"What I think we need to do is to reach a situation in which we do not allow Hamas to govern," Mr. Ramon said on Channel One. "That is the most important thing."
- Vice Premer
Haim Ramon; January 4.
"The goal of the operation is to topple Hamas ... We will stop firing immediately if someone takes the responsibility of this government, anyone but Hamas. We are favorable to any other government to take the place of Hamas."
- Vice Premier
Haim Ramon; 29 December.
"The target of these operations are governing structures of Hamas in Gaza ... Gaza will not be governed by Hamas in the long-run. It is inconceivable as far as we are concerned."
- Former Deputy Defense Minister
Ephraim Sneh; 28 December.
"In the long-term, we will have to topple the Hamas regime. In the short-term, ... there are a wide range of possibilities, from doing nothing to doing everything, meaning to conquer Gaza"
- Likud leader
Binyamin Netanyahu; 21 December.
"The Hamas government in Gaza must be toppled, the means to do this must be military, economic and diplomatic".
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni; December 21.
"We cannot accept the reality of a regime of terror imposing horror and fear on the children of Israel. Israel will not accept Hamas' regime in the long run."
- Transportation Minister
Shaul Mofaz; 24 December
"Make no mistake, Hamas is interested in maintaining the truce. It seeks to improve its conditions – a removal of the blockade, receiving a commitment from Israel that it won't attack and extending the lull to the Judea and Samaria area [i.e. the West Bank]."
- Shin Bet chief
Yuval Diskin; 21 December (i.e. six days before Israel launched its, as he here admits, unnecessary attack).
"We are hitting not only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas government and all its wings ... After this operation there will not be one Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game."
- IDF Deputy Chief of Staff
Brigadier-General Dan Harel, 29 December.
"Anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target".
- IDF spokesperson
Major Avital Liebowitz; 30 December.
"Any Hamas target is a target."
- IDF spokesperson
Major Avital Liebowitz; 27 December.
"There are many aspects to Hamas, and we are trying to hit the whole spectrum, because everything is connected and everything supports terrorism against Israel".
- A
senior Israeli military official; 30 December.
"Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas' political leaders could soon be targeted. 'Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody is immune,' she declared."
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni; 27 December.
"Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni said very clearly that we should make the regime of Hamas collapse ... I don't think we can even see any progress in this peace process with the Palestinians without making this regime of Hamas disappear... I believe we should start to assassinate all the leaders of Hamas in Gaza."
- Kadima
MK Yoel Hasson; 23 December.
"We have to target the four focals of gravity: The leadership, the military wings, the infrastructure and the financing. Why aren’t we going after Mahmoud al-Zahar (of Hamas), who is directly responsible for shooting?"
- Transportation Minister
Shaul Mofaz; 10 February.
"What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on...
We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases...
"This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved".
- IDF Northern Command Chief
Gabi Eisenkot, referring to a potential war on Lebanon; 3 October. This '
Dahiya doctrine' has evidently been
the operative one in Gaza.
"The current predicament facing Israel involves two major challenges. The first is how to prevent being dragged into an ongoing dynamic of attrition on the northern border similar to what in recent years developed along the border with the Gaza Strip. The second is determining the IDF's response to a large scale conflict both in the north and in the Gaza Strip. These two challenges can be overcome by adopting the principle of a disproportionate strike against the enemy's weak points as a primary war effort, and operations to disable the enemy's missile launching capabilities as a secondary war effort.
With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy's actions and the threat it poses. Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes. The strike must be carried out as quickly as possible, and must prioritize damaging assets over seeking out each and every launcher. Punishment must be aimed at decision makers and the power elite...
The IDF should not be expected to stop the rocket and missile fire against the Israeli home front through attacks on the launchers themselves, but by means of imposing a ceasefire on the enemy ... the IDF's primary goal must nonetheless be to attain a ceasefire under conditions that will increase Israel's long term deterrence, prevent a war of attrition, and leave the enemy floundering in expensive, long term processes of reconstruction."
-Colonel (res.) Gabriel Siboni in a briefing for the influential Institute for National Security Studies; October 2008 (i.e. while Israel was planning 'Operation Cast Lead').
