By Gideon Levy
August
08, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-- "Haaretz"
Thus wrote Labor Party chair Merav
Michaeli, a few minutes after Israel once again
launched a criminal assault on the Gaza Strip, a
moment before the killing of the first
Palestinian toddler, who won’t be the last: “The
residents of Israel deserve to live in safety.
No sovereign state would agree to a terror
organization besieging its residents. ... I
support the security forces.”
Benjamin
Netanyahu hadn’t yet reacted, Itamar Ben-Gvir
hadn’t woken up, Yoav Gallant didn’t yet
threaten the head of the snake, and already the
leader of the Zionist left falls in line with
the right, salutes the military and supports a
war that hadn’t even begun. This time she even
got there before Shimon Peres.
Michaeli cannot
be forgiven for her unbelievable lack of
awareness: After four days of a voluntary
partial lockdown in the south, the leader of the
left says that no state would agree to a
“siege.” Without blinking, no state. A member of
the government that is responsible for a
horrific 16-year siege dares to be shocked by a
2-minute voluntary, partial lockdown. Instead of
supporting the government’s momentary restraint,
which lasted the eternity of the life of a
butterfly (time’s a-wasting, the elections is
nigh), the Labor Party once again supports a
foolish war of choice, as did all its
predecessors. The Zionist left once again gives
the concept of a double standard a bad name.
Perhaps at least now the penny will drop for
more supporters of the center-left: There’s no
real difference between it and the right. Israel
can no longer even pretend that it didn’t start
this war – whose infantile name, Operation
Breaking Dawn, was given to it at birth – or
that it had no choice. This time they even
forewent the advance saber-rattling and got
straight to the point: the arrest of an Islamic
Jihad leader in the West Bank, which they knew
ahead of time would provoke a severe response,
and the assassination of a senior commander in
the Gaza Strip, after which they knew there was
no way back, and Israel is already waging a
“defensive war,” a just war of a state to which
everything is permitted. The peace-loving
country that only wants security for its
inhabitants – such an innocent. The state that
has everything except deterrence: There is
nothing or no one to deter Israel from attacking
Gaza.
But this time, the government is one of “change
and healing.” Fifteen months after the last
delight, Operation Guardian of the Walls, dawn
has broken. Five weeks after the fastest gun in
the West took office, Prime Minister Yair Lapid
is already sending the army to war. Never in
Israel’s history was a prime minister in such a
hurry to kill. All the Netanyahu cases pale in
the face of the crime of launching a needless
war that will contribute nothing but more
bloodshed, most of it Palestinian. And all of
Netanyahu’s failings pale in the face of his
relative restraint in using military force while
in office. Keep on getting riled up about the
cigars – at least Netanyahu doesn’t have to
prove his macho credentials, as Lapid does.
It’s true that the analysts, the old boys club
and the mayors in the south pressed for this
war, as they always do, but never was there such
a rapid capitulation to the caprices to launch a
war; Israel was hardly given a minute for
passionate excoriations on the air. Now, when
only a few months separate one attack in Gaza
from another, there’s no point in even asking
what the goals are. There are no goals, except
the desire to prove that ours is bigger. If
there were goals, and if quiet were one of them,
and if this were a government of change, then
Lapid would have taught Israel a lesson in
restraint; and if Lapid were also a courageous
statesman he would have led to change by
recognizing Hamas, lifting the siege and making
an effort to meet with the Gaza leadership.
Anything less than this is a direct continuation
of the policies of all of Israel’s governments,
in whose DNA baseless wars run deep. That’s why
there is no need for a government of change.
Just be sure to remember who started this war,
and who supported it.
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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