Wikileaks Leaked Cable: Israel's "Dahiya Doctrine" - Deliberate Targeting of Civilian Areas

[Hissyspit]

Wikileaks account Tweeted this earlier:

@wikileaks: Wikileaks cable on #Israel's "Dahiya Doctrine" - deliberate targeting of civilian areas with excessive force #Gaza https://t.co/iGG19hpQ3l/s/Q1Md

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08TELAVIV2329_a.html#efmBOyBhT

Office Origin:-- N/A or Blank --
Office Action:-- N/A or Blank -- Archive Status:-- Not Assigned --
From:Israel Tel Aviv Markings:-- Not Assigned --
To:Egypt Cairo | Israel Jerusalem | Joint Chiefs of Staff | Jordan Amman | Lebanon Beirut | National Security Council | Secretary of Defense | Secretary of State | Syria Damascus

- snip -

6. (S) Eisenkot labeled any Israeli response to resumed
conflict the "Dahiya doctrine" in reference to the leveled
Dahiya quarter in Beirut during the Second Lebanon War in
2006. He said Israel will use disproportionate force upon
any village that fires upon Israel, "causing great damage and
destruction." Eisenkot made very clear: this is not a
recommendation, but an already approved plan -- from the
Israeli perspective, these are "not civilian villages, they
are military bases." Eisenkot in this statement echoed
earlier private statements made by IDF Chief of General Staff
Gabi Ashkenazi, who said the next fight in Southern Lebanon
would come at a much higher cost for both sides -- and that
the IDF would not hold back.

7. (SBU) Eisenkot stated that Damascus fully understands what
the Israelis did in Dahiya, and that the Israelis have the
capability of doing the same to Syria. He suggested the
possibility of harm to the population has been Hizballah
leader Nasrallah's main constraint, and the reason for the
quiet over the past two years. Eisenkot criticized media
coverage of Nasrallah, arguing it legitimizes and equalizes
Nasrallah as an adversary.

[rhett o rick]

1. Damn that Wikileaks.

[cpwm17]

2. Perhaps the Dahiya Doctrine is why it was probably Israel that violated the recent cease-fire

with a massacre against nearby Palestinian civilians: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/ceasefire-against-evidence.html

The best evidence is that Hamas attacked the invading soldiers before the 08:00 AM cease-fire. Israel then massacred some nearby civilians at 10:00 AM, after the cease-fire (as if massacring civilians is legitimate in the first place.) The massacre appears to have been been in retaliation for killing invading soldiers.

According to Shaath, at after 6 AM, Hamas fighters engaged Israeli forces in Rafah. He maintained that it was then — almost two hours before the ceasefire went into effect — that the two Israeli soldiers were killed and the other went missing.

Shaath’s account was supported by dispatches published before the ceasefire went into effect by the official Twitter account of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades military wing. In a tweet published at 7:34 AM on August 1, the Qassam Brigades stated, “At 7 AM a group [of Hamas fighters] clashed with [Israeli] forces east of Rafah and caused many injuries and death to them.”

In a separate tweet published at 6:22 AM on the say day, the Qassam Brigades declared, “At 6:30 AM, a group of the Qassam infiltrated behind enemy lines at east Rafah and bombed a house that the enemy had taken as a stronghold with a Tandem missile after the enemies bombed the whole area.”

Israel has made contradictory claims concerning Hamas' alleged cease-fire violation:

But sources offer starkly conflicting accounts of the incident in question. The Israeli army claimed to Mondoweiss that Lt. Hadar Goldin went missing at 9:30 AM, an hour and a half after the ceasefire was declared. Yet Obama claimed that the attack occurred “minutes after the ceasefire began.” For their part, Qassam reported engaging and killing Israeli soldiers well before 8 AM.

We'll see if more evidence comes out.

[killbotfactory]

3. It's pretty clear the Israel right-wing doesn't want peace. nt

[slipslidingaway]

9. This should have a thread of its own ...

on the morning of August 1st there were conflicting reports about who broke the cease fire. Then a few hours later the US announced definitely it was Hamas, since then there has been a shift in news reporting IMHO.

[DRoseDARs]

4. Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!

Nice to see it confirmed.

[cantbeserious]

5. Difficult To Defend The Indefensible

eom

[elias49]

6. This needs a KICK!

Damn Wiki indeed!

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[ReRe]

8. K&R

Thanks, Hissyspit, and thanks Wikileaks. Proof of what has been happening in front of our very eyes.

[blkmusclmachine]

10. Finally ...

Transparency!!!

[magical thyme]

11. I guessed at this last week

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5314462

The Dahiya doctrine is a military strategy put forth by the Israeli general Gadi Eizenkot that pertains to asymmetric warfare in an urban setting, in which the army deliberately targets civilian infrastructure, as a means of inducing suffering for the civilian population, thereby establishing deterrence. The doctrine is named after a southern suburb in Beirut with large apartment buildings which were flattened by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 2006 Lebanon War. Israel has been accused of implementing the strategy during the Gaza War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahiya_doctrine

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. We've been seeing the doctrine in practice for the past month.

The deliberate targeting of civilian populations.

[Viva_Daddy]

13. Before we get too self-righteous here, let me remind you....

America retains the "distinction" of being the only Country in history to ever use nuclear weapons upon civilian populations (Nagasaki and Hiroshima).

What better term than "ethnic cleansing" can describe what we did to the Native Americans who were here long before Europeans "discovered" the Americas?

I could go on and on.

While our sins do not absolve or even mitigate what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, it behooves us to remember, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

[Hissyspit]

14. Who's being self-righteous?

For one thing, this is happening NOW, apparently. For another, most here are well aware we're helping to pay for this.

I don't get the point of your post.

I didn't post this to cast a stone. I posted it to make people informed.

[sibelian]

17. Nice try.

Let's stick to making sense, shall we?

[sabrina 1]

18. I don't know how long you've been on DU, but you do not need to tell US

about our egregious Foreign Policies, our War Crimes, our own Right Wing War Criminal Foreign Policy. What does that have to do with Israel's equally criminal right wing war criminal government?

Well, we have pointed out that because of our own massive war crimes against innocent people we have ZERO moral authority, a fact that is pointed out often when we decide to lecture others, another casualty of our own war crimes which apparently will never be prosecuted, at least not in this country.

Right now the focus on another Right Wing War Criminal. But that doesn't mean by any measure that we have forgotten for a minute just how bad our own policies are, just how criminal.

[nashville_brook]

15. k and r

[Segami]

16. KICK!