Veteran writer Gideon Levy on Haaretz in a piece "The lights have been turned off" reflects on Israel's collective punishment of the people of Gaza - and questions why the Israelis too ought not be subjected to "punishment" for the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank:
"One after another, the final lights are being turned off, and a moral gloom is falling upon us as we stand at the edge of an abyss. Just last week, three more lights were turned off. The Winograd Report did not come out clearly against the fact that Israel embarked on a pointless war; the Supreme Court authorized collective punishment and the attorney general concluded that the killing of 12 Israeli citizens and someone from the territories by the police does not warrant a trial. The final keepers of order, the lighthouses of justice and law, are reconciling themselves with the most serious injustices of the institutions of authority and no one so much as utters a word about it. The upsetting and depressing crop of a single week has drawn the moral portrait of the country.
As expected, the Winograd Committee became irrelevant. It avoided dealing with the first question that should have been on its agenda: Was there any justification for embarking on the war? A committee that says nothing about a country that declares war on its neighbor, kills a thousand of its citizens, causes mass destruction, makes use of horrific munitions and continues to kill dozens of innocents to this day - is a derelict committee.
If the committee didn't delve into these key issues, then who will? A single, circuitous remark exposed the game: "We do not conclude, and have not concluded, that the decision to embark on war following the abduction [of the two reservists] was not justified." Well, what did it conclude? Despite what it said, this is what you really hear: It is legitimate in the eyes of the committee to go to war over two abducted soldiers. It is legitimate to utilize the tool of war, to kill indiscriminately, to disproportionately bomb and destroy - all as the preferred first response. No negotiations, no limited military operation - just war - and on such dubious grounds, and of course with such pathetic results. Not a word on the killing and the destruction that we caused in vain. The dignified-looking committee conducted itself like a public information office and supported what many around the world have described as war crimes. A golden opportunity to say something ethical about the language of force that we are always eager to use, was missed. The Winograd Committee is therefore a panel lacking a moral backbone, which avoided coming to terms with substantive questions.
On the same day that the committee released its final report, the Supreme Court, that same institution to which all eyes are turned, and over whose influence there is a bitter, ongoing battle, authorized another bug in the works. A panel of justices headed by Court President Dorit Beinisch ruled that Israel is authorized to limit the supply of electricity, gasoline and diesel to the Gaza Strip, "since even these diminished quantities sufficiently meet humanitarian needs."
"One after another, the final lights are being turned off, and a moral gloom is falling upon us as we stand at the edge of an abyss. Just last week, three more lights were turned off. The Winograd Report did not come out clearly against the fact that Israel embarked on a pointless war; the Supreme Court authorized collective punishment and the attorney general concluded that the killing of 12 Israeli citizens and someone from the territories by the police does not warrant a trial. The final keepers of order, the lighthouses of justice and law, are reconciling themselves with the most serious injustices of the institutions of authority and no one so much as utters a word about it. The upsetting and depressing crop of a single week has drawn the moral portrait of the country.
As expected, the Winograd Committee became irrelevant. It avoided dealing with the first question that should have been on its agenda: Was there any justification for embarking on the war? A committee that says nothing about a country that declares war on its neighbor, kills a thousand of its citizens, causes mass destruction, makes use of horrific munitions and continues to kill dozens of innocents to this day - is a derelict committee.
If the committee didn't delve into these key issues, then who will? A single, circuitous remark exposed the game: "We do not conclude, and have not concluded, that the decision to embark on war following the abduction [of the two reservists] was not justified." Well, what did it conclude? Despite what it said, this is what you really hear: It is legitimate in the eyes of the committee to go to war over two abducted soldiers. It is legitimate to utilize the tool of war, to kill indiscriminately, to disproportionately bomb and destroy - all as the preferred first response. No negotiations, no limited military operation - just war - and on such dubious grounds, and of course with such pathetic results. Not a word on the killing and the destruction that we caused in vain. The dignified-looking committee conducted itself like a public information office and supported what many around the world have described as war crimes. A golden opportunity to say something ethical about the language of force that we are always eager to use, was missed. The Winograd Committee is therefore a panel lacking a moral backbone, which avoided coming to terms with substantive questions.
On the same day that the committee released its final report, the Supreme Court, that same institution to which all eyes are turned, and over whose influence there is a bitter, ongoing battle, authorized another bug in the works. A panel of justices headed by Court President Dorit Beinisch ruled that Israel is authorized to limit the supply of electricity, gasoline and diesel to the Gaza Strip, "since even these diminished quantities sufficiently meet humanitarian needs."
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