The most remarkable aspect of the newly released Israeli state report which criticizes the way Israel handled the 2014 Gaza war was its almost complete omission of what the 51-day onslaught did to the Palestinians. While the report cites major failings of the prime minister, defense establishment, security cabinet and others, which it said could have cost Israel dearly, there is hardly a mention of the price the Palestinians paid for the blitzkrieg and the effect the offensive had on their lives, their children, their homes, schools and infrastructure and the massive destruction and enormous loss of life.
After a two-year inquiry, the state comptroller, an official Israeli watchdog, concluded that Israel mishandled the war. Operation Protective Edge was not a war. It was manslaughter. Over 2,300 Gazans were killed and close to 11,000 were wounded, including 3,374 children, of whom over 1,000 were left permanently disabled. In contrast, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were killed.
International law was violated, war crimes were committed and Israel’s actions in Gaza were disproportionate. Israel can never justify its bombing of areas where civilians were known to be. From Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch, there is general agreement that the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks by Israel’s war machine and the likely number of civilian casualties or damage to civilian property outweighed the military advantage to be gained. Israel’s relentless air assault on Gaza saw its forces flagrantly disregard civilian life and property. In many cases the Israeli military presented no information to show that it was attacking lawful military objectives or acted to minimize civilian casualties. In most of the sites Israel attacked, there were no valid military targets. Many died from the lack of safe places to flee to as Israel fired at fleeing civilians. And when the Palestinians found some refuge, like UNRWA facilities, Israeli missiles found the target, killing 44 Palestinian civilians, including 10 UN staff.
If the report was right about anything, it was that the Israeli government had no strategic goals when the war started in early July 2014. That is, of course, unless the goal of the attack was to displace over 273,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Or if 1.8 million people were meant to be affected by a halt or reduction of the water supply. Or if the intention was to damage 138 schools and 26 health facilities, or totally destroy or severely damage 872 homes. Or if the aim was to force at least 373,000 children to require psychosocial support. Or if the purpose was to destroy 73 mosques and damage 203 others.
In only a few instances did the 200-page document on this third Gaza war demonstrate honesty and balance. It faulted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to address the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza - conditions that made hostilities ever more likely. Netanyahu was also blamed for failing to pursue diplomatic moves that might have averted the confrontation or brought it to a quick end, sparing much of the bloodshed.
Netanyahu was the one person responsible for Operation Protective Edge. Yet, it is highly unlikely that he will pay a political price for the criticisms leveled by the report, especially after such a long delay in its publishing.
All the same, Netanyahu slammed the report. In a statement the next day, as the report was released, Netanyahu claimed that the 2014 war, in which 2,300 Palestinians were killed, had been an “exceptional success”.
He also said that Israel had “hit Hamas harder than it had ever been hit before” and that, as a result, there had been “unprecedented quiet” from Gaza.
Presumably, he meant the quiet of the dead.
