Opinion  Nahum Barnea
What went wrong in Gaza?
Nahum Barnea
Published: 20.10.09, 09:30
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1. Your are saying there was no real combat in Gaza?
JO   (10.20.09)
wrong. Why dont you ask the many soldiers who where there. You'ed get a No. There was combat and many gun battles so please don't insult them.
2. Cast lead and common sense.
Philip ,   Afula,Israel   (10.20.09)
The matter is so simple really. Hammas deserved a thrashing because it drove us crazy in the south and made life impossible there. A really sound beating to give them the message that things cannot go on like this, and a bit more as a future deterrent. Thus far in my oponion reasonable and necessary. Perhaps we should have done it earlier. Trouble is we OVER DID IT,and things seemed to continue without well defined goals ,ie the pollies lost the plot. The punishment did not fit the crime,and when this happens ,guess what, people get pissed off with the punisher............
3. What Went Wrong: We Didn't Finish The Job
Yishai Kohen ,   YeShA, Israel   (10.20.09)
The goals should have been to destroy the terrorist entity in OUR land, to restore Jewish rule, and to expel whatever terrorists remain back to their own lands (minus those with blood on their hands).
4. Poor analysis
Mohammad ,   Jordan   (10.20.09)
The article should be titled "what went right in Gaza"! May I suggest a different two key lessons for Israel to learn: Lesson one: Peace is the only real soultion for all Israel's security concerns. Lesson two: as above.
5. Gaza Is NOT our land.
Philip ,   Afula,Israel   (10.20.09)
To number [3] ,Gaza is in no way "our land" and thank goodness we withdraw from there. If you, and your kind, wish to live there go ahead,live your dream ,but under the condition that you provide your own defence,weapons ,manpower and costs,the whole lot.
6. lessons
Israel Israeli ,   Tel Aviv   (10.20.09)
a. Theory that ending "occupation" will bring peace is proven wrong b. Theory that Israel will be allowed to defend itself is proven wrong c. Theory that Arabs are lying when they say they want to "liberate" all of Israel is proven wrong d. Theory that withdrawing from Israeli territory will increase security is proven wrong
7. Kemp
Pereire ,   Brussels Belgium   (10.20.09)
why did you not published the interview of Colonel Kemp ?
8. You are delusional, illogical to suggest Israel is ...
JMK ,   NYC   (10.20.09)
the problem here. I am stumped to argue with someone who suggests that Jews are wrong for living and succeding against its sworn enemies. These soldiers are not only someone's children they are childen themselves and deserve a future, they are not fodder to appease a world thirsty for more Jewish blood to make things proportional. Maybe we find some more pits flled with Jews from the Nazi era and raise that to six and one half million and gather more sympathy as well. An old man suggests more young Israels die to help the old ans since the Arabs are not capable msybe suicide made to look like dying in battle to give the Arabs back some honor and placate the haters.
9. #3 couldn't say better
Genuine Moshe   (10.20.09)
Olmer, Livni and Barak did not want to win the war. During the Gaza war, the IDF took up defensive positions at least 12 days out of the three weeks of combat. Barak did not want to continue the fight while Olmert and Livni anxiously waited for Egypt to strike a deal with the Hamas leaders who took refuge in the Sinai. The Gaza operation should have been wrapped up in 7 to 10 days max.
10. yes philip gaza is not your land
rashid ,   palistinian   (10.20.09)
thank you for your help believe me also afula is not your land and hertzeiya is not your land capara it is all palistinian land now what do you say about that
11. All wars that Israel has waged have been just, forced ...
Ron B. ,   Lod   (10.20.09)
All wars that Israel has waged have been just, forced upon it by the Arab leaders. War involves life-and-death situations; mistakes are made and innocents inevitably die. But in maintaining our moral standards, we are also obliged to ensure that we do not go to the other extreme and endanger the lives of our soldiers by preventing them from defending themselves. As to the blood libels against Israel and the IDF : http://xrl.us/be8dzf
12. "An eye for an eye"
G.E.O ,   Athens Greece   (10.20.09)
Was legislated in order to avoid disproportionate retaliation-in ancient times-. Israel is currently lagging behind and the ancient legislation Losing its own rights And the moral standing against humanity Turns out his eyes with her own hands Very sad
13. I read Hamas is NOW reciving FajirsWhy doesnt West stop this
Alan ,   SA   (10.20.09)
The Hezballah is recceiving 1/3 of Syrian Rockets ... Also nothing is done by UNIFIL Only when Israel responds then the War Crimes Screams start! Why isnt there meetings of UNSC to stop these Rockets being brought in?UNIFIL does NOTHING -ZILCH. Why is there only a reaction AFTER Israel has to do something about them?
