How Propaganda Hijacked Israeli Strategy in Gaza

Something had to be done in Gaza. Something. Anything, really. So why not a Hail Mary?

Since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, more than 8000 rockets and mortars have been fired into southern Israel from Gaza. And who could blame Jerusalem for trying to put an end to it? After all, as every single Israeli security expert reminds anyone proffering an alternative to F-16s, would any other country tolerate attacks on its civilian population with the patience and dexterity Israel has shown? What if Houston or Atlanta were being attacked like this?

Even Israel's President and 'elder statesman' Shimon Peres found himself wondering, what does Hamas hope to accomplish by constantly firing rockets? "What do they expect, that we won't respond?" And it's a great question, but it's also painfully simplistic. This is not merely a matter of broad principle about patience in the face of incessant attack. There's a reason Israeli talking points this past week have focused almost exclusively on the big picture of the last seven years--because the last seven months have demonstrated a painfully inconvenient fact: whatever its demerits (and there are many), Hamas has discipline. Period.

Far more so than the PLO ever did, when Hamas pledges to reduce tensions, it does just that. One need not believe that the group's leadership is virtuous or courageous simply to admit that their ranks follow orders. In the months that followed the June 19 "lull" (tahadiya) in fighting between Israel and Hamas, the number of rocket and mortar attacks plummeted and stayed down for nearly five months--creating the very climate that the IDF now claims to seek with Operation Cast Lead.

If Hamas had no discipline, this argument wouldn't fly and a Hail Mary like Cast Lead might be strategically worthwhile, but the best case scenario by any metric is a long-term version of the lull that put Israelis at great danger only after Israel launched an attack on Gaza on November 4th, effectively ending Hamas' restraint.

While the explicit goal of this latest operation is to cease all rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, senior IDF and intelligence officials have privately signaled in a disparate chorus that this goal is unrealistic anyway, even with a ground invasion. Israelis couldn't even prevent rocket/mortar fire when they occupied Gaza before 2005, and back then Hamas was plagued by Fatah's rivalry and amateur rocket technology.

'But nevermind that,' Jerusalem insists. 'Details will only confuse you. Would you or would you not just sit by and do nothing in response to rocket fire on your homes?' Apparently, it's that simple. It's irrelevant that Israel was benefitting tremendously from the lull and the near-deafening silence (.pdf) it produced in the southern Negev desert.

Source: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Israel)

Rocket fire alone was reduced from a monthly average of 179 to less than 3--with the remainder attacks being attributed (according to Israeli intelligence) to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, no less.

Yet like any country, when Israel launches a military operation, especially a controversial one, the public relations and propaganda offensives rely on any and every rhetorical ploy to garner support, even when Israeli security officials are privately saying--usually "on background"--that the southern Negev will not be completely calm until Hamas wants it to be completely calm, and the closest Israel has ever come to that was during the above lull.

Here's another example. During previous lulls or ceasefires between Israel and Palestinian militants, it's always remarkable to listen to Israelis decry their enemies for "exploiting" the ceasefires to dig in and prepare for the next battle, as though Israelis spend that same time on holiday, hoping for the best. In fact, in the past week, the Israeli press has reported on the abundance of self-congratulation in Jerusalem over how much intelligence had been gathered for this operation, how many stockpiles and weapons caches had been tracked (and subsequently targeted), and how much disinformation it had spread to confuse the enemy.

So it seems that when Israelis plan for the worst, it's because they're competent warriors who scorn the unprepared, but when Palestinians plan for the worst, it's because they're drooling for martyrdom. (Rest assured, some certainly are.) And it was this apparent drool that prompted Israel to terminate its obligation to the lull on November 4th by attacking Hamas' tunnels burrowing beneath Gaza towards Israel. (It was through a cross-border tunnel like this one that Hamas captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in the summer of 2006. So understandably, it's a soft spot.)

For perspective, it is normal for Hamas to dig such tunnels, and equally normal for Israel to destroy them, though in a lull--and for a tunnel that had not reached Israeli soil yet--the killing of six Hamas militants in the operation doesn't quite compute. If preparing for the next big fight is considered a violation of the lull, then it is endlessly ironic that Israel's surveillance of Hamas' tunneling was itself just as preparatory as the tunneling itself--like an indignant student insisting his classmate was cheating, and citing as visual proof, "Because I was cheating off of him too." Woops.

