Wikileaks on Gaza Shows Israeli Policy and Why It Made Sense

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
05 January '10

A new Wikileaks document is being spun by some media to imply something critical about Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip. In fact, the secret cable shows the exact opposite. It also shows that what I've been writing on the subject was 100 percent accurate.

The U.S. State Department cable dated November 3, 2008, says that the goal of Israel's sanctions on the Gaza Strip was to keep Gaza's economy functioning at the lowest possible level without causing a humanitarian crisis.

Precisely:

1. Israel wanted to keep the economy weak in order to reduce public support for the Hamas regime to the minimum possible level.

2. Israel wanted to keep the economy weak in order to keep Hamas as weak as possible so that it could not easily stage war on Israel or expand its influence into the West Bank or Egypt.

3. Israel did not want the people of Gaza to face hunger or serious deprivation based on existing living standards.

That all makes sense. It is in line with centuries of precedent and the policies of all democratic nations facing adversaries in a wartime situation.

(Read full "Wikileaks on Gaza Shows Israeli Policy and Why It Made Sense")

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