Dahiya doctrine

Dahiya doctrine
Interest of	Gadi Eiskenot

History of the Wikipedia article "Dahiya Doctrine"

An article gutted by the Zionists at Wikipedia. Started 10th March 2009, worked on by several people until 30 December of the same year, the stated policy of deliberately attacking civilians miraculously became "a concept ... in which a conventional army targets civilian infrastructure used by terrorists". The new WP version of "Dahiya Doctrine" is here, worth checking as it's full of links to other very, very biased WP articles.

Original version of "Dahiya Doctrine" before the Zionists attacked it

Dahiya doctrine is a proposed and approved defense strategy of Israel under which "Israel finally realizes that Arabs should be accountable for their leaders' acts" It is named after a Hizbullah stronghold in Beirut that Israel flattened from the air in the 34-day 2006 Lebanon War.

IDF Northern Command Chief Gadi Eisenkot expressed the doctrine's premise as follows: "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. [...] We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. [...] This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved". There would be no mercy shown "when it comes to hitting the national infrastructure of a state that, in practice, is controlled by Hizbullah... In practical terms, the Palestinians in Gaza are all Khaled Mashaal, the Lebanese are all Nasrallah, and the Iranians are all Ahmadinejad."

Gaza was also mentioned in this connection, "too bad" this strategy "did not take hold immediately after the “disengagement” from Gaza and the first rocket barrages directed at the northern Negev ... implementing the Dahiya strategy in Gaza would have made it clear to Hamas that we do not intend to hit them proportionally ... Arab civilians grumble about being punished because of their leaders, while fearing their leaders more than they fear us. We need to make the fear we sow among them greater".

Some sources, although characterized as "pro-Israel" warned against this policy, especially in the run-up to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, claiming it would be disastrous, because the 2006 destruction of Dahiya had only made Hizbollah stronger. In January 2009 after the ceasefire, the pro-Palestinian Electronic Intifada announced that "Israel's Dahiya Doctrine comes to Gaza". where, after the "bank of Hamas targets" ran out in the first few days of fighting the bombardment continued against mosques, universities, government buildings, the courts, 25 schools, and several hospitals along with bridges, roads, 10 electricity generating stations, sewage lines, and 1,500 factories, workshops and shops.

Precedents

Elements of this policy have been seen before, perhaps most famously from General Moshe Dayan, "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother" quoted by Martin van Creveld, a professor at Israel’s Hebrew University in Sept 2003 who continued in his own words: "We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen, before Israel goes under." The BBC quotes Israeli commentators as saying that Israel has "a new military doctrine: 'go nuts' once and your enemies will fear to strike again". with Ofer Shelah saying "In the face of enemies who have opted for a strategy of attrition and attacking from a distance, Israel will present itself as a 'crazy country', the kind that will respond (albeit after a great deal of time) in a massive and unfettered assault, with no proportion to the amount of casualties it has endured."

US Diplomatic Cables

The following is from Wikileaks "Public Library of US Diplomacy". It is classified "SECRET" and Originates from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. "Eisenkot" refers to IDF Major General Gadi Eisenkot, then OC of the Israeli Northern Command :

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.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Goldstone: An act of negligence	Article	4 April 2011	Noura Erakat	Downplay of Israeli aggression towards civilians during the Gaza War, causes scholars to question Richard Goldstone. Regardless of what may have been his best intentions, Goldstone has negligently, one hopes not deliberately, undermined the laws of armed conflict and emboldened those states, like Israel, who believe that it is a surmountable nuisance.

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