Israeli Military Officers: Don't Punish Palestine for Joining the ICC
Wednesday, 14 January 2015 09:20 By Robert Naiman, Truthout | Op-Ed- font size
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A Palestinian firefighter on the scene of a fire at the main power plant, which was reportedly hit by shelling overnight, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, July 29, 2014. Israeli airstrikes flattened the vacant four-story home of Hamas's top political leader in the Gaza Strip and destroyed offices of the organization's radio and television station early Tuesday, broadening Israel's targets as diplomacy toward a cease-fire sputtered in confusion on the battle's 22nd day. (Wissam Nassar/The New York Times)
If you thought it was a done deal that US aid to the Palestinians would be cut off in punishment of the Palestinian application to join the International Criminal Court, think again. Opponents of Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Kentucky) boneheaded proposal to punish Palestinians for embracing the rule of law just got some powerful reinforcements.
Yes, Virginia, the cavalry is here: Israeli military officers.
Defense News reports:
TEL AVIV - Israeli military officers and experts are warning against funding freezes and other punitive acts against the Palestine Authority (PA) that they insist will jeopardize security coordination with Ramallah.Targeting PA President Mahmoud Abbas for what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has termed a "diplomatic assault" against [Israel] will harm Israeli security interests along with those of Ramallah, experts here insist."When radical Islam is spreading like a virus through the region and threatening our borders, now is not the time to provoke more radicalism and instability right here at home," an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer general said.
[. . .]
In a Jan. 8 interview, the IDF general officer, speaking on background on what he insisted were "purely operational considerations," said security coordination was essential. Without the US funding that pays for PA salaries, Israel has to deal with consequences of "an Iraq-like de-Bathification purge" of thousands of unemployed, highly trained security personnel.As it now stands, PA forces "do the minimum, and often a lot more" to maintain stability, said retired Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, a former IDF chief of staff.By making arrests, confiscating weapons and otherwise acting in coordination with the IDF and Israel's Shin Bet security service, Ashkenazi said PA forces help contain terror not only in the West Bank, but in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem where so-called lone-wolf operatives are influenced by "the level of fury in the Palestinian street."
Now, the fact that Israeli military officers are speaking out against Rand Paul's boneheaded proposal to punish Palestinians for embracing the rule of law by cutting US aid to Palestine is no guarantee that the boneheaded proposal will not be enacted: Powerful boneheaded political forces are agitating for the boneheaded proposal. What it means is that people who object to the boneheaded proposal on the principle that Palestinians have the right to join the ICC if they want now have a much better chance to win. You can add your voice to the Israeli military officers' in opposition to Paul's boneheaded proposal here.
ROBERT NAIMAN
Robert Naiman is policy director at Just Foreign Policy and president of Truthout's board of directors.
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http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/28534-israeli-military-officers-don-t-punish-palestine-for-joining-the-icc
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