[Ha'aretz] Moshe Arens - The Goldstone report is being intensively studied by terrorists bent on destroying the State of Israel - and they must be breathing a sigh of relief. From the report it is clear to them that establishing military units and rocket launchers in civilian population centers will from now on be an effective military tactic that they can hope to apply with impunity. The report is in effect a license to kill - for Hamas, for Hizbullah, and for terrorists all over the world. During Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, the IDF showed that the commonly held wisdom that terrorism could not be defeated by military means was dead wrong. Whereas Palestinian terrorism could not be deterred, it could be physically eliminated by military means. The terrorists could be pursued into their lairs and destroyed, or brought to justice. Since then, terrorism from the West Bank against Israeli civilians has essentially ceased. Thank you Justice Goldstone. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The writer is a former Israeli minister of defense and foreign minister.
2009-10-06 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive