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Why the mighty fell
By Gideon Levy
Tags: Israel, Winograd Report 

Here they are again, the protesting officers. After their failure in the wake of the Second Lebanon War, they have returned to us on the eve of the release of the final Winograd Committee report. Now, as then, their protest is hollow. They are crying out together with the bereaved parents, but their cry is infuriating. While protest in this complacent country is a good thing, in this case its content is deceptive, it focuses on the trivial and disregards substance.

Both then and now, they want the prime minister's head; their be-all and end-all is Ehud Olmert's resignation. They are not protesting the outbreak of the war as such, the absence of any justification for it, or for that matter its moral and ethical failure. They like to talk about "values," but their values are not moral. They wanted the war to have been managed differently, to go on and on, until victory. But there was no chance of that war ending in victory, and that is one reason - though not the only one - that it would have been better had it not been fought.

The officers are leveling all their criticism at Olmert: "We are fearful of the behavioral norms of the political arena headed by you," the company commanders wrote, careful not to touch the army they hold sacrosanct. How the mighty did fall, a bereaved father lamented - when the question that should have resonated from one end of the land to the other is: Why did the mighty fall? They fell in vain, because Israel again turned to the weapon of war as the first option, because Israel again invoked the language of brute force it is so fond of. Accordingly, the answer to the terrible question of the fallen heroes is: They fell because Israel embarked on a futile war of folly. Many are to blame for that war, and above all the Israel Defense Forces, which pushed for it.
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But even from the point of view of these officers - whose protest is aimed solely at the war's execution, not against its very pursuit - they are the last people who have the right to complain. Every gung-ho company commander knew that the IDF had become an occupation police force, heroically taking on stone throwers and old people at checkpoints, and was not trained for genuine military tasks. The company commanders were a part of this but said nothing. More than anyone else, these reservists knew what the IDF was doing, and how. They kept quiet. Let them not complain now.

Their words resonate because they are officers and bereaved parents. That constitutes a profound statement about the society we live in. No other groups - not human rights activists and promoters of peace, not the poor, the sick or the disabled - generate this kind of resonance with their protests, because they are not part of the "fighting family." The time has come to revise this order of priorities. The commanders and the bereaved parents have to be heard, but no more than other sectors. They have no priority in terms of civil society. "Who are they, anyway?" the company commander Tomer Bohadana cried out in the Knesset, and that question can be answered with another question: And who are you? Danger lurks from officers who go to the Knesset and ask a question like that about civil society.

The question of "Who are you?" also stirs reflections about their true goals and about those who stand behind them. In their own view they are "not political," but they are serving distinct political aims - those of the right wing. They have no right to cloak themselves in an "apolitical" guise. Uzi Dayan, their leader, is a politician like any other, except that he lost in the elections. One of their other leaders, Ronen Shoval, wrote in the weekend edition of the daily Maariv: "It is impossible to defend metropolitan Tel Aviv without the protective wall of Judea and Samaria." They also know that if their protest succeeds, a different politician will be elected, one who is worse than the present incumbent.

