The 56-hour Gaza onslaught appears to be history — if the ceasefire that came into effect last night holds. And what is that history: The seasonal, unprovoked onslaught that took 44 Palestinian lives including 15 children, injuring about 350 and destroying about 1,500 homes either partially or wholly. On the Israeli side there are 0 deaths.
And Israeli military pundits are already beginning to extol the success. Speaking to the daily Maariv’s FM radio station this morning, General Amos Yadlin, former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, felt exalted:
It was a successful round. It was really clean, we hit hard the Hamas military wing [sic], we hardly hit innocents and unaffiliated, there’s not one Israeli who was hit, I think it’s an exceptional achievement. (Hebrew).
Yadlin apparently means to say Islamic Jihad, not Hamas – Hamas was not directly involved in the fighting.
Yadlin is military veteran elite. His status is confirmed by his being a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Yadlin’s presence at Harvard drew protest a few months ago; he was leading a study group on Israeli national security, and protesters called him a “war criminal” who shouldn’t be teaching at Harvard.
And now? his “really clean” expression is unbelievable in light of the reports of destruction from Gaza.
Actually it reminds me of what John Kerry said on July 20, 2014, as Israel was in the midst of its “Protective Edge” onslaught and had just massacred 63 Palestinians in the neighborhood of Shuja’iyeh: “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation”. Kerry was being sarcastic; he was caught on a hot mic between interviews speaking to his aide (in the actual interviews he stuck to the talking points). Yadlin, on the other hand, is being completely serious.
And why the excited approval? It is widely recognized in Israeli society that this onslaught is a manhood test for interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid, in anticipation of the upcoming November 1st elections (even if the New York Times hides that part of the story). Lapid has no military credentials or combat experience, unlike his immediate predecessor Naftali Bennett who has “killed many Arabs” and has “no problem with that.” Unlike his rival Benjamin Netanyahu who unleashed several attacks on Gaza. So Lapid had to show that he too can kill many Arabs and “mow the lawn”, with as few Israeli casualties as possible – and look at that, 0 deaths!