As readers almost certainly know, there has been bloody fighting between Israel, Egypt, and Palestine in the last week. Following a bloody attack into southern Israel which Israel blamed on Palestinians, Israel attacked Palestinians in Gaza, Palestinian fired back with rockets into Israel, and in the process at least 9 Israelis, 15 Palestinians, and 5 Egyptians have been killed, with large numbers wounded on the Palestinian and Israeli sides as well.
The Hamas government in Gaza offered a truce, and seems to have forced the main Gaza factions to go along with it. The Israeli cabinet just concluded a meeting on its response, and Haaretz's reporting on the results is worth a read:
Prior to the cabinet meeting, several ministers had called for a harsher Israeli response to the rocket fire
"The prime minister thinks it would be wrong to race into a total war in Gaza right now," one of Netanyahu's advisors said.
What emerged most clearly from Netanyahu's and Barak's statements to the cabinet was that Israel lacks the international legitimacy needed for a large-scale operation in Gaza. The diplomatic crisis with Egypt further constrains Israel's freedom of action.
According to Netanyahu's government, the lack of "international legitimacy" was a key feature in preventing a "total war" in Gaza. Israel's last "limited" war in Gaza killed roughly 1,500 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were not combatants, meaning that a "total war" would be far bloodier.
Now, some of you may be familiar with the term "legitimacy" in current discourse. For the last 1-2 years, the Israeli government and pro-Israeli commenters and keyboardists have launched a sustained attack on critics of the Occupation accusing them of trying to "delegitimize Israel." That campaign exists on DKos as well. A quick search of the terms "delegitimize Israel" turns up 213 comments, the vast majority by pro-Israel activists (including 32 times by one activist alone).
These points lead to a fascinating conclusion:
1) A lack of legitimacy prevented a "total war" against Palestine this week.
2) I and others who are willing to call out Israel's Occupation and brutal treatment of Palestinians helped prevent this "legitimacy" needed for war.
3) I stopped a "total war" this week.
Naturally, I can't claim all the credit, but I can claim a tiny sliver. So can every single person who speaks out. So, on behalf of human decency, I say thank you to everyone who has spoken out against the Israeli government policies and the Occupation, you have prevented a war. Never believe that what you do doesn't matter, Bibi Netanyahu just admitted that it does.