[THS] !!! Gideon Levy: Operation Mini Cast Lead

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25586.htm


Operation Mini Cast Lead

By Gideon Levy

June 01, 2010 "Haaretz" -- Like in "Mini-Israel," the park where there is everything,
but smaller, Israel embarked yesterday on a mini Operation Cast Lead. Like its larger,
losing predecessor, this operation had it all: the usual false claim that is was they who
had started it - and not the landing of commandos from helicopters on a ship in open
sea, away from Israeli territorial waters. There was the claim that the first act of
violence came not from the soldiers, but the rioting activists on Mavi Marmara; that
the blockade on Gaza is legal and that the flotilla to its shores is against the law - God
knows which law.

Again came the claim of self defense, that "they lynched us" and that all the dead
are on their side. Once more the use of violence and excessive and lethal force was
in play and once more civilians wound up dead.

This action also featured the pathetic focus on "public relations," as if there is
something to explain, and again the sick question was asked: Why didn't the soldiers
use more force.

Again Israel will pay a heavy diplomatic price, one which had not been considered
ahead of time. Again, the Israeli propaganda machine has managed to convince only
brainwashed Israelis, and once more no one asked the question: What was it for?
Why were our soldiers thrown into this trap of pipes and ball bearings? What did we
get out of it?

If Cast Lead was a turning point in the attitude of the world toward us, this operation
is the second horror film of the apparently ongoing series. Israel proved yesterday
that it learned nothing from the first movie.

Yesterday's fiasco could and should have been prevented. This flotilla should have
been allowed to pass and the blockade should be brought to an end.

This should have happened a long time ago. In four years Hamas has not weakened
and Gilad Shalit was not released. There was not even a sign of a gain.

And what have we instead? A country that is quickly becoming completely isolated.
This is a place that turns away intellectuals, shoots peace activists, cuts off Gaza and
now finds itself in an international blockade. Once more yesterday it seemed, and not
for the first time, that Israel is increasingly breaking away from the mother ship, and
losing touch with the world - which does not accept its actions and does not
understand its motives.

Yesterday there was no one on the planet, not a newsman or analyst, except for its
conscripted chorus, who could say a good word about the lethal takeover.

The Israel Defense Forces too came out looking bad again. The magic evaporated
long ago, the most moral army in the world, that was once the best army in the
world, failed again. More and more there is the impression that nearly everything it
touches causes harm to Israel.