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The Dahiya Doctrine: Applying Disproportionate Force

[Ha'aretz] Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff - The head of Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, spoke a few months before the war of the "Dahiya Doctrine." The destruction in Gaza is reminiscent of what the air force did to Beirut's Shi'ite Dahiya quarter in 2006. Israel has made it clear that it is capable of inflicting enormous damage if provoked in such a way that it feels compelled to respond. The Israeli operation in Gaza was completely disproportional. Al-Jazeera faithfully broadcasts all the announcements issued by various unknown Palestinian factions about their alleged successes in the Gaza fighting. The running captions at the bottom of the screen report non-stop on wholly fictitious events. The Popular Resistance Committees announce they have destroyed a Merkava tank; there are numerous false reports about IDF soldiers being killed. Hamas propaganda films immortalizing a strike on Israeli soldiers are broadcast over and over again. The viewer can't help but conclude that, at any moment, Hamas' forces are about to reach Gaza's northernmost point and that the IDF is fighting a desperate battle to push them back. When Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh eventually emerges from his bunker, he will proclaim his organization the victor - and plenty of people in the West Bank will be ready to believe it. Haniyeh will have a harder time convincing Gazans. One Gazan journalist, noting Hamas claims of delivering surprises to Israel, said this week: "Hamas' only surprise were the more than 1,000 dead we suffered."
2009-01-16 06:00:00
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