Incoming Israeli Army Chief of Staff Makes Dangerous Statement About Civilian Culpability
The incoming Chief of Staff of the Israeli army is General Eyal Zamir, who currently serves as the general Director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In a recent interview to Ynet, the online publication of the Hebrew daily, Yediot Aharonot, General Zamir said, in reference to civilian deaths in Gaza, that “from a moral perspective one cannot absolve the civilian population which provides the infrastructure, support and encouragement to acts of violence.”
This is a dangerous statement coming from the person who will lead the Israeli army for the next 3-4 years and whose office is in the heart of downtown Tel-Aviv. One may misconstrue this statement as license to kill civilians who live and work in the vicinity of the “Kriya,” which is the colloquial name for the IDF headquarters. There are countless civilians who live and work in what is a high-end part of downtown Tel-Aviv. There are museums, cafes and it is generally a vibrant residential area.
It is well known that Israel army headquarters is not the only Israeli military base that is located in the midst of a civilian population, as a matter of fact there are many such bases.
For many years I lived in Coronado, California, which is a lovely small town connected to the city of San Diego by a bridge. Coronado is home to an important US navy base and just about 40 miles north of there is the city of Oceanside, which is adjacent to Camp Pendelton, which is a massive the US Marine base. Does General Eyal mean to suggest that during war time it is permissible to kill civilian who reside in these cities because they provide the infrastructure, support and encouragement to the military bases that sit within them?
The accusation that civilians should be held somehow accountable because they happen to live nearby military bases is as dangerous as it is outrageous. Similarly accusing the military of using civilians as human shields is also outrageous. However, if this standard is applied to Palestinians in Gaza, then it could be applied everywhere and it places civilians everywhere at risk.
We have similarly seen a process of once again legitimizing the ethnic cleaning of millions of Palestinians and transferring them out of their homeland. This is now discussed in the halls of power in Washington DC, as it is in the Israel media and among Israel politicians.
In a recent interview with retired General Yair Golan, who is considered a representative of the extreme Zionist left, called for a “non-military separation” from the Palestinians. “Getting 300-400 thousand Palestinians to migrate willingly or unwillingly will not extricate us from this mess,” he says. The television host, the popular Amit Segal, interrupted him to say, “you think it’s not ok to have migration by choice of Palestinians in Gaza, the nation that was responsible for this murder, but its ok to uproot settlers from their land.”
This is what counts as mainstream media in Israel – the discourse about encouraging migration by choice of Palestinians from Gaza is perfectly acceptable. What is unacceptable is to “uproot” settlers from “their” land.
It is in this context that we should view the partnership between Israel’s former minister of national security, the convicted terrorist, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the man occupying the Oval Office. Ben Gvir has initiated a bill to the Knesset that calls for “encouraging migration from Gaza.” The rationale for this, according to the Ben-Gvir is security. He claims that “we must not allow for more terrorists to be bred in Gaza.” President Trump has somewhat different take on this, saying that Palestinians, whether they like it or not, deserve a better place to live and that this place exists somewhere outside of Palestine.
We should point out to Trump that Gaza wasn’t always a “terrible place” as he describes it. Gaza was known for its beautiful dunes, citrus orchards that spread a sweet fragrance, great sea food and lovely sea front homes where Gazans enjoyed all this prior to the Zionist invasion. However, Ben-Gvir and his partner Trump want to empty Palestine of its people so that settlers from other countries may enjoy all this. As Ben-Gvir and too many others in Israel openly admit, “Once Gaza is cleared, we will do the same in Jenin and other places, so that Palestinians do not have to live in refugee camps.” This concern for the wellbeing of Palestinians would be heartwarming had it not come with a history of destruction and ethnic cleansing.
The comments made by the incoming IDF Chief of Staff combined with the new Trump Ben-Gvir partnership gives a clear view of what Palestinians should expect – an evil partnership that wants to eliminate them and steal their land. Thankfully, Palestinians see this for what it is and have no plans other than to resist these efforts with their “sumud,” or steadfastness, resilience and the incurable never-ending faith in the inevitability of freedom.