But here's where strategy becomes dangerously indistinguishable from propaganda. Israel has every right to defend itself; it has done so superbly and honorably on many occasions. It can prevent every attempt by Hamas to develop weapons and tunnels, as it did on November 4th. It can even feign surprised outrage whenever Hamas retaliates, as any competent foreign ministry would in the days before a powerful military operation. Perhaps Barak thought he was playing the old time-in/time-out game, but one IDF official even tried to tell the NY Times that because this was a "pinpoint" operation aimed at a specific "imminent" threat, the op shouldn't be considered a truce-breaker, and Israel remained committed to the truce. Water under the bridge, right?

But the same common sense that compelled Shimon Peres to wonder about Hamas' expectations surely compels Israel to consider if Jerusalem's own attacks could actually go unanswered. Naturally, that thought process is utterly absent in the foreign ministry's outreach of outrage because their goal is to recruit as much support as possible. And to that end, the MFA seems to be playing with graphs on its website in order to paint the lull as worthless.

But more ominously, while propaganda usually serves as a tool to support a nuanced and methodical military operation, Cast Lead seems to have been launched by a simplistic caricature of Israeli self-defense itself, blossoming in the foreign ministry's press releases. Talking points are being confused with chokepoints, and with a caricature calling the shots, it's no wonder that what seems to pass for "strategy" is actually just a target list mixed with a little cloak and dagger.

Instead of talking about whether the smuggler's paradise beneath the 9-mile Egypt-Gaza border could be countered without (or even with) a long-term Israeli occupation, Jerusalem is talking about the need to "retrieve the power of deterrence" and to teach Hamas a "lesson." Yes, we heard you the first ten times. But what is your plan? What will prevent Hamas from re-arming once you deftly destroy all of its arms depots? An "international force"? A moat or underground wall along the Egypt-Gaza border? Or perhaps a giant trench-digger to excavate the tunnels. Have you thought that far ahead? A 500+ body count in Gaza and a 300% increase in attacks on southern Israel better have a silver lining.

Either way, in its public justification for the operation, by focusing so much on the last seven years (and not the lessons of the last seven months), Jerusalem indicated that raw principle was all it dared to employ in determining the appropriate strategy for Gaza. Right when Olmert and Barak needed to sift through the fine print--which demonstrated that Hamas, as evil and wicked as it is, has discipline--it longed for neat and simple principles that begged equally blunt instruments. After all, 'something' had to be done. Something that matched our fury, something that vindicated our failures in Lebanon, something that deterred our enemies, something that taught them a lesson, and something that didn't make us feel suckered and alone.

These are completely understandable and justifiable feelings for Israelis to have, but the somethingness of Israel's resolve has hijacked its strategy. And the propaganda machine is not along for the ride, but revving at the wheel of a Merkava.

Comments

[MagisterLudi]

Egyptian Minister expresses his frustration at Hamas sabotaging the truce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XEXsbTLfXE

Palestinian authorities express their frustration that Hamas does NOT allow Gazans wounded in fighting to be evacuated to Egypt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHKbIJCsvc&feature=related

[EnricoSuarve]

OK - instead of those supiciously out of context and rather short (cut off quickly before he can say WHO is is talking about) try this:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dFEyyZiTrT8&eurl=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091614528406629.html

Seems casualties are leaving via the Egypt border but Egypt will not allow in doctors during to "the security situation"

[SF2OAK]

tompoe if Israel has controlled gaza borders where are gazan's getting Grad rockets and build up of weapons? Surely not thru the Israeli controlled border-.

The fact remains that the "cease fire" was used by hamas to arm, the ceasefire included the return of Gilad Shalit, who as of yet has been unheard from nor visited by the Red Cross.

If hamas wants to be accorded sovereignty or for that matter any palestinian entity then maybe they should start acting like a state.
the State of Israel was founded by UN charter- the arabs could have had a state at that point without any conflict but whoops they missed that opportunity.

[EnricoSuarve]

They are building them - a decent percentage of them are homemade, a few snapshots for you:

http://palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/the-other-side-of-the-story?page=1&commentId=1970466%3AComment%3A38165&x=1#1970466Comment38165

And yes Hamas probably did use the ceasefire to re-arm, that's what tends to happen during ceasefires (all the more reason that Israels actions in breaking the ceasefire on the 4th, killing 7 Palestinians on Gaza soil was stupid)

Are you seriously expecting us to believe that during the ceasefire Israel completely ceased production, importation and distribution of weapons? Or are we back to "It's OK because we're God's chosen?"

