Even the ex-IDF chief knows: stopping this is a moral imperative
Dear Friends,
Within minutes of the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Security Minister Gallant last month, came a flood of condemnations, an array of whataboutisms and countless allegations of antisemitism and “blindness.” But the true blindness is our society’s insistence, even now, to not see what we are doing in Gaza.
Starvation as a weapon, high-rise buildings bombed to take down an alleged “lookout,” lax rules of engagement and disproportionate use of firepower. We got to this point as a society by closing our eyes, covering our ears and shutting down any and every opposing voice.
This disastrous reality of endless bloodshed should’ve ended with a ceasefire and hostage deal long ago. Not because of the International Criminal Court’s decision, but because the reality is immoral and unbearable.
"We are now being dragged to occupy, annex, ethnically cleanse - look at the north of the Gaza Strip - transfer, call it whatever you want, and to settle in Jewish settlements. That is the matter."
The former soldier who made the statement above is not one of our testifiers. Far from it. These are the words of Moshe Ya’alon, the former IDF chief of staff and Israel’s former defense minister. And he didn’t misspeak, either.
When pressed, he only reiterated and reaffirmed his statements. "I stand behind the phrase 'ethnic cleansing.' I must warn you about what is happening here and is being hidden from us. War crimes are being committed here," he said, adding that he was speaking "on behalf of commanders who operate in the northern Gaza Strip and have been approaching me with dread."
His comments were quickly pounced on by many in Israel’s right. A former defense minister and chief of staff accusing the IDF of ethnic cleansing? This is a man who, during the Second Intifada, spoke of "searing the consciousness" of Palestinians. While he’s an opponent of the current government, he’s about as far from a Palestinian rights advocate as one can be.
A cynical word of advice for Ya'alon: if you want to say the IDF is ethnically cleansing northern Gaza without drawing the ire of the Israeli right, all you have to do is endorse what you're describing. Minister Bezalel Smotrich did exactly that last week, telling the heads of local councils in the West Bank that “We can occupy Gaza and decrease the population by half within two years.”
No one in the room called Smotrich delusional. No one there called him a traitor or a disgrace to the state of Israel. When Minister Avi Dichter called for a second Nakba, the only consequence he saw was Prime Minister Netanyahu telling him to "be sensitive."
But even had Netanyahu punished him for saying that, he would only still be shooting the messenger. The double standard around criticizing the IDF's actions exposes that all sides are seeing the same calamitous picture, but any who call on the calamity to stop are publicly berated in order to intimidate anyone else from further dissent.
The reality is that we are starving the residents of northern Gaza. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out. Buildings that weren't bombed or shelled were torched by soldiers. The rest were scraped away by bulldozers. The fact that even someone like Ya’alon understands this only emphasizes what we all already know - stopping this is a moral imperative.