"Such a war will lead to the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure, and intense suffering among the population. There will be no recurrence of the situation where Beirut residents (not including the Dahiya quarter) go to the beach and cafes while Haifa residents sit in bomb shelters.
Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah’s behavior more than anything else."
-
Major General (ret.) Giora Eiland [.pdf], former head of the Israeli National Security Council, former Head of the IDF Operations Directorate and former National Security Advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister; November 2008 (i.e.
while Israel was planning 'Operation Cast Lead').
While Eiland was referring specifically to a war on Lebanon, his essay is nonetheless a useful illustration of Israeli military and political establishment thinking about how to win a 'war' against an actor like Hamas.
"...there is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards at Sderot and other communities in the south...
"Does anyone seriously think that our children will wet their beds at night in fear and be afraid to go out of the house and they (Gazans) will live in quiet normality?"
- Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert, outlining the logic of collective punishment on which the siege of and attacks on Gaza is based; 23 January '08. According to
Human Rights Watch this statement constitutes an implicit acknowledgement "that the blockade of Gaza amounts to collective punishment."
"If Palestinians don't stop the violence, I have a feeling the life of people in Gaza is not going to be easy."
- Defense Ministry spokesperson
Shlomo Dror; 18 January '08.
"[Israel should] cut off the power [to Gaza] and directly link its supply to Qassam fire".
- Vice Premier
Haim Ramon; 10 February.
"[A]ny other country would have already gone in and level the area, which is exactly what I thing the IDF should do – decide on a neighborhood in Gaza and level it ... We should let them know 'you have to leave, this area will be taken down tomorrow' and just take it down – that will show them we mean business".
- Interior Minister
Meir Sheetrit; 10 February.
"I would kidnap [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniye, I would kidnap or kill the other leaders, I would bomb neighborhoods, etc....
We did it in Lebanon in 2006; we wiped out a whole neighborhood, the Dachya, including tall buildings, sometimes with people in it, and - what can you do? It worked! We have had nearly two years of quiet from Lebanon since then."
- Sderot Mayor
Eli Moyal; 10 February.
"It's like a meeting with a dietician. We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die".
-
Dov Weisglass, senior advisor to Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, summarising Israel's approach towards Gaza; 16 February '06.
"[N]o development, no prosperity, only humanitarian dependency".
-
An Israeli officer [.pdf] describing his mission for Gaza; June 2007.
"[Our] intensive diplomatic activity in recent days is aimed at deflecting the pressure for a cease-fire to allow enough time for the operation to achieve its goals".
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni, 4 January.
"In a radio interview Monday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that the objectives of the Gaza operation have been achieved: Israel responded 'wildly' to Hamas’ rocket fire and 'good thing we did,' she said."
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni; 12 January.
"But there is one thing that the world needs to understand: Hamas wants to gain legitimacy from the international community. Hamas wants to show that there is a place which is called the Gaza Strip, that this kind of an organization - an extremist Islamic organization that acts by terrorism and which is a designated terrorist organization - can rule. And to make it seem a legitimate regime. So they want the crossings to be opened, not only for the sake of the population, but because this symbolically is how they can show that the Gaza Strip has become a kind of a small state, which is controlled by them. This is something that nobody can afford, neither Israel, nor the pragmatic leadership, nor the legitimate Palestinian leadership or government, nor any part of the moderate the Arab world...
"It is also important to keep Hamas from becoming a legitimate organization because, unfortunately, there are those who are now putting Israel and Hamas in the same category, asking both sides to stop, and this is something which is part of my frustration and the frustration of the average Israeli because there is no comparison whatsoever between Israel and Hamas."
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni explains the real objective of the Gaza invasion; 31 December.
"[An extended calm or truce] harms the Israel strategic goal, empowers Hamas, and gives the impression that Israel recognizes the movement".
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni; 10 December.
"This is not a matter of an isolated operation and every arrangement should advance the interests of the state of Israel vis-à-vis Hamas. There is no intention here of creating a diplomatic agreement with Hamas. We need diplomatic agreements against Hamas, and any agreement that weakens it is positive in our eyes".
- Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni; 5 January.
"We have an all-out war against Hamas and its kind"
- Defense Minister
Ehud Barak; 29 December.
"We went to war to deal a heavy blow to Hamas, to change the situation in the south ... [This is a] war to the bitter end against Hamas and its branches".
