War Thoughts
Wednesday, 07 January 2009
Rabbi Dow Marmur was born in Poland and spent the years of World War II in the Soviet Union before returning to Poland in 1946. He emigrated to Sweden and later moved London to study for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College. Before moving to Canada he served as rabbi at two synagogues; Alyth in North West London and SWESRS in Essex. He now lives in Israel. Whatever the official Israeli statements may be saying, there’s much to suggest that the real purpose of its current war in Gaza is to destroy Hamas and thus bring its rule of terror there to an end. I heard retired general Moshe Sneh, a former deputy minister of defense, say so explicitly in a radio interview this morning.
It seems that the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority and several neighbouring Arab countries hope that Israel will succeed. In this sense, it’s doing what they themselves greatly desire but cannot accomplish. But whether Israel will be able to reach is presumed goal remains to be seen.
Unlike say in the beginning of the second Lebanon war two-and-a-half years ago, Israeli spokespeople today don’t make triumphalist pronouncements but warn the public that this war is going to be neither easy nor brief. Experts suggest that the invasion that began last night is only the second of several stages. The fact that many more army reservists are being called up supports this assessment.
The official Israeli line is that its only objective is to silence the guns that have made life dangerous for people in the south of the country. The massive barrage of missiles reaching further and deeper into Israel after Hamas formally broke the fragile truce of the previous six months has rendered the present Israeli initiative inevitable. The land invasion became necessary when the rockets continued to fall on Israeli towns and settlements with even greater ferocity during the air attacks of last week.
“The international community” - a nebulous designation of many countries with very diverse agendas, presented in the media with equally diverse perspectives - is working on several ceasefire proposals. I surmise that Israel fears that none of them will be conducive to freeing Gaza from Hamas rule. Yet sooner or later it’ll have to comply. Hence the current intensified Israeli efforts to try to destroy Hamas before powerful diplomacy kicks in.
It seems that Israel’s vigorous international representations - led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni who hopes, one assumes, that her success in this realm will match the military success of defense minister Barak and silence, or at least subdue, their chief opponent Netanyahu in the forthcoming elections - is in the context of the international war on terror. It’s a language that many political leaders understand, especially as they themselves aren’t immune to terrorist attacks in their own countries. That includes neighbouring Egypt and Jordan as well as other Arab states in the region.
Cynical-to-hostile media continue to display episodes of uncharacteristic understanding for Israel’s position. Even Al Jazeera, which we can view in Israel both in English and in Arabic, seems to be journalistically responsible. This morning it warned viewers not to believe the propaganda that Hamas is putting out.
“The world” - another nebulous concept - knows the score and wouldn’t be distressed if Hamas were to suffer a decisive and well deserved defeat. It would serve as a warning to its sister organizations, notably Hezbollah, as well as provide a real opportunity for creating a Palestinian state run by moderates like Abu Mazen.
Something good, or at least a little better, may still come of all this, even if the current situation isn’t pretty and the mood in the country reflects it.
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