A Continuation of Israel's Policies - Opinion - Haaretz.com
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.