14. #4 Mo, you cant be serious!
JAy3 ,   Israel   (10.20.09)
Remember Black September??? Did you use peaceful measures when the Palestinians attacked your country??? You killed 10,000 of them and the Un said nothing! You are as big a hypocrite as the UN! Jordan is supposed to be the Arabs Palestine, and giving t back to them is the only way to peace!
15. thanks to the fact that the whole world is not against us.
john ,   uk   (10.20.09)
Well might be for now but the people in the world espicially Western Europe have a grim view of Israel as an occupier. Certainly it will not take long before goverments follow suit remember SA when Margaret thatcher called Nelson Mandella a trerrosit few years later he wa received at Buckingham Palace and certainly an Icon of the world, unless somebody saves Isarael from its politicians and generals the future is doomed.. The view is taken here on street level is that Israel represents the schoolboy bully and somebody has to stop that if Isaelis do not wake up soon from their long coma. force does not solve issues look around the world and realise the facts, Peace and giving Palestinian their rights are the only options.
16. barnea dumb waiter
alexi   (10.20.09)
if you want to avoid severed limbs from ieds,s uicide bombers, booby traps, antitank rockets, you have to softern targets befor e troops are inserted. Even then, dogs and sensors have to be used as arabs are diabolical in terror. Barnea knows nothing just like his master olmert, a gutless cowardly crook without active combat service just like barnea. Distorted values my shvalues. You can't walk into the ied bunkers straight away.You have to use exactly what was done. The laws of war were not changed to cover hamas and hezbollah as winograd recommended. In the meantime barnea runs interference for his crook who will be going to jail olmert. No comeback is possible for this dumbbell who haD such knowledge that he used the islamic radical turks as trusted conduit. What an imbecile! Barnea and dankneer are no better, peas in a pod.
17. israeli short war is somthing vfrom the past
gaza ,   gaza   (10.20.09)
israel is no more able to have short wars, and that is the issue her, in addition israel have no monoply on the info. the firest live war that eneter the living rooms of the world was the gaza war. israeli soliders did not fight also hamas did not fight , it was a war conducted by a killing force and not a fighting force. israeli army killed pal refugge,poor, getto children. thanks to pal journalist firest, and formost and the end of westren style meadia that is able to hide the war crimes when westreners and israeli comiitt war crimes.
18. To John UK #15
David   (10.20.09)
I don't know which part of the world you are looking at. From Chechnya to Afghanistan to Kosovo and your Falkland Islands it's the military power that determined the outcome
19. Lesson 1: don't use stupid code names like "Cast Lead"
JPS ,   Efrat   (10.20.09)
The army and government should both have marketing experts in their upper echelons to help avoid sticking their feet not just in their mouths, but in all the way up to the hip. Who is the genius who approved the name "Cast Lead"? No Nobel Prize for them. Not even a boobie prize. The operation should have been called "Operation Stop Kassams" or "Operation Free Sderot" or something that gave the world the message that Palestinians were committing war crimes that caused the war. However, they chose Cast Lead, which went over like the lead balloon that it was, and the message of "Cast Lead" was heavy and metallic, while "Operation Free Sderot" could not have been misinterpreted at all. Did anybody ever fire the person who approved it, or were they promoted?
20. What went wrong in Gaza is obvious...
Avery Dalton ,   Toronto, Canada   (10.20.09)
One word: "Disengagement"!
21. The only thing that went wrong in Gaza..
Yehuda ,   Holit, Israel   (10.20.09)
is that we did not finish the job. World opinion means nothing if we die as a nation.
22. Nothing went wrong, we did what we had to do
Yonah ,   Tel Aviv Israel   (10.20.09)
If you want to know what was WRONG, ask the Hamas who had been launching the rockets for years. Maybe blame our crappy PR people, but they have always sucked at their jobs. Other than that, we did what we had to do. Are rocekts falling on Sderot on a daily basis any more? No. So we got some of what we needed out of it.
