Who decided to go to war in Gaza and why?
Aluf Benn wants an investigation, but not the one Richard Goldstone has in mind. Benn wants to know who decided to go to war in Gaza and why. The investigations by the army and Military Police are meant to examine soldiers' behavior on the battlefield. They are no substitute for a comprehensive examination of the activities of the political leadership and senior command, who are responsible for an operation and its results. It's not the company or battalion commanders who need to be investigated, but former prime minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and the heads of the intelligence chiefs and Foreign Ministry, who were party to the decisions. It is also important to investigate Barak and Livni's election campaign advisers to find out if and how the campaign affected the military and diplomatic efforts.You should read the whole thing. He asks many pertinent questions.
The Gaza operation was long overdue and Hamas was using the purported cease fire to re-arm. But Olmert and Co. did not have the nerve to go to war sooner. No, it's not a coincidence that they went to war between the elections and Obama's inauguration. No, it's not a coincidence that Kadima was trailing badly in the polls when they went to war. Yes, the IDF had to restore deterrence and that is a legitimate goal of this type of operation. If anything, I would have gone further and wiped out Hamas' entire infrastructure.
The decision to go to war wasn't wrong. It should have been taken sooner. Had there been no elections, we'd probably still have 10-20 rockets a day hitting southern Israel. The timing of the war was politically motivated. There is no doubt about that.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:54 PM
2 Comments:
There's no doubt it helped Kadima considerably. Labor - not so much. Whatever the political motivations behind going to war in Gaza may have been, Israel would have to fight it sooner or later. But there's no doubt that it has quelled Hamas ability to strike at Israel. On the political front, it was a disaster for Israel but Israel would have been condemned even if the war had ended much sooner.
To belabor the obvious, Hamas went to war; Israel responded
Post a Comment
<< Home