Moshe Yaalon
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
Yaalon: Criticism over Qana spurs terror
Former chief of staff says ‘international community’s harsh condemnation of Israel following Qana bombing is proof that rules of war have been abandoned’; adds: The difference between us and the terrorists is clear: We endanger ourselves to protect their civilians. They endanger their own civilians to protect themselves
Former IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General (res.) Moshe Yaalon said in an op-ed published in the Washington Post that “The rules of war boil down to one central principle: The need to distinguish combatants from noncombatants. Those who condemned Israel
for what happened at (the Lebanese village of) Qana, rather
than placing the blame for this unfortunate tragedy squarely on Hizbullah and
its state sponsors, have rewarded those for whom this moral principle is meaningless and have condemned a state in which this principle has always guided military and political decision making.”
In his article Yaalon said that the international community’s harsh condemnation of Israel following the Qana bombing is proof of the fact that the rules of war have been abandoned.
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“Faced with enemies who openly call for its destruction and victimized by unremitting wars and terrorism since well before it was born, Israel has risked the lives of its citizens and its soldiers to abide by this principle (distinguishing between combatants and noncombatants) in a way that is unprecedented in the history of nations,” he said.
Yaalon said that in 2003, at the height of the Palestinian terror war against Israel, Israeli intelligence services discovered the location of a meeting of the senior leadership of Hamas.
“We knew that a one-ton bomb would destroy the three-story building and kill the Hamas leadership. But we also knew that such a bomb would endanger about 40 families who lived in the vicinity. We decided to use a smaller bomb that would destroy only the top floor of the building. As it turned out, the Hamas leaders were meeting on the ground floor. They lived to terrorize another day,” he said.
'We imperil our own citizens'
“Imagine for a moment that the United States had advance knowledge of the meeting place of al-Qaeda's senior leadership. Does anyone believe that there would be a debate about what size bomb to use, much less that any leader would authorize insufficient force to do the job?”
Yaalon continued: “So while it is legitimate to question whether Israel should go to such extreme lengths to avoid civilian casualties, it is preposterous to argue that Israel uses excessive force. Even more absurd was the shameful statement last week that Israel appeared to have deliberately targeted UN officials -- a statement fit for a knave or a fool, not for the secretary general of the United Nations. Rather than lead the fight against those who target civilians and use them as human shields, Secretary General Kofi Annan has strengthened them.”
He said Israel have dropped fliers, sent telephone messages and broadcast radio announcements so that innocents can get out of harm's way.
“In doing so, we imperil our own citizens since, by losing the element of surprise, we invariably allow some of the enemy to escape with their missiles,” the former chief of staff said.
“The difference between us and the terrorists is clear: We endanger ourselves to protect their civilians. They endanger their own civilians to protect themselves.”
Yaalon also said “it is clear to any objective observer that Hizbullah is using Lebanese civilians as human shields. It builds its headquarters in densely populated areas, embeds its fighters in towns and villages, and deliberately places missiles in private homes, even constructing additions to existing structures specifically to house missile launchers.”
