[As daily attacks continue] Chief of General Staff: We Will Not Let Hamas Attack Our Civilians

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
16 September '10

Laugh or cry at this line: " We will not let Hamas fire on Israeli civilians and we have the capabilities to stop them"

Hello?

What are you trying to tell me Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi?

Are you playing a technical word game here?

"We will not let Hamas fire on Israeli civilians" - but Gaza terrorists from other groups who have been firing at Israeli civilians every day - now that's a different story?

Or are you sending a message that "we have the capabilities to stop them" but the civilian Israeli government is holding the IDF back?

But, then again, you say "we will not let Hamas fire on Israeli civilians" - so are you a throwback to the waiting period before 1967 when some top brass actually considered the possibility of simply overruling the civilians and getting down to business.

" the IDF will not refrain from taking any action necessary to protect Israeli civilians"

Give me a break.

You know it isn't true.

The IDF refrains every day.

That's not to say that this is bad.

Our world is much more complicated than that.

And there can most definitely be conditions that require that the IDF does indeed refrain.

As cruel as it sounds, civilians do indeed die as a result of very rational decisions that weigh the immediate protection of Israeli civilians against the long term interests of the state.

Ask the people in Ashkelon whose budget busting demand that their educational system be protected against rockets was refused.

But that's nothing new. And it goes far beyond defense.

We drive 110 KPH (or at least that's the posted legal limit) on roads when there is no question people will die because the speed limit isn't 40. We have a whole beautiful park system with cliffs that hikers slip to their deaths from each year.

You get the point.

The rhetoric is a bit annoying.

Here is a suggestion.

Sit down and figure out what you can publicly promise to deliver - and actually keep the promise.]

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Chief of General Staff: We Will Not Let Hamas Attack Our Civilians
16 September 2010 , 13:20 Jonatan Urich IDF
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/09/1601.htm

On Wednesday (Sept. 15) the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, visited the Bnei Dor Military Academy. During his visit, the Chief of Staff spoke about challenges currently facing the IDF and emphasized the significant contribution of students in the military academy. "The attempts at delegitimizing Israel and the IDF are growing stronger. But we have a moral army which operates in the most professional and ethical ways," he said.

Lt Gen. Ashkenazi discussed the current intensification of the situation on the Gaza border with the increasing number of rockets and mortar shells fired into Israel. "We face the threat of rockets and missiles fired from urban areas and nature reserves. We will not let Hamas fire on Israeli civilians and we have the capabilities to stop them." The Chief of the General Staff added that Operation Cast Lead created a new reality in the Gaza Strip, whereby the IDF will not refrain from taking any action
necessary to protect Israeli civilians.

"On the eve of Yom Kippur we in the IDF stand before many challenges. The reality is complex: Iran is growing stronger, as are Lebanon and Hamas. We also have much work to do in the Judea and Samaria region. The IDF, as the guarding shield of Israel, will stand between the enemy and the State of Israel. As commanders of the army, we are working hard to be prepared for war," added the Chief of Staff.

"We must continue fighting for our right to live here. Therefore it is important to enlist in the IDF and to have the most meaningful service possible," Lt Gen. Ashkenazi said, stressing that the IDF would continue the fight to encourage enlistment "despite the increase in draft numbers to combat units. It's very important to the army, as the army of the nation, to draft everyone despite the schism in ideas and beliefs between us. The IDF should be the bridge which connects everyone."

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