- Defense Minister
Ehud Barak; 29 December.
'Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev was quoted by The Associated Press as saying Monday night that Israel plans to continue operating in Gaza until Hamas' regime there is completely obliterated. Her associates said she was referring to Hamas' infrastructure.'
- Israeli Ambassador to the UN
Gabriela Shalev; 12 January.
"The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel."
- Interior Minister
Meir Sheetrit; 30 December.
"The more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves"
- Deputy Defense Minister
Matan Vilnai; 29 February.
"The Government must instruct the [Israeli Army] to eliminate the rocket fire from Gaza entirely. These attacks need not be minimised or managed, but stopped completely, irrespective of the cost to the Palestinians"
- Public Security Minister
Avi Dichter; 21 January '08.
Sergeant Avi Aschal said the damage 'may be excessive', but that Hamas could only blame itself. 'They booby trapped all of the houses and the yards and even their own explosive devices. For me it's a simple dilemma: Either my soldiers or their buildings, and you can see for yourselves what the answer is.'"
- IDF
Sergeant Avi Aschal; 15 January.
"We are very violent. We are not shying away from any method of preventing casualties among our troops".
- IDF commander
Lt. Colonel Amir; 7 January. (h/t
Media Lens)
"For us, being cautious means being aggressive ... From the minute we entered, we've acted like we're at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground ... I just hope those who have fled the area of Gaza City in which we are operating will describe the shock. Maybe someone there will sober up before it continues."
-
Senior IDF officer; 7 January. (h/t
Media Lens)
"It will take many years in order to restore this area to what it was before ... When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall. It causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers...
We saw homes where the meals were left uneaten. We see columns of women and children with white flags, and of course we let them pass toward Gaza City. On the other hand, every two hours there are intelligence warnings about a female suicide bomber in the area, so most of the soldiers also regard a convoy of civilians as a real threat."
- The same
senior IDF officer; 7 January.
"At the first sign of movement in the dark Gaza alleyway, Alon opened fire without hesitation. Snipers liked to operate at night, he said, and the area had been cleared of Israeli troops.
'He could have been advancing to attack,' the Israeli lieutenant explained. 'We are treating everything as hostile right now. We were told not to take chances — to shoot rather than ask questions.'...
'I’m not a newcomer in the army,' Alon told The Times. 'Both my brothers served in combat units that saw action in Gaza. And I can say that this is the most aggressive line that we have ever taken towards fighting the Palestinians. As you say in English, the gloves were off.'
He was shocked by some of the scenes inside Gaza, describing whole neighbourhoods levelled. 'It doesn’t look like we’ve been there a few weeks — it looks destroyed, demolished, like we were bombing it for years. You can’t imagine what damage we have done.'
- IDF
Lieutenant Alon; 14 January.
"In one account, tank crews leading an armoured column to the beachfront suddenly saw a person standing in an open cabana less than a mile away. The figure quickly retreated as the tanks opened fire. 'There have been several attempts to use antiarmour weaponry against us, in at least one case a long-range missile,' said Lieutenant-Colonel Erez, a tank commander, giving only his first name as per standard military policy. 'We have responded pre-emptively and forcefully. We also hit anyone seen trying to observe our movements.'
- IDF tank commander
Lt. Colonel Erez; 14 January.
"Soldiers are taking lots of precautions, they are being more careful than the army has ever been before in any war ... Soldiers shoot at anything suspicious, use lots of firepower, and blast holes through walls to move around."
-
Israeli military officer; 14 January.
"Hamas has absorbed a very hard blow ... Its ability to govern has been harmed"
-
Major General Amos Yadlin, head of military intelligence; 5 January.
"We have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure, its rule and its armed wing, but there is still work ahead"
- IDF Chief of Staff
Gabi Ashkenazi; 13 January.
========
The above statements attest to the racist indifference of Israeli officials to the lives and welfare of Palestinians and further demonstrate that the mass destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza during the course of 'Operation Cast Lead' has occurred as part of a planned, deliberate military strategy of overwhelming force, collective punishment and the destruction of government infrastructure, in the context of a political war against Hamas.
Many thanks to Asa and jon the antizionist jew for help with the quote-hunting.
Cross-posted at The Heathlander