FROM STALINGRAD TO GAZA WITH LOVE
November 19, 2012 – 7:17 am
By Gilad Atzmon
November 17, 2012: Benjamin Netanyahu is made of different material than Barak. Unlike Barak, who is obsessed with the banal implementation of military power, Netanyahu is concerned with the power of deterrence and he is also intelligent enough to realise that the consequences of a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip may mean the total eradication of such a power.
A large scale deployment of infantry is a complicated thing. It would lead to violent clashing with hostile civilians in a heavily populated urban territory, endless cases of inevitable war crimes and crimes against humanity, international condemnation, unavoidable conflict with Israeli allies and so on.
Also, such an escalation will prove, once again how resilient the Palestinian society is, as opposed to the vulnerable Israeli people. Let me tell you, this is not what Netanyahu had in mind two weeks ago when he decided to slaughter just a few Palestinians in order to win the next Israeli election.
Netanyahu prefers to kill Palestinians from afar, to missile them from Israeli Navy battle ships, drones and F16s. Israel had initially a limited operative plan ahead of Operation Pillar of Cloud. But it didn’t take more than a few hours for Israeli generals to realise that they were ambushed by the Hamas.
The message was clear: Hamas is ready to make Gaza into Stalingrad.
Like Lebanon 2006, Israel was far from being ready for this conflict. It failed to realise that the Hamas have been preparing itself for this battle. Earlier on today, I saw on BBC News, a Palestinian flag waving on top of a wreckage of a house in Gaza that was flattened by Israel during the night.
The message was clear: Hamas is ready to make Gaza into Stalingrad. The Israeli generals realise it, some of them are clever enough to grasp the fate of their soldiers if they decide to move in. They are not prepared to be Netanyahu’s “6th Army”.
The Hamas clearly won this round of violence, it has managed to push Israel to the corner. The Israelis are now expecting Netanyahu and Barak to dissolve the ‘immanent’ ballistic threat. Yet, the IDF doesn’t have a magical military solution except offering full land invasion.
But can the Jewish State redeem itself, can Israel actually win this hopeless situation? Of course it can. All it would take from Israelis is to learn to love their neighbours, to accept the Palestinian cause, to grasp that the rockets are actually a love letter to stolen land, cities, villages, fields and orchards. But can the Jewish State look in the mirror and grasp it all? Can the Jewish State understand its original sin, its own reality as a plundering oppressive entity? Yes, of course it can, only if it stops being a Jewish State.
Note: Writer and jazz musician Gilad Atzmon’s new book, The Wandering Who?, can be ordered from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Visit Gilad’s homepage at www.gilad.co.uk.
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NETANYAHU SAYS NO TO GROUND OPERATION
Crucial Update - November 18, 2012: Ynet reported a few hours ago that Netanyahu gave private assurances to U.S. President Obama that Israel is not planning a ground operation in Gaza yet.
“According to two American officials who were briefed on the phone conversation between Netanyahu and Obama, the PM said Israel would not consider a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza unless there was escalation from Hamas or an attack that caused significant casualties.”
The verdict is clear, PM Netanyahu tries to avoid his predecessors’ mistakes. But can he? The Israelis want to see blood, they are desperate for a victory, they want to see Gaza and the Hamas wiped out.
Interestingly enough, Israel and Netanyahu’s paralysis is the natural and inevitable outcome of the Jewish collective obsession with power. They can kill, they can destroy, they can deliver misery to the entire region but for some reason they never prevail.
By the time they win the battle they are shocked to find out that they’ve lost the war. - Gilad Atzmon
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One Response to “FROM STALINGRAD TO GAZA WITH LOVE”
“Netanyahu prefers to kill Palestinians from afar, to missile them from Israeli Navy battle ships, drones and F16s.”
“Palestinians” meaning Hamas military leaders, that is. Israel goes out of its way to warn civilians in the surrounding area to leave when a strike is imminent, to minimize casualties. And there’s no mention here of the fact that these strikes are in response to Hamas killing Israelis “from afar” using their missiles, deliberately aiming them to inflict civilian casualties, and celebrating in the streets when Jews are killed, even if the dead are women and children.
“The Israelis want to see blood, they are desperate for a victory, they want to see Gaza and the Hamas wiped out.”
Putting words in the mouths of the Israelis, yet again, there’s no mention of the many explicit, public statements by Hamas about wanting to “eradicate the Zionist entity,” teaching their children that Jews must be killed, etc.
I’d say I’m surprised by such blatantly one-sided, anti-Semitic editorializing, but hey, it’s Atzmon, so it’s no surprise at all.
By none more black on Nov 22, 2012