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ReplyDeleteIsrael’s claim it will protect civilians is manifestly false
In reality, the collective punishment of the civilian population is one of the tenets of counter-insurgent warfare
October 21, 2023 6:00 am (Updated October 26, 2023 10:56 am)
“Did you ever think, sir, what an opportunity a battlefield affords liars?” The question was asked by the great Confederate general Stonewall Jackson of an aide accompanying him on a visit to a battlefield where the general had once fought.
I always try to keep in mind Jackson’s words when reporting any war as combatants have an interest, even a military duty, to say anything, true or false, which will benefit their own side.
This is true of all military conflicts, but particularly those between Israel and the Palestinians who fight a never-ending information war. Politicians tend to revel in standing tall as war leaders spouting propaganda, but I suspect that the public in Britain, burnt by the memory that they were comprehensively lied to and misled during wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, are these days highly sceptical about what they are told about any military conflict.
Revoltingly cynical
Much of the reporting and commentary on the war between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza treats it as a unique event. But what impresses me most forcibly about the shattered streets in Gaza is how like they are to the passages through the rubble of bombed out buildings I have seen in Iraq and Syria, destroyed by US air and artillery fire, or in rebel-held parts of Damascus and Homs bombarded by the Syrian government, or, going back a few years, places in Lebanon targeted by Israel.
There is something absurdly naïve or revoltingly cynical about President Joe Biden’s and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s appeals to Israel to somehow conduct one of the world’s most intense bombing campaigns along humanitarian lines and with due regard for civilian life.
A widespread misconception about modern counter-insurgency warfare – and Israel’s operation in Gaza is very much of this type – is that when civilians are killed or injured they are “collateral damage”, accidental victims of military necessity or uncaring military commanders. Such things may happen on occasions, but, having reported on sieges such as that of Beirut by the Israelis in 1982, Grozny by the Russians in 1999-2000, and Mosul by the Iraqi army backed by US air power in 2016-17, I believe the mass killing of civilians is much more deliberate.
Spectacular act of cruelty
Those carrying out bombardments piously claim that they are doing their utmost to single out the armed enemy, but in practice this cannot be done because nobody knows where the enemy is hiding. Israel says that it is hitting 5,000 Hamas buildings, but how on earth would an intelligence service that missed a Hamas offensive involving thousands of people over two years have precise information like this?
In reality, the collective punishment of the civilian population is one of the tenets of counter-insurgent warfare, and is conducted in much the same way by Israel in Gaza, the Americans in Afghanistan, and Syrian government forces in Idlib and Damascus.
Since it is pretty well impossible to crush an armed opposition by air or by artillery fire, the alternative is to hit the civilian population hard in the belief that, even if they were once pro-insurgent, they will cease to support a political and military movement that cannot protect them. A danger is, of course, that some of those on the receiving end will not be intimidated but will retaliate with some spectacular act of cruelty – as happened on 7 October.
"Too many of those supporting Israel’s every action without reserve overlook the fact that she is not actually fighting a war against ‘another state’ who has attacked her, though she is acting as if this were the case. She is yet again turning on civilians within her own borders."
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/johnmilbank3/status/1717869070844924382?s=20
That is a very important point.indeed that had not occurred to me. I agree with Alessandra Bocchi in this tweet. https://twitter.com/alessabocchi/status/1717916611888189697
DeleteThis comment on the tweet to which you linked makes very interesting points.
DeleteThis is the comment. http://twitter.com/linaposting/status/1716883582495699322
DeleteThe Gaza Strip is unusual in being a densely settled area not recognized as a de jure part of any extant country.
Deletehttps://www.britannica.com/place/Gaza-Strip