23. to David 18
john   (10.20.09)
exactly my point, all countries you mentioned are boiling hot endless numbers are dying for satisfaction of big powers and people like Tony Blair and Geoerge Bush, a lot of innocent youing British soldiers died for nothing, may be quiet for a while. You mentioned the Falkland war, it was a disastrous war in the eyes a lot of British people which acheived nothing except to satisfy the ego of Margaret Thatcher. Macho mentality although she was a woman if you know, execuse my term as I am solidly believe in equality. Think again
24. Nahum Barnea - What went wrong
Richard P. Ebstein ,   Efrat Israel   (10.20.09)
As a father of a soldier who fought in Gaza and a Professor with students who were also serving, I am very thankful that we managed to sustain very few casualties. Nothing more need be said and I am unaware of any country that is willing to sacrifice its own soldiers to 'save' civilian casualties on the enemy side.
25. Israel Did wrong in Lebanon ,did wrong in Gaza .it seems the
George ,   Canada   (10.20.09)
time when Israel do right is gone for good. Worth think about doing something devastating with Iran .
26. What went wrong...In Dresden? Berlin? Tokyo?
BJL ,   usa   (10.20.09)
Hiroshima? London? Grozny? Cheznyia? Bagdad, Fallujah? Darfur? In the last 70 years I can think of many horrific civilian incidents in warfare....Some as recent as the Iraq war and what the arabs are doing in darfur. Israel in contrast dropped a million leaflets and made thousands of calls to warn the gazans. The blame rest squarely on Hamas who positioned themselves among women and children. Hamas hoped for civilian deaths and they got their wish. Now an antijew world pounces. The IDF should be commended not condemed.
27. Barnea
Mo ,   Israel   (10.20.09)
Your reporting shows that you are toooo naive.
28. Sending my son is a real sacrifice.
vered ,   israel   (10.20.09)
I suppose in an ideal country soldiers would be those without feelings or family and just go into battle. I believe in Israel, but I did not raise my son to be a soldier. He is a soldier because he has to play his part. And yes, although, it is terrible to kill civilians; for me, he is a civilian in uniform, and his life is more important to me than the lives of our enemies.
29. to nr 10 gaza and herzliya
athos lujernetta ,   n   (10.20.09)
gaza has been taken to the egyptians and it is egyptian land.Look at the history books.The problem: the egyptians hate the palestinians as much if not mor than the israelis and dont want this piece of s..land. As to herzliya tel aviv etc : come and get it.You have being trying hard for 61 years now..
30. The writer mentions the effects of Palestinian propaganda:
Robert Haymond ,   Ashdod, Israel   (10.20.09)
What went wrong and continues to go wrong is our own lack of media presence in the world. I've said it before: We need a 24-hour satellite television presence much like al Jazeera, professionally managed, to tell the international community Israel's story. It could be in part political, from our own perspective, but we could also present Israeli history, Jewish history, a depiction of the people who live here, from the Ashkenazi to the Sephardim to the post-communist Russians to the Ethiopians. We could depict our non-Jewish minorities, Christian, Arabs, Circassians, Druse and Bedouin. We could depict the incredible divergencies in this little country, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to the Galilee to the Golan Heights. We could present to the public the great stresses in the country, the conflicts between the Haredim and the secular, Muslim and Jew, but also the impossibility of Israel surviving and thriving in the midst of everyday dangers unknown to the western world. The television channel could actually become a profitable enterprise. We could broadcast in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese. In this way, the world would hear and see our story and there would be a much greater opportunity for the world's citizens to identify with and understand us. A friend of mine, a member of a professional media group in Jerusalem, has tried for years to engage the government of Israel. All politicians are in agreement with this venture but none will take the idea and run with it. His group has tried to interest Jewish philanthropists and businessmen. All are agreed that it's a wonderful idea but none have gone beyond the talk stage. As I was told many years ago, Israel wins the military wars but Arabs wins in the media. We have such a plethora of start-up companies, technology, angel and venture capitalism, artists and musicians, but when it comes to an idea whose time to generate came several decades ago, we have been and are remiss.
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