Reply #32: ANALYSIS / Next round of Gaza hostilities will be more intense [View All]

[bemildred]

The Israeli reactions to the conclusions reached by the Goldstone Commission about Operation Cast Lead are characterized by large doses of affront and anger. But the issue of the next war is no less important. Justice Richard Goldstone, who conducted his investigation on the basis of a clearly ideological approach, effectively operated as an "unknowing agent" of Tehran. The practical significance of his report is that Israel is liable to wage its next war, against a more serious threat than the one posed by Hamas, with its arms and legs shackled.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi this week told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hezbollah is in possession of missiles with a range of 300-325 kilometers. He then reiterated the IDF's rejection of the accusations concerning its behavior in the Gaza operation. "I am not the commander of an army of murderers, looters and rapists," Ashkenazi asserted. The two statements are connected.

Backing the soldiers and thwarting the establishment of a state inquiry commission in the wake of the Goldstone report is the army's declared stance, according to the chief of staff, but this far from reflects a consensus. Ashkenazi and Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, the military advocate general, were cautioned already toward the end of Operation Cast Lead that a delay in carrying out operational debriefings and criminal investigations would work against Israel. Academic experts conveyed a similar opinion to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who supported Mendelblit's approach. The need for an additional Israeli examination of the events in Gaza did not dissipate after the publication of the Goldstone report, and it goes beyond the growing danger that suits will be filed against IDF officers abroad.

The report, which is being quoted everywhere and already almost constitutes a binding document, does not change the essence of the threat that Israel will confront in another round of fighting, in Gaza and especially in Lebanon. The next round will likely be more intense than previous campaigns - more rockets of higher accuracy and greater range, "from Dimona northward," as Military Intelligence puts it. To put a stop to the firing, the IDF will have to use considerable force, combining massive firepower with the deployment of ground forces.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127841.html