We’ve been here before, said Yitzhak Ben Yisrael in Yedioth Ahronoth. When we used to order airstrikes on Gaza to take out the missiles that threatened Israeli cities, we called them “retaliation operations.” This week’s Pillar of Cloud operation was just “the same lady in a different wig.” As before, the objectives were twofold: first, “dent the terror infrastructure” that Hamas has built up, and second, send a signal to the whole Arab world “that Israel is still going strong and that the dream of erasing its existence is impractical.” Those goals have been met, at least for now.
And what about the Palestinians’ existence? asked Ha’aretz in an editorial. Gaza City lies in ruins, and if Interior Minister Eli Yishai had his way, the destruction would be far worse. He urged the Israel Defense Forces to eradicate the entire enclave’s infrastructure, which would have been “inhuman and a war crime” and would not, in any case, have done Israel any good. Israel has already “turned the lives of Gaza’s 1.5 million people into hell,” a strategy that only bolsters their support for Hamas and their “hatred for Israel.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Malaysia: Hiding something or just incompetent?feature It is “painful to watch” how Malaysia has embarrassed itself before the world with its bungled response to the missing plane.
-
Tunisia: The only bloom of the Arab Spring
feature After years of “stormy discussions and intellectual tug-of-war,” Tunisia has emerged as a secular democracy.
-
Australia: It takes two to reconcile
feature To move beyond Australia’s colonialist past, we Aborigines must forgive.
-
Israel: Ariel Sharon’s ambiguous legacy
feature Ariel Sharon played a key role at every major crossroads Israel faced in his adult life.
-
South Africa: Trying to live up to Mandela
feature That South Africa was prepared for the death of Nelson Mandela is one of his greatest legacies.
-
China: Staking a claim to the air and the sea
feature China has declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes a set of islands claimed by Japan.
-
China: Is our aid to the Philippines too meager?
feature China donated $100,000 to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, but later increased the amount to $1.6 million.
-
Philippines: A calamitous response to calamity
feature “Where is the food, where is the water? Where are the military collecting the dead?”