If we speak of human rights, what about the right not to be the IDF’s human shield?
You could say, Herzi Halevi surrounded himself with civilians. Since by virtue of having been a resident of central Tel Aviv for 36 years, I function as a human shield for a military organisation called the IDF, which hides behind a civilian population in the heart of a densely populated urban area. ■ After all, there is no strategic benefit for the assassination in Damascus, and it raises the chances of an all-out war against Hezbollah and/or Iran. It seems that the Defence Establishment has decided that we [Israelis] can be sacrificed.
By Rogel Alpher • Translated by Sol Salbe
The TV news studios are preoccupied with the issue of the threat of an Iranian retaliation following the assassination of the Quds Force commander in Syria and Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, in an Israeli attack near the embassy in Damascus. On the quasi-fascist Channel 14 studio, they made it clear that they are not scared. On National Television, Guy Zohar dealt with life under a blackout scenario, in which Israeli citizens would be forced to do without electricity for days on and rely on generators. On Channel 12, Babak Es’haghi (Babak Itzhaki), a journalist for Iran International, asserted that it was “a wave of threats the like of which I’ve never seen before,” though he wagered that “ballistic missiles won’t be raining upon us from inside Iran into Israel.”
Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin explained that an operation aimed at deterrence could lead to escalation, and that perhaps now “the Iranians will tell Nasrallah, ‘Until now we restrained you, until now we told you that one doesn’t destroy Hezbollah and Lebanon for Sinwar’s foolhardy action,’ they may now pressure him to respond.” As for the value of the liquidation [targeted assassination in the Hebrew parlance], he stated the obvious: “Every person can be replaced and someone younger may come along and sometimes they do a better job.”
As usual, in order to understand the situation properly, one must go outside, get away from television. And this is even truer since Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has been given legal authority to shut down Al Jazeera. How will Israeli TV viewers know what is happening in Gaza? After all, local reporters Ohad Hamo and Nir Dvori will not show it to them.
Indeed, in a Ynet article, Raz Zimmt, a leading expert on Iran, said that an Iranian news website called for “missiles to be fired at sensitive areas in Tel Aviv, such as the Kirya,” and did not rule out the possibility that the threat would materialise. This possibility concerns me directly, since by virtue of having been a resident of central Tel Aviv for 36 years, I function as a human shield for a military organisation called the IDF, which hides behind a civilian population in the heart of a densely populated urban area.
The monstrous military superbase is a Tel Aviv gem. It contains tens of thousands of soldiers and accommodates the High Command headquarters (AKA The Pit), the General Staff, the Air Force and Navy Headquarters, the offices of the regional commanding officers, the Ministry of Defence, and more. Truly the IDF Nerve Centre. I live with hundreds of thousands of other innocent civilian non-combatants in the “Kirya Enveloping Region”. About a kilometre separates me from the military camp where the high command is hiding behind me. You could say, Herzi Halevi surrounded himself with civilians.
For some reason, the protest demonstrations in Kaplan Street, a stone-throw away from “The pit,” never addressed this patently immoral anomaly. If we speak of human rights, what about the right not to be a human shield for the IDF? After all, there is no strategic benefit for the assassination in Damascus (none of all the targeted assassinations carried out by Israel have ever improved its strategic situation), and it raises the chances of an all-out war against Hezbollah and/or Iran. It seems that the Defence Establishment has decided that we can be sacrificed.