Yes the Palestinians could have had a very reduced state left out of the remains of the land they used to occupy, odd that like any other occupied country in history they would refuse to accept this

And finally how can Palestine act like a state when every time they build a government building or police station Israel destroy it in 'self-defense'? Israel is pursuing a very obvious policy of ghettoization of the Palestinians using blockades, terror and military bombardment to keep them from having any industry, governance or future

[TimNorman]

Israel makes every palestinian it can jump through hoops to go to work go to the market with nothing in it and no money to spend either.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/519.html

[spartakus99]

Get a different perspective (From Fix and CNN) on what is happening in Gaza:

http://www.fomny.com/Video/Arabic/Aljazeera%20English/Aljazeera-eng.htm

[MagisterLudi]

Different perspective:
Egyptian Minister expresses his frustration at Hamas for sabotaging the truce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XEXsbTLfXE

Palestinian authorities express their frustration that Hamas does NOT allow Gazans wounded in fighting to be evacuated to Egypt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHKbIJCsvc&feature=related

[brutus948]

If someon fired rockets at my home. I would move to a safer place. That's why I don't live in Israel.

[SF2OAK]

Mr. Young:
You are simplefying wha Israel seeks in OCL. Sure they want to reduce/eliminate the amount of rocket attacks but they also cannot allow upgraded weapons like the Grad rockets, they also want Gilad returned, they also want recognition of Israel, and an end to teahcing children the merits of martyrdom.
Tompoe:
Israel obviously does not control Gaza borders or they never would have allowed the type of weaponry in to gaza. Hamas and the UN seem to function poorly but functioning- don't expect a high functining society when there was nothing prior. Gaza's rule was handed to them when Israel removed itself- certainly Israel did not like that the citizens chose hamas - how would you like Israel to respond to a terrorist entity that explicitly calls for the elimination of Israel in their charter? The UN is not an honest broker in this.

[maddogbitesback]

Israel is a country which used terrorist tactics to oust the Palestinians from Palestine. Then it elected three terrorists to be prime minsters all the while saying it would never talk to terrorists.

Israel has no borders and ignores international law while it continues to expand. Gazans - Hamas - are simply trying to stop Israel from treating Gaza the way the Nazis treatd the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. They are supported in their efforts by American monetary and military weapony support.

One wonders how well Palestine would do had it the support of the US treasury and weaponry.

[SiberianRat]

Go to http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/index.html to put a stop to US support for this nightmare.

[JacksonJones]

Funny, I'd read that the establishment of Israel was greeted by the invasion of five Arab armies under the slogan of "throw the Jews into the sea".

Morevoer, I'd also read that Israel moved out of Gaza YEARS AGO, and that what Hamas had to do when it took Gaza over to have normal relations with Israel was to honor prior agreements with the PA (which it claimed to represent) and agree not to attack Israel. Not much to ask for, really. Hamas, being ideologically committed to the destruction of Israel, did not want to agree to thise things.

Hardly parallel to the FInal Solution that you compare it to.

[sclucie]

Welcome to yet another new HOPer who just happens to be pro-IDF. You're up to 20 now. January 2009 is a really convenient time to start posting propaganda.

[barryblogger]

Why does Huffington post allow the user "maddogbitesback" to post his revisions fantasy. It is all complete fiction and they should know better than to give it any credibility. MadDog, why don't you pick up any encylopedia to get your facts straight.

There has been a Jewish presence in Israel for thousands of years, far longer than any of the Arabs. Arabs and Jews both lived in Israel when the UN offered the partition plan in 1948 and offered half to the Arabs and half to the Jews (though the Jewish allocation was nearly all desert). Regardless, the Jews accepted and the Arabs refused. Instead they vowed to annihilate them all and throw every Jewish man, woman and child into the sea towards their deaths. Yet Isarel prevailed and earned the right to their own homeland. The arabs already have over 20 countries of their own, I think the Jews are entitled to one. Unfortunately, to extremist muslims, even one non-muslim county is one too many.

[Stardustman]

"The Arabs already have 20 countries of their own"? What kind of kindergarten logic is that?

Palestinians do not have a country on the other hands and I doubt that because other Arabs have one changes anything for the average Palestinian child growing up in a bomb site.

Palestinians are being abused in their aspirations for freedom, independence and sovereignty. No-one is "entitled" to land and because the UN said so does not make it so.

Everyone has a duty to treat other human beings with basic respect. Of course, this would be lot easier if religion and religious self-righteousness was not in the picture...

But of course, that's an entitlement too. Religion is the scourge of the human race. John Lennon was right.

http://stardustman.blogspot.com/

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves." Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983.


Read that quote and ask yourselves: What does Hamas have to lose?

