerged in the past month, however, is that senior members of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) continue to view the operation as a success and have plans for similar operations in the future.
In his first interview since the bombing, Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz told an Israeli newspaper on Aug. 20 that he was satisfied the operation was proper "militarily and morally".
"The decision making process was correct, balanced, and careful. The problem was with the information, the information changed. I reject all the criticism about this operation, before, during and after," Halutz said.
He added that IDF policy is that harming civilians in a strike aimed at eliminating a terrorist was completely legitimate. "Against a man who committed or is positively known to have the planning in hand for 'mega-terror', my answer is categorically yes. How many people [can be harmed]? I don't know."
Halutz, parroting the line of collateral damage used by the Americans to justify civilian casualties in their military incursions around the world, also tried to claim Israeli intelligence had indicated there were no other occupants in the apartment building. But, he said, "as for the changing intelligence information, those who wait for 100 per cent certainty in every case will apparently never move. The attempt to find people to blame is shameful. I know of no armed force with the moral level of the IDF."