War on Gaza: All signs point to a strategic defeat for Israel
An Israeli soldier stands at a position along the frontier between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip on 31 January 2024
David Hearst writes in Middle East Eye on 14 March 2024:
The little boy spoke with the matter-of-factness of an adult. Faisal al-Khaldi talked of the moment Israeli soldiers entered his family’s home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, as he was preparing to go to school.
“My mum was pregnant,” he told an Alaraby TV reporter who was interviewing him. “When we were going to school they (Israeli soldiers) came into the living room and then shot my mother in her stomach. She was pregnant in the seventh month.”
“Where was your father?” “He was asleep,” the boy said.
“And then he woke up?”
“He was killed with my mother in the same week.”
“On the same day?
“Yes.”
“In front of you? Did you see it happen?”
“Yes, in front of me.”
“What did you see? What happened?
“They took them to the corridor and shot them in front of me. When we went to the corridor, they brought them and shot them in front of us.”
The world is watching
Perhaps these soldiers were following the instructions of Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, the head of a Jewish school in Yaffa: “The basic principle that we have is that when we live through the ‘holy war of the mitzvah’, in this case in Gaza, according to the voice of the judge, you will not let every soul live. The meaning is very clear. If you don’t kill them first, they will kill you.
“The terrorists of today and the children of the past, who have remained in their lives. And in reality, it’s the women who create these terrorists. What this means is that the definition ‘not every soul shall live’ is very clear in the scriptures. It’s either you or them.” So the Torah is clear about the need to kill women and children.
But what about old men? The rabbi was asked by a member in the audience. “There are no innocent people. It is the same with the elderly person who is able to carry a weapon,” he said. “The Torah is also very clear in the book. In Gaza, according to all estimates of the security forces, 95-98 percent want to destroy us. That is the majority. It is the same thing [with children]. If you save him, don’t try and outsmart the Torah.”
Perhaps this is why other soldiers recently congratulated their comrade who killed an unarmed, elderly man with hearing and speech difficulties who had his hands up in his bedroom. “We opened the door. He fluttered. Came in my direction and did like this (waves his hands). I killed him with four bullets,” the soldier said.
For 75 years, the western world was indifferent. But this war is forcing Israel’s western backers to see the full horrors of the crimes being committed
“He was the only one?” a colleague asked in a video clip posted to X.
“I don’t know. We didn’t have time. There could be more. There was another room. We did not have time.”
“And he said, ‘no, no?’”
“Yes, ‘no, no.’”
“And you took him down? Excellent!”
Later in the clip, the soldier was asked: “What without a weapon? He had something on him?”
“No, no, he hid beside the bed.”
“All respect!”
The clips show Israeli soldiers talking amongst themselves. They appear largely contemptuous of what the rest of the world might think, and wholly ignorant of the effect these clips are having around the globe.