[JacksonJones]

Don't know where you pulled that one from or who Chairman Heilbrun is, but Israelis and their governments has been committed to the two-state solution and land for peace since 1967 (with the possible exception of the Shamir admin.).

[sclucie]

Member since Janury 2009.

[nycerbarb]

The quote is a fabrication as is the person. Read the whole debunk here:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=83&x_article=775

From CAMERA:
The quote is found on numerous anti-Israel sites, in addition to MIFTAH’s, but the facts do not check out. While Shlomo Lahat was indeed re-elected as mayor of Tel Aviv in 1983, no record was found of any “Chairman Heilbrun.” The quote was traced to a 1988 book, The Hidden History of Zionism, by radical Marxist Ralph Schoenman (dismissed by mainstream historians as a crazed conspiracy theorist), and is one of many bogus quotes in the book attributed to Israeli leaders. According to Schoenman’s footnote, the quote by Heilbrun was hearsay relayed to him in private conversations:

Cited by Fouzi El-Asmar and Salih Baransi during discussions with the author, October 1983

Needless to say, Schoenman’s scholarship, upon which many anti-Israel Web sites depend, leaves much wanting. CAMERA contacted former Mayor Lahat who attested that he has never employed, known or heard of any such person as “Chairman Heilbrun,” and that the reported incident never took place. Lahat also emphasized that he would never allow any of his employees to make such statements, as it completely contradicts his own sentiments about Palestinians.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

CAMERA, the site that calls professors Walt and Mearsheimer's book about the AIPAC lobby "fraudulent scholarship?" Riiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiigh­t.

[barryblogger]

"Hedonistic Pleasureseeker" should know better than to spread fiction. The quote has been proven to be completely fictional and made up by Palestinian PR That quote never happened and the person doesn't even exist! You can see this for yourself on the website "Exposing False Quotes":

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=21&x_article=775

Investigation: The quote is found on numerous anti-Israel sites, in addition to MIFTAH’s, but the facts do not check out. While Shlomo Lahat was indeed re-elected as mayor of Tel Aviv in 1983, no record was found of any “Chairman Heilbrun.” The quote was traced to a 1988 book, The Hidden History of Zionism, by radical Marxist Ralph Schoenman (dismissed by mainstream historians as a crazed conspiracy theorist), and is one of many bogus quotes in the book attributed to Israeli leaders. According to Schoenman’s footnote, the quote by Heilbrun was hearsay relayed to him in private conversations:

Cited by Fouzi El-Asmar and Salih Baransi during discussions with the author, October 1983

Needless to say, Schoenman’s scholarship, upon which many anti-Israel Web sites depend, leaves much wanting. CAMERA contacted former Mayor Lahat who attested that he has never employed, known or heard of any such person as “Chairman Heilbrun,” and that the reported incident never took place. Lahat also emphasized that he would never allow any of his employees to make such statements, as it completely contradicts his own sentiments about Palestinians.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

CAMERA?

That Mossad front operation?

HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAH!­!!!!!

You may be right, but please link to something more authoritative and I will believe you.

[nycerbarb]

Imagine you are out shopping. You have left your 3 children, ages 7, 10 and 12 home. The sirens go off announcing an approaching missile. You have less than 10 seconds to get to a shelter. You get to a shelter and you wonder if your children have made it to the safe room. In the meantime, your children, in the safe room, are crying for their parent, wondering if he/she is ok and listening to the explosion outside.

This scenario played out at least 6 times a day in November - according to your numbers - well over 6 weeks before the "expiration" of the cease fire. Is this an acceptable situation? Would you live under these conditions?

Yes, the situation in Gaza, today, is much more horrible and intolerable. But Hamas has the ability to stop the attacks and the bombing would end. Everybody knows that.

[michiganfan]

Did you not read the part where ISRAEL STRUCK FIRST!!!

Israel attacked hamas first, on November 4th (And if you think that wasn't planned to slide under the radar and go unnoticed, remember what you were doing on November 4th. That's not a coincidence.) It was only AFTER the first strike by Israel that Hamas, as any fool could have foreseen, started launching rockets again.

Israel, not Hamas, broke the cease-fire.

"Hamas has the ability to stop the attacks and the bombing would end. Everybody knows that."

Bologna! Israel wanted to get their assault in before the new US president took office, because they knew that President Obama wouldn't allow them to do it once he took office. Listen to the statements from the Israeli officials. Their goal is not to stop the attacks. (As the article above pointed out, before this latest round of Israeli aggression, there were no attacks) Their goal is the extermination of Hamas.

