Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: How to counter the argument that Israel doesn’t target civilians

We have all heard it a million times: Israel does not target
civilians; it only attacks military targets. I can barely count the
number of times I have heard this argument from my family and friends.
When all evidence of the Israeli destruction of Beirut or Gaza or
wherever comes to light, this is the pillar to which uncritical Israel-
supporters cling. As if the destruction of entire neighborhoods is
justified through the assertion that civilians weren’t targeted, they
just got in the way.
There is just one big problem with the argument: It is patently false.
Moreover, Israeli leaders know its false, which therefore means this
argument, when heard from Netanyahu/Livni/Olmert/Barak/Peres and all
other Israeli leaders, is also a conscious lie.
Next time you hear this naive and propagandistic assertion, you should
respond with a single, emphatic point: “That’s not what the Dahiya
Doctrine says.”
What is the Dahiya Doctrine? It is the approved military strategy of
the IDF whereby any attacks against Israel are countered with
deliberate, “disproportionate” force on civilian areas in order to
create political pressure on the organization that fired the rockets.
Named after the Shia neighborhood of Beirut, which was flattened in
the Second Lebanon War (2006), the Dahiya Doctrine aims to punish
civilians badly enough that Hezbollah or Hamas will think twice before
launching more rockets.
One of the most detailed discussions of this was just published by an
Israeli NGO, the Public Committee Against Torture, which documents a
substantial shift in Israeli military strategy in recent years. I
reproduce below some of the relevant information about the Dahiya
Doctrine, but I encourage readers to take a look at the whole, very
important report.
The clearest explanation of the Dahiya Doctrine comes from Maj.
General Eisenkott, Commander of the IDF’s Northern Command, in an
interview with Yediot Ahronot in October 2008:
    “What happened in the Dahiye Quarter of Beirut in 2006, will
happen in every village from which shots are fired on Israel. We will
use disproportionate force against it and we will cause immense damage
and destruction. From our point of view these are not civilian
villages but military bases.
    This is not a recommendation, this is the plan, and it has already
been authorized.”
He goes on to ask: “In the Second Lebanon War we used a great deal of
bombs. How else were 120,000 houses destroyed?”
Despite Israeli protestations to innocence, its inconceivable that
120,000 homes were plausibly linked even in Israeli leaders’ minds to
military targets.
The report continues:
    At the same time Eisenkott made this statement, two months before
Operation Cast Lead, the Institute for National Security Studies, a
think-tank at the Tel Aviv University which reflects the mainstream of
Israeli military thinking, published an article by Dr. Gabriel Siboni,
a colonel in IDF reserves. The article’s title was: “Disproportionate
Force: Israel’s Concept of Response in Light of the Second Lebanon
War”.
    In the article Siboni expresses an identical approach to that of
Eisenkott, which he relates in greater detail:
        “With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act
immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to
the enemy’s actions and the threat it poses. Such a response aims at
inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will
demand long and expensive reconstruction processes. The strike must be
carried out as quickly as possible, and must prioritize damaging
assets over seeking out each and every launcher. Punishment must be
aimed at decision makers and the power elite… attacks should both aim
at Hezbollah’s military capabilities and should target economic
interests and the centers of civilian power that support the
organization.”
Given the statement of this military strategy, is there evidence that
it was implemented during the Gaza offensive? Absolutely, as confirmed
by numerous soldiers’ testimonies.
    Lt. Col. Ofer Levy, Deputy-Commander of the Givati Brigade, which
operated in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza: “Our combat was very,
very aggressive. With very heavy firepower, a great deal. At levels
that veteran soldiers and senior commanders never encountered before.
We have direct aid from fighter planes and helicopters, from whatever
we have available.”
    More evidence comes from an interview with an IDF air force
squadron leader and Channel 10’s military correspondent, Alon Ben-
David:
        Alon Ben-David: “During the entire history of the bloody
conflict, never have so many explosives been dropped on the Gaza Strip
as in the past three weeks. The IAF carried out 2500 attacks on Gaza,
which is to say that the IAF alone rained something like 1000 tons of
explosives on Gaza.”
