Israel on the brink
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Amos Harel has been the military correspondent and defence analyst for Haaretz for the last 25 years. He is one of Israel’s leading media experts on military and defence issues.
In this wide-ranging analysis for Haaretz he argues that everything indicates that “Israel is headed for a magnificent multidimensional failure”.
- The war in the north” is in danger of morphing into a conflagration which, if it happens, will overshadow everything that happened before it”
- The hostage crisis shows no signs of being resolved
- There is no prospect of a victory in Gaza “in the foreseeable future”
- Bidens’ peace deal looks like it is foundering
- Netanyahu’s coalition govnment is being torn in different directions
- Hamas’s forces have been degraded but it shows no sign of collapsing
- The Israeli army is suffering from fatigue and deteriorating discipline
- The inquiry into responsibility for October 7th is underway and it is hard to see how IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Herzl Halevi can survive it.
Everything points to a very tricky period ahead…
RK
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Fri 7 Jun 2024. Read the original here.
Waning international legitimacy, an exhausted army and Wwr in Lebanon will push Israel to the edge
■ War with Hezbollah would be a major challenge for the Israeli home front: cities in the north and the center would encounter a threat of unprecedented proportions and firepower
■ In Gaza, the war of versions between Hamas and the IDF continues – and the lack of clear goals is affecting the weary soldiers
■ Time is running out for Herzl Halevi, the tragic chief of the IDF
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At the risk of sounding cynical, I think it’s safe to say that the Zionist argument that Israel is the safest place for Jews to live is now dead, and that any Zionist who still makes that claim is nothing short of delusional.
Harel is torn. He sees that Israel is losing – but fears it will be such a big loss that the whole thing goes down the swanny….’liberal’ Zionists are always in a ‘difficult. position.
The author’s sympathy for the “tragic figure” of General Halevi is misplaced.
This “outstanding officer, honest and moral” is leading armed forces that are conducting some of the most egregious war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide of recent years. Even before the assault on the people of Gaza, his army was mercilessly terrorising the population of the West Bank.
In his previous appointment, Halevi was the commander of the Southern Command which has responsibility for the area in and around Gaza. He was in command of the Israeli military response to the demonstrations of the Great March of Return, during which his troops deliberately and specifically targeted medical personnel, journalists, children and the disabled.
That such a man can be described as “honest and moral” in supposedly liberal media is indicative of the decayed state of ethical values in Israeli society and probably in much of the ‘West’.