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Wikileaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza

Juan Cole | 04.01.2011 10:46 | Anti-militarism | Palestine | Terror War | Sheffield | World

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten  http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/wikileaks/article3969332.ece has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that

"‘ The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in the Middle East."

Note: This war preparation is serious and specific, according to the paper, and clearly is not just a matter of vague contingency planning.

The paper says that US cables quote Ashkenazi telling the US congressmen, “I’m preparing the Israeli army for a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite.”

The general’s plans are driven by fear of growing stockpiles of rockets in Hamas-controlled Gaza and in Hizbullah-controlled Southern Lebanon, the likely theaters of the planned major new war. Ashkenazi does not seem capable of considering that, given a number of Israeli invasions and occupations of those regions, the rockets may be primarily defensive.

Ashkenazi told the visiting delegation that Israeli unmanned drones had had great success in identifying rocket emplacements in southern Lebanon, and that it had been aided in this endeavor by the US National Security Agency,which spies on communications.

The new, major war will be a total war on civilians, Ashkenazi boasted: “In the next war Israel cannot accept any restrictions on warfare in urban areas.” (I den neste krigen kan Israel ikke godta noen restriksjoner på krigføring i byområder in Norwegian, or let us just translate it into the original German  http://twitoaster.com/country-us/ebertchicago/molly-ivins-on-a-pat-buchanan-speech-it-probably-sounded-better-in-the-original-german/ :

“Im nächsten Krieg kann Israel keine Beschränkungen der Kriegsführung in städtischen Gebieten akzeptieren.”.) Mind you, the civilian deaths deriving from this massive and unrestricted bombing campaign on targets in the midst of civilian urban populations will be “unintentional.” Planning to bomb civilian areas with foreknowledge that you will thereby kill large numbers of civilians is a war crime.

Ashkenazi also admitted to then Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that Hamas is not in control of even more radical groups, which had infiltrated cells into Hamas itself, and which had rocket-making capabilities. In public, Israeli officials routinely demonize Hamas for every rocket fired from the lawless, besieged territory of Gaza, but here in private Ashkenazi was admitting the opposite. He even admitted that Israeli intelligence had no means to distinguish the even-more-radical from the merely Hamas.

Other State Department documents on the same theme say that last year this time Hizbullah had about 20,000 rockets, some of which can now reach Tel Aviv, and that the Shiite militia will attempt to stretch out its supplies for a two-month-long war, and would try to lob about 100 rockets at Tel Aviv per day.

In the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, one fourth of the Israeli population was be forced to move house. It will be more this time, and for longer.

The memos reveal that none of the goals of Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon and its 2008-9 war on little Gaza were achieved, and that both Hamas and Hizbullah have effectively re-armed. What makes Ashkenazi think things would be different this time? Israel hawks have doomed themselves to the particular hell of Sisyphus, forced to roll the same stone up the hill over and over again with no hope of ever balancing it on the summit.

You know, Israel could have a peace treaty with Syria and Lebanon tomorrow by giving back the Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farms, and by accepting a two-state solution. Instead, its Dr. Strangeloves are planning out massive bombings of areas thick with innocent civilians and willing to subject Tel Aviv to two months worth of rocket fire.

Nor will the United States be held harmless from the blowback in the region caused by another Israeli war of aggression. Before September 11, Israel hawks used to make fun of Americans who warned that eventually there would be hell to pay for the Israeli strangulation of the Palestinians (for the argument, see this posting  http://www.juancole.com/2005/07/jerusalem-and-terrorism-ariel-sharon.html ). And, imagine what a war would do to gasoline prices and to the world economy. My deepest fear is that US support for Israeli militarism, and the terrorism that support inevitably engenders, will be what finally finishes off the civil liberties enshrined in the American Constitution.

Juan Cole
- Homepage: http://www.juancole.com/2011/01/wikileaks-israel-plans-total-war-on-lebanon-gaza.html

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Funny

04.01.2011 11:40


Before Christmas there were all sorts of conspiracists on Indymedia claiming that Wikileaks was in the pocket of Israel and would never publish anything about the country. It wasn't true then, and it's been proven to be even more ludicrous in the last few weeks. I hope the conspiracists are feeling really stupid now.


Norvello


Hey Norvello

04.01.2011 12:13

Now that the contents are public why would wikileaks not give us access to the document? So share the wikileaks link with us please. Because at the moment Nn-one seems to have access to the original cable, except for Aftonposten (who appear to have leaked it).

There was this little gem though:

“The Guardian, El-Pais and Le Monde have published only two percent of the files related to Israel due to the sensitive relations between Germany, France and Israel. Even New York Times could not publish more due to the sensitivities related to the Jewish community in the US,” he (Assange) added.
 http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/136564-wikileaks-to-release-israel-documents-in-six-months.html

I am sure there are many in the Jewish community who want the cables out there. Do you think Assange meant the "Zionist community" (or lobby) perhaps?

Cos that sounds like a conspiracy theory.

ollevron


Specifically about Wikileaks

04.01.2011 13:30

Thanks for the link.

I was responding to the accusation - made repeatedly on this site - that Wikileaks itself was in the pocket of Israel and wouldn't put out the leaks about it. This specific conspiracy theory has been shown to be utter garbage by the interview you cited.

--

"An Arabic newspaper called Al Haqeeq conducted an interview with one
of your former colleagues who said you have a deal with Israel not to
publish these secret files."

This is not true. We have been accused as agents of Iran and CIA by
this former colleague who was working for Germany in the past and was
dismissed from his job after we published American military documents
related to Germany.
We were the biggest institution receiving official funding from the US
but after we released a video tape about killing people in cold blood
in Iraq in 2007, the funding stopped and we had to depend on
individuals for finance.


"When will you publish the files related to Israel on your website?"

We will publish 3700 files and the source is the American embassy in
Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Netanyahu was traveling to Paris to talk to
the US ambassador there. You will see more information about that in
six months.


"Do these Israeli files speak about the July 2006 Israeli war against
Lebanon?"


Yes there is some information about that and these files were
classified as top secret.


"Is there any relation with these files and the assassination of Hamas
military leader Al Mabhoh in Dubai?"


Yes there are some indication to this and may be some special reports
published by newspapers. Mossad agents used Australian, British and
European passports to travel to Dubai and there are diplomatic files
about that.

[etc]

--

Norvello


not new - link to cable

04.01.2011 13:32

the aftposten article refers to a wikileaks cable released weeks ago and is found here




 http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/11/09TELAVIV2500.html

the bigger issue of Iran's nuclear program.

¶6. (S) Several questions were raised about China's position
on Iran's efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon. Both sides
agreed that continued engagement with China and Russia is
needed -- as well as building a consensus in Europe. The USG
speculated, and the GOI concurred, that China will follow
Moscow's lead. USG participants argued that China would seek
to avoid an international confrontation over Iran. The GOI
described 2010 as a critical year -- if the Iranians continue
to protect and harden their nuclear sites, it will be more
difficult to target and damage them. Both sides then
discussed the upcoming delivery of GBU-28 bunker busting
bombs to Israel, noting that the transfer should be handled
quietly to avoid any allegations that the USG is helping
Israel prepare for a strike against Iran.

x


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