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Yes, Nothing Like a War of Self-Defense…

On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it […]

On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “more than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to US and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail”. The attack, he said, would last for three weeks. It would begin with bombing and culminate in a ground invasion. Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that “of all of Israel’s wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared … By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we’re seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it’s been simulated and rehearsed across the board”. ~George Monbiot, The Guardian

In some circles this changes nothing.  “Of course, Israel had to have a plan!” they’ll say.  “Of course Israel took advantage of the provocation to implement the plan!”  What it means, however, is that “the plan” all along was to wage war on all of Lebanon, which they must have known would displace her people by the hundreds of thousands on account of the air war–Hizbullah’s subsequent firing of rockets has simply provided ideal cover for the continuation of the campaign that was already intended the moment there was the slightest incident.  It was, like Kosovo and Iraq ’03, a war that was seeking a pretext, which I daresay throws into doubt the Israeli government’s right intention, which is a vital criterion of just war.

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