Israeli official warns Palestinians of "shoah"
By Adam Entous and Joseph Nasr /Fri Feb 29, 11:08 AM ET/
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli defense official said on Friday that Palestinians firing rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would bring upon themselves what he termed a "shoah," the Hebrew word for holocaust or disaster.
The word is rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews. Many Israelis are loath to countenance its use to describe other contemporary events. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinians faced "new Nazis."
Israeli air strikes have killed at least 33 Gazans, including five children, in the past two days. The army, which carried out additional air strikes on Friday, said most of those killed were militants.
Israeli leaders said cross-border rocket fire may leave them no choice but to launch a broader military offensive against Hamas, which seized Gaza in June after routing forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
One Israeli was killed in a rocket attack on Wednesday in the southern border town of Sderot. Hamas raised the stakes by using Soviet-designed Grad missiles, more powerful and accurate than improvised Gazan Qassams, to strike deep into the larger city of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 people.
Visiting Ashkelon, defense Minister Ehud Barak told Channel 10 television an Israeli response was "required" and that "Hamas bears responsibility for this deterioration and it will also bear the results."
Deputy defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio earlier that "the more Qassam (rocket) fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger 'shoah' because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."
Vilnai's spokesman said: "Mr. Vilnai was meaning 'disaster'. He did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide."
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arye Mekel, said: "Deputy defense Minister Matan Vilnai used the Hebrew phrase that included the term 'shoah' in Hebrew in the sense of a disaster or a catastrophe, and not in the sense of a holocaust."
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's prime minister in the Gaza Strip, said:
"This is a proof of Israel's pre-planned aggressive intentions against our people. They want the world to condemn what they call the Holocaust and now they are threatening our people with a holocaust."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far been wary of launching a major ground offensive, which could incur heavy casualties and derail U.S.-backed peace talks with Abbas. But domestic pressure is growing.
MAJOR OPERATION
According to Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Barak sought to prepare the way for an offensive by sending confidential messages to world leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will visit the region next week.
"Israel is not keen on and rushing for an offensive, but Hamas is leaving us no choice," Barak told them, Yedioth said.
Rice has expressed concern about Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, but has stopped short of calling for Israeli restraint. Officials say she will make clear U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself.
Security sources were quoted by Israel Radio and Army Radio as saying that a major operation was being prepared but was not yet imminent.
Leading Israeli commentators urged caution on Friday over any major military offensive. Many said there are no easy options, which range from an all-out ground invasion to targeted strikes on Hamas leaders. Some suggested that only negotiations with Hamas could bring a halt to the rocket barrages.
Although Abbas and his secular Fatah faction remain deeply hostile to Hamas, the president's office said Israel's military actions were aimed at destroying the peace process.
Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but still maintains control of the territory's air space, coastal waters and major border crossings.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Adam Entous and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Dominic Evans)
There should never be any risk of words you use as a political leader being misinterpreted to refer to genocide. You are responsible when they are. Demonstrate that your words mean something different.
The problem really is that this is a complicated and difficult situation. There is a government responsible for protecting its citizens, and a group of disenfranchised, disowned people being victimized by both the groups that claim to support and stand for them, and the government they oppose.
The first step is to make swift work of bringing those who seek to harm to justice. Not death, justice.
The second step is to recognize the casualties that have occurred during such attempts, and to own the fault for them. This will go a long way to reconciling the people. You cannot trust a government who says that it's you're own fault for being in the way of a rocket.
The third step is to encourage enfranchisement and to own the disowned. This requires political and social equity, and economic opportunity.
The fourth step is to encourage measured autonomy or power-sharing.
The solutions are simple, but difficult to implement. But, name-calling, threats, declarations that a given people don't exist, and blame-shifting will only harm the process. It's time for everyone to take responsibility for their words and actions and actually seek resolution. Being the internationally recognized government, the ball is in Israel's court.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli defense official said on Friday that Palestinians firing rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would bring upon themselves what he termed a "shoah," the Hebrew word for holocaust or disaster.
The word is rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews. Many Israelis are loath to countenance its use to describe other contemporary events. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinians faced "new Nazis."
Israeli air strikes have killed at least 33 Gazans, including five children, in the past two days. The army, which carried out additional air strikes on Friday, said most of those killed were militants.
Israeli leaders said cross-border rocket fire may leave them no choice but to launch a broader military offensive against Hamas, which seized Gaza in June after routing forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
One Israeli was killed in a rocket attack on Wednesday in the southern border town of Sderot. Hamas raised the stakes by using Soviet-designed Grad missiles, more powerful and accurate than improvised Gazan Qassams, to strike deep into the larger city of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 people.
Visiting Ashkelon, defense Minister Ehud Barak told Channel 10 television an Israeli response was "required" and that "Hamas bears responsibility for this deterioration and it will also bear the results."
Deputy defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio earlier that "the more Qassam (rocket) fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger 'shoah' because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."
Vilnai's spokesman said: "Mr. Vilnai was meaning 'disaster'. He did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide."
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arye Mekel, said: "Deputy defense Minister Matan Vilnai used the Hebrew phrase that included the term 'shoah' in Hebrew in the sense of a disaster or a catastrophe, and not in the sense of a holocaust."
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's prime minister in the Gaza Strip, said:
"This is a proof of Israel's pre-planned aggressive intentions against our people. They want the world to condemn what they call the Holocaust and now they are threatening our people with a holocaust."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far been wary of launching a major ground offensive, which could incur heavy casualties and derail U.S.-backed peace talks with Abbas. But domestic pressure is growing.
MAJOR OPERATION
According to Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Barak sought to prepare the way for an offensive by sending confidential messages to world leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will visit the region next week.
"Israel is not keen on and rushing for an offensive, but Hamas is leaving us no choice," Barak told them, Yedioth said.
Rice has expressed concern about Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, but has stopped short of calling for Israeli restraint. Officials say she will make clear U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself.
Security sources were quoted by Israel Radio and Army Radio as saying that a major operation was being prepared but was not yet imminent.
Leading Israeli commentators urged caution on Friday over any major military offensive. Many said there are no easy options, which range from an all-out ground invasion to targeted strikes on Hamas leaders. Some suggested that only negotiations with Hamas could bring a halt to the rocket barrages.
Although Abbas and his secular Fatah faction remain deeply hostile to Hamas, the president's office said Israel's military actions were aimed at destroying the peace process.
Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but still maintains control of the territory's air space, coastal waters and major border crossings.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Adam Entous and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Dominic Evans)
There should never be any risk of words you use as a political leader being misinterpreted to refer to genocide. You are responsible when they are. Demonstrate that your words mean something different.
The problem really is that this is a complicated and difficult situation. There is a government responsible for protecting its citizens, and a group of disenfranchised, disowned people being victimized by both the groups that claim to support and stand for them, and the government they oppose.
The first step is to make swift work of bringing those who seek to harm to justice. Not death, justice.
The second step is to recognize the casualties that have occurred during such attempts, and to own the fault for them. This will go a long way to reconciling the people. You cannot trust a government who says that it's you're own fault for being in the way of a rocket.
The third step is to encourage enfranchisement and to own the disowned. This requires political and social equity, and economic opportunity.
The fourth step is to encourage measured autonomy or power-sharing.
The solutions are simple, but difficult to implement. But, name-calling, threats, declarations that a given people don't exist, and blame-shifting will only harm the process. It's time for everyone to take responsibility for their words and actions and actually seek resolution. Being the internationally recognized government, the ball is in Israel's court.