“It seems that Nasarallah survived,” Israeli newspapers announced, after 23 tons of bombs were dropped on a site in Beirut, where the Hezbollah leader was supposedly hiding in a bunker.
An interesting formulation. A few hours after the bombing, Hassan Nasarallah had given an interview to Al-Jazeera television. Not only did he look alive, but even composed and confident. He spoke about the bombardment — proof that the interview was recorded on the same day.
So what does “it seems that” mean? Very simple: Nasarallah pretends to be alive, but you can’t believe an Arab. Everyone knows that Arabs always lie. That’s in their very nature, as Ehud Barak once pronounced.
The killing of the man is a national aim, almost the main aim of the war. This is, perhaps, the first war in history waged by a state in order to kill one person. Until now, only the Mafia thought along those lines. Even the British in World War II did not proclaim that their aim was to kill Hitler. They wanted to catch him alive, in order to put him on trial.
But successive Israeli governments have adopted a policy of killing the leaders of opposing groups. Our army has killed, among others, Hezbollah leader Abbas Mussawi, PLO No. 2 Abu Jihad, as well as Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and other Hamas leaders. Almost all Palestinians, and not only they, are convinced that Yasser Arafat was also murdered.
And the results? The place of Mussawi was filled by Nasarallah, who is far more able. Sheikh Yassin was succeeded by far more radical leaders. Instead of Arafat we got Hamas.
A person returning here after a long absence and seeing our TV screens might get the impression that a military junta is governing Israel, in the (former) South American manner. True, we are a democracy. But in practice, today it is the top brass who decide all political and military matters. Chief-of-Staff Dan Halutz announced last week with satisfaction: “The army enjoys the full backing of the government!” That is also an interesting formulation. It implies that the army decides what to do, and the government provides “backing”. And that’s how it is, of course.
Now it is not a secret anymore: This war has been planned for a long time. The other side, too, has been preparing for this war for years. Our soldiers are now encountering this system and paying a high price. As always, our army has treated “the Arabs” with disdain and discounted their military capabilities.
The mentality of the generals, resulting from their education and profession, is by nature force-oriented. It is based on the belief that all problems can be solved by force, and if that does not work — then by more force.
That is well illustrated by the planning and execution of the current war. This was based on the assumption that if we cause terrible suffering to the population, they will rise up and demand the removal of Hezbollah.
A minimal understanding of mass psychology would suggest the opposite. The killing of hundreds of Lebanese civilians, belonging to all the ethno-religious communities, the turning of the lives of the others into hell, and the destruction of the life-supporting infrastructure of Lebanese society will arouse a groundswell of fury and hatred — against Israel, and not against the heroes, as they see them, who sacrifice their lives in their defense.
The result will be a strengthening of Hezbollah, not only today, but for years to come. And not only in Lebanon, but throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
Faced with the horrors that are shown on all television and many computer screens, world opinion is also changing. What was seen at the beginning as a justified response to the capture of the two soldiers now looks like the barbaric actions of a brutal war-machine. Thousands of e-mail have circulated a horrible series of photos of mutilated babies and children. At the end, there is a macabre photo: Jolly Israeli children writing “greetings” on the artillery shells that are about to be fired. Then there appears a message: “Thanks to the children of Israel for this nice gift. Thanks to the world that does nothing. Signed: the children of Lebanon and Palestine.”
The woman who heads the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has already defined these acts as war crimes — something that may in future mean trouble for Israeli Army officers.
In general, when army officers are determining the policy of a nation, serious moral problems arise. As Gen. Amos Yaron told his officers after the Sabra and Shatila massacre: “Our senses have been blunted!”
Years of occupation of the Palestinian territories have caused a terrible callousness as far as human lives are concerned. The killing of 10 to 20 Palestinians every day, including women and children, as happens now in Gaza, does not agitate anyone.
Now this numbness is revealing itself in Lebanon. Air Force officers, calm and comfortable, sit in front of the cameras and speak about “bundles of targets”, as if they were talking about a technical problem, and not about living human beings. They speak about driving hundreds of thousands of human beings from their homes as an imposing military achievement, and do not hide their satisfaction in face of human beings whose whole life has been destroyed.
The word that is most popular with the generals at this time is “pulverize” — we pulverize, they are being pulverized, neighborhoods are pulverized, buildings are pulverized, people are pulverized.
Even the launching of rockets at our towns and villages does not justify this ignoring of moral considerations in fighting the war. There were other ways of responding to the Hezbollah provocation, without turning Lebanon into rubble. The moral numbness will be transformed into grievous political damage, both immediate and long term.
It is almost banal to say that it is easier to start a war than to finish it. One knows how it starts, it is impossible to know how it will end.
We started a war of days. It turned into a war of weeks. Now they are speaking of a war of months. Our army started a “surgical” action of the Air Force, afterward it sent small units into Lebanon, now whole brigades are fighting there, and reservists are being called up in large numbers for a wholesale 1982-style invasion. Some people already foresee that the war may roll toward a confrontation with Syria.
All this time, the United States has been using all its might in order to prevent the cessation of hostilities. All signs indicate that it is pushing Israel toward a war with Syria.
Only one thing is already certain on the 11th day of the war: Nothing good will come off it. Whatever happens — Hezbollah will emerge strengthened.
As for deterrence: A war in which our huge military machine cannot overcome a small guerrilla organization in 11 days of total war certainly has not rehabilitated its deterrent power. The fact that a few thousand fighters have withstood the Israeli Army for 11 days and more, has already been imprinted in the consciousness of hundred of millions of Arabs and Muslims.
From this war nothing good will come — not for Israel, not for Lebanon and not for Palestine. The “New Middle East” that will be its result will be a worse place to live in.