        Micha, deputy F-15 squadron leader: “I don’t think it’s
correct to return a rocket for a rocket, for 8 years we showed
restraint, we reacted proportionately or less than that, but I think,
once again, these are my thoughts, that the time has come to stop with
this, and if we have to use all our firepower, then we’ll use it…
Israel isn’t trying to hide the fact that it reacts
disproportionately”.
    And from Prime Minister Olmert: “I’m telling them to stop it. We
are stronger; there will be more blood there. We have power, enormous
power; we can do things that are devastating.”
    And from independent investigations…
        According to an independent panel commissioned by the Arab
League: “There was substantial destruction of and damage to property
during the offensive. Over 3,000 homes were destroyed and over 11,000
damaged; 215 factories and 700 private businesses were seriously
damaged or destroyed; 15 hospitals and 43 primary health care centres
were destroyed or damaged; 28 government buildings and 60 police
stations were destroyed or damaged; 30 mosques were destroyed and 28
damaged; 10 schools were destroyed and 168 damaged; three
universities / colleges were destroyed and 14 damaged; and 53 United
Nations properties were damaged.”
        According to Israeli human rights organizations: “During the
assault, the army received via the Red Cross a list of the locations
of all the water installations and sewage facilities in the Gaza
Strip; despite this, water wells, water and sewage lines, and sewage
facilities were shelled. On 3 January 2009, seven of the twelve power
lines that bring electricity from Israel and Egypt to the Gaza Strip
were shelled, completely shutting them down.”
Finally, I end with a quote about Israel’s “day after” policy, which
makes clear that these civilian spots were not destroyed accidentally
as part of an attack on a “legitimate” military target. Instead, they
were destroyed in accordance with accepted military strategy:
    “But then we were told there are houses to be demolished for the
sake of ‘the day after’. The day after is actually a thought that
obviously we’re going in for a limited period of time which could be a
week and it might also be a few months. But it’s not a longer span of
time without defining what it is. And the rationale was that we want
to come out with the area remaining sterile as far as we’re concerned.
And the best way to do this is by razing. That way we have good firing
capacity, good visibility for observation, we can see anything, we
control a very large part of the area and very effectively. This was
the meaning of demolition for the sake of the day after. In practical
terms this meant taking a house that is not implicated in any way,
that its single sin is the fact that it is situated on top of a hill
in the Gaza Strip.”
    Another soldier casts doubts on the contention that everything was
operational when he talks about the destruction done by D-9 tractors:
        “The amount of destruction there was incredible. You drive
around those neighborhoods, and can’t identify a thing. Not one stone
left standing over another. You see plenty of fields, hothouses,
orchards, everything devastated. Totally ruined.”
    Did you happen to escort D-9s demolishing houses, do you know what
they destroyed, why, how many?
        “The way we worked was in secondary protective positions.
After they realized we’d be inside over 72 hours, and that we couldn’t
stay in our positions, all of us, all of the time, these rear
positions were prepared. If they didn’t like the looks of some house,
if it disturbed or threatened them, then it would be taken down.”
    But that was for operational needs.
        “Operational needs. I don’t know, maybe half of them.
Sometimes the company commander would give the D-9s something to
demolish just to make them happy.”
Given these statements and the uncontested reality of Gaza, it becomes
clear that the situation is one where a clear military strategy was
adopted, which was then followed by military action perfectly
consistent with the strategy.
Its called the Dahiya Doctrine. It explicitly calls for war crimes and
possible crime against humanity. Remember the name and use it to win
your next debate about Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians
and their infrastructure.
http://www.hybridstates.com/2009/12/how-to-counter-the-argument-that-israel-doesnt-target-civilians/

 create political pressure on the organization that fired the rockets.
In sï¿½ la strategia non ï¿½ affatto nuova. La novitï¿½ sta solo nel fatto che 
ora chi la pratica la dichiara moralmente lodevole.
------------
[Megaphone]
The Foreign Ministry itself is now pushing the idea, urging supporters 
of Israel everywhere to
become cyberspace soldiers "in the new battleground for Israel's image."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378505678&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull