Q&A: IAF Commander
IAF Commander
Question
According to reports, our Air Force commander, in an unusual move, has already personally carried out strikes twice (!) in Gaza — he himself and not an angel, he himself and not a seraph, he himself and not a messenger, he himself and not someone else.
Acquaintances from the Air Force, upright people, claimed before the Hague proceedings that the atmosphere in the squadrons is one of fear of various sanctions, which required backing from above because of the large number of atrocities across the border, a number unlike anything before. The general acted immediately, among other things in order to signal to the guys that they are not mercenaries, and are not being sent on missions that he himself would not be willing to carry out.
Isn’t that a sign that we’ve gone too far with the killing? So far that the justice of our cause is getting blurred because of the numbers?
Also, we see that the more successful the army is, the more Gazans die, the more the world puts on the brakes, and the more Hamas recovers. Hasn’t the time come to understand that the military path will not bring victory (in Israel; anywhere else it’s a great path to victory…)?
Answer
I can’t manage to connect two words here into something I understand. How does the fact that the Air Force commander flew missions mean we’ve gone too far? Where do you see that the degree of damage and destruction is harmful? In short, a bizarre message.
Discussion on Answer
I have no way to answer this because I don’t have the data. As I already wrote, in my estimation, regardless of the Americans and the Air Force commander, it’s doubtful we’ll achieve the collapse of Hamas, and certainly not that together with the return of the hostages.
The diplomatic route certainly will not bring the hoped-for victory; the risk is far too high. And the military option probably will indeed eliminate Hamas rule in Gaza.
But the military option will probably be conducted in such a way that, because of fear of judgment in The Hague, we’ll be careful not to harm Arabs even at the expense of soldiers’ lives. The world sees the civilians there as good-hearted, upright people. From here it looks like we have no chance of operating there without heavy losses to our forces.
There has never been a number of fatalities in Gaza like in this war. Certain pilots are beginning to hesitate about bombing targets that will exact a price from the civilian population (also according to testimony from fighters), out of fear of the terror of legal judgment (The Hague). The admired commander of the Air Force goes out on sorties himself, among other things to tell the guys that despite the concern over the number of uninvolved people who are dying, the orders they are receiving are fully lawful and moral, and if not — then he too is carrying out the same actions they are and will bear the consequences; I’m in the same boat with you.
As for the second question, I think we can all see that the more achievements the IDF makes, the more international support for Israel declines. And even the U.S. State Department is already ‘warning’ Israel about an operation in Rafah that could be a disaster for human life.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.israelhayom.co.il/news/geopolitics/article/15239967%3famp=1
So I asked whether this isn’t a sign that the military path will not bring us the longed-for victory?
What a bummer. Only now do I see that all this was already written in my first message and still wasn’t clear…. Even so, I’ll leave this here optimistically 🙂