Israel defends army conduct

Despite criticism, ethics chief says Gaza conflict waged fairly

By Karin Laub / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Israel defends army conduct — Asheville Citizen Times, 12 April 2009 — Asheville Citizen Times · Asheville, NC · 12 April 2009

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NETANYA, Israel — In some ways, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister's job is one of the toughest in the Israeli army. Shermeister serves as the Israeli army's ethics watchdog at a time when the military is under international scrutiny for its behavior during its Gaza invasion.

That puts him in the front line of a war of words that extend into the white-hot realm of "war crimes," "anti-Semitism," "atrocities" and "blood libel." But his job is made easier by the fact that most Israelis support his contention that they have nothing to be ashamed of.

"I didn't see in the Gaza operation anything that can teach us or show us that something in the moral attitude of the IDF (military) was ... changed or spoiled," Shermeister said in an interview with The Associated Press at an officers' school in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.

Image problems The three-week Gaza war has widened the gap between Israel's self-image and how it is perceived abroad. The wave of international criticism, and an imminent U.N. investigation, have deepened a sense here that Israel is being treated unfairly and held to impossible standards.

However, the war that took more than 1,000 lives by both sides' count and left entire neighborhoods in rubble has a few Israeli critics, too.

They say their countrymen are too quick to brush aside tough questions arising from the military's overwhelming use of force in Gaza, including mounting hundreds of bombing raids and firing imprecise artillery shells in one of the most crowded places on Earth. [...] 'Disproportionate power' One army officer, Maj. Gen.

Gadi Eizenkot, has spoken of the "Dahiya doctrine," named after the Beirut suburbs considered a Hezbollah stronghold where Israel destroyed dozens of buildings in 2006. "We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction.

From our perspective, these are military bases," Eizenkot told the daily Yedioth Ahronoth in October. "This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized." The army would not confirm such a doctrine exists, but acknowledged many similarities between the Lebanon and Gaza wars. In Israel, debate about the Gaza offensive came late and quickly fizzled.

How this transcription was made

Date confirmed on the page (folio).

Context added by this archive

Folio reads "A4 SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2009" with the section head "WOR[LD]" — date agrees with Maria's label; the paper's own name is not in the visible folio. Crossheads: "Image problems", "'Disproportionate power'", "Finding solidarity".

Photo caption: "An Israeli soldier fires tear gas towards Palestinian protesters in the village of Safa near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin on Wednesday.

Palestinian medics said eight people were wounded in the clash with Jewish settlers in a Palestinian village near the spot of a deadly attack in the West Bank last week." Credit: NASSER SHIYOUKHI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. This is the same Karin Laub AP story as the Jonesboro Sun (slide 17) and The Jackson Sun (s019_2), run in three American papers within three days.

Cite this clipping

"Israel defends army conduct," Asheville Citizen Times, 12 April 2009, p. A4. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2009-042. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2009-042