[JacksonJones]

The move on the tunnel was against preparations for aggression by Hamas. But the reality is that the rockets never stopped even during the ceasefire.

[JacksonJones]

Check the charts above, the was not a single month during the "ceasfire" in which there were not both mortar and rocket attacks on Israel.

[barryblogger]

As part of the ceasefire, Israel reserved the right to strike if terrorists were on their way to to peform a terrorist attack. If Osama Bin Laden was on his way to carry out an attack on America, should we not react because there is "a lull." As as you can clearly see, Hamas never stopped firing rockets the entire ceaasefire. So who is at fault? Hamas. If they stop the rocket attacks completely, there would no reason to try to stop them.

[billstewart]

That's kind of what living in Gaza is like, except that there's usually a curfew, and there's nothing in the markets even when you're allowed to go there, not that you have any money because you're effectively not allowed to go to different parts of your country to work or do business. Israel's had the power to significantly reduce the attacks on the pro-government side of their civil war, by agreeing to respect the human rights of the other side. And for a few months it was apparently working.

Leave aside their arguments about how they don't want to deal with Hamas radicals - they had Fatah around for a while, but Arafat's home and office were under siege from the Israeli military while he was supposedly in office. Not that Fatah were great either, but they were certainly more cooperative.

[maddogbitesback]

nycerbarb - I wouldn't leave children that age.

But to your point - imagine you cannot get your wife to a hospital because the guard at a checkpoint is holding you up. Suppose your baby is still born as a result of that. Suppose you need medicine for your child but you can't. You have no money and if you did you would find there is no medicine. Or food. Or water. Or heat. Or electricity. Imagine. Then imagine what you would dod to change that. What would you have to lose.

[SiberianRat]

Outstanding, well-supported piece!

[tompoe]

Gaza borders are controlled by Israel. Permission to enter or leave lies with Israel. Permission for supplies, energy, food entering or leaving Gaza lies with Israel. Governmental functioning is at the convenience of Israel in Gaza. At what point, if any, did the population of Gaza have even a hint that their sovereignty was recognized by Israel? And, when will the U.S. permit the United Nations to exert its' authority in this matter?

[orangepetal]

Because they are hostile and promote aggressive actions against the State of Israel.

http://yad-vashem.org.il/about_holocaust/studies/vol35/Mallmann-Cuppers2.pdf

[SiberianRat]

That copout line is pretty tired.

[maddogbitesback]

The state of Israel was founded by the use of hostile and aggresive acts. It still commits hostile and terrorist acts as it continues to expand and take land from the Palestinians. Three terrorist prime ministers and the ironic statement that they will not deal with terrorists. A wall to keep those inferior Palestinian thieves from trying to retrieve thei land they have land title to? Give me a break. Israel is a rogue state supporting the United States and supported by the United States. It manipulates public opinion.

[NightAdder]

Spot on tompoe.

"Sovereignty" is only granted if countries support U.S. policies. It's almost like we will not recognize a state if people's free will is not aligned with our policies. Israel and America's unwillingness to respect the Palestinian's vote exposed the fraud and hegemony in America's goal to honestly spread democracy. Everything disintegrated after that moment. Instead of Fatah (which is what foreigners wanted), we got Hamas (which is what the people wanted). If the free will of the people is not respected, how can the Palestinians ever expect to achieve sovereignty?

[JacksonJones]

The Palestinians are free to elect people with an ideological committment to war with Israel, Israel has no obligation to treat those elected as if they were not committed to that war.

[JacksonJones]

tompoe, first, sovereignty of Gaza was *never* on the table. That would require a full peace agreement with Israel, which Hamas is ideologically opposed to. Read Nazir Rayan's interview with David Gergen if you doubt this. Second, Egypt controls a 9 mile vorder with Gaza that it opens when it chooses, or when Hamas blows holes in it. Border control by countries is not novel. Everyone does it. The border with Jordan, for example, remain open only if Israel and Jordan BOTH want it to be open.

Moreover, the closure of Gaza occured only after rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza by Hamas. All Hamas has ever had to do to ife the closure is to agree to respect past agreements between the PA (which it claims to represent) and Israel, and to not shoot at Israel. Not much to ask for.

In fact, going all the way back to 1948, all the Palestinians have ever had to do to have their sovereignty has been to agree to peace with Israel. One cannot simultaneously complain that one's rights to home rule are being denied and promise to use any such authority to prepare to deny it to another people.

[sclucie]

Are you going to tell us how many Palestinians were killed in 1948? Including women, children and foreign civilians? Or that the ones on the OTHER side were terrorists, who were blowing up buildings with people in them?