But gloomiest of all is the utter absence of a moral dimension in their protest. Not a word about a country that entered into a futile war against Lebanon, destroyed its homes and killed a thousand of its people. All we hear from them is "What about the ground operation?" and "Why wasn't it done earlier?" All we hear is more war. A protest movement with this message is hollow and without values. In the face of that, Olmert can survive handily
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  1.   Politicians 10:58  |  Brenda 27/01/08
  2.   Gideon Levy supplies the dots. Now connect them 11:00  |  Natallie Durson 27/01/08
  3.   Gideon, Yesh G`vul be Tzafon! Boker Tov! 11:09  |  Lavi 27/01/08
  4.   Some truth and clarity at last.... 11:09  |  Esther 27/01/08
  5.   Why we have to put up with Levy 11:23  |  Shimeon ben Porat 27/01/08
  6.   it is what it is... 11:39  |  fadi 27/01/08
  7.   you arm our enemies, try to kill our spirit 11:44  |  ani 27/01/08
  8.   Because of you 11:51  |  self respect 27/01/08
  9.   All the Abu Levy Convoluted Logic Just So Aushwitz Borders Proces 12:05  |  Joseph . E 27/01/08
  10.   disproportionate response 12:11  |  sev 27/01/08
  11.   Levy and his idiot logic 12:16  |  Mark Hamil 27/01/08
  12.   Israel has made many errors, but the main one, according to Levy. 12:35  |  Jonathan Dabah 27/01/08
  13.   Durson, The Military Mind Of Sadat Knew How To Make Peace With .. 12:41  |  Lavi 27/01/08
  14.   It seesm Israelis are always looking to spill blood 12:47  |  Dutch 27/01/08
  15.   In war people die 13:39  |  Chris Linthwaite 27/01/08
  16.   "learn hebrew easily", and "learn arabic online" 13:39  |  eric 27/01/08
  17.   Dutch 14:26  |  Doris Cadigan 27/01/08
  18.   Sderot was once palestinian city 14:29  |  Mickey SouthLebanon 27/01/08
  19.   Levy = Loser 14:47  |  Albert 27/01/08
  20.   Why the mighty fell 14:49  |  Cyasher 27/01/08
  21.   The second Lebanon War was a true Folly. 14:51  |  Stephen. 27/01/08
  22.   Hold Levy in jail 14:55  |  Albert 27/01/08
  23.   I am at a loss for the "logic" of Gideon, as well as my friends 15:01  |  S 27/01/08
  24.   Levy,dif the bones of your Dad and leave the country with them 15:06  |  Absolute Swedem 27/01/08
  25.   Sderot and property 15:13  |  Albert 27/01/08
  26.   Lavi # 3 : Enough already!!! 15:19  |  Westwell 27/01/08
  27.   They are just Israeli Heroes nothing else. 15:20  |  K 27/01/08
  28.   #16 where did eric escape from ? he never finished 15:23  |  v hardman 27/01/08
  29.   egypt recognition of isr may h. been a 15:26  |  bozhidar balkas 27/01/08
  30.   War in Lebanon was not "futile" 15:40  |  Sam 27/01/08
  31.   There is a lot of merit to Gideon Levy`s arguments and 16:00  |  Smadar 27/01/08
  32.   rightists assume drill position-to our benefit 16:04  |  jerome mark 27/01/08
  33.   Re Absolute 16:26  |  Esther 27/01/08
  34.   How many Hassan Narallah? 16:45  |  Hamman 27/01/08
  35.   GL: Nasrallah Would Be Proud of You 16:47  |  massaraksh 27/01/08
  36.   For S #23 16:49  |  Esther 27/01/08
  37.   The Veterans Got It Right - The Levys Got It Wrong 16:51  |  massaraksh 27/01/08
  38.   Israel`s vulnerability revealed in Lebanon Folly 16:59  |  dov 27/01/08
  39.   Well said Gideon Levy!!! War is folly, as is evil against evil. 16:59  |  Virginia 27/01/08
  40.   Westwell: Take the Arab Sand Out of Your Eyes 17:04  |  massaraksh 27/01/08
  41.   #18 Sderot was once palestiniian city and Gaza was Jewish 17:08  |  Shlomo 27/01/08
  42.   ISRAEL IS STILL IN A STATE OF TOTAL DENIAL 17:14  |  indrajaya 27/01/08
  43.   # 5 We do not really have to put up with Levy 17:52  |  Ashur Carmi 27/01/08
  44.   # 42 Indy. Guess what, I agree with you..! Dude. 17:54  |  Stephen. 27/01/08
  45.   #38 dov and the quitters lost the battle 18:00  |  v hardman 27/01/08
  46.   Esther #36 18:01  |  S 27/01/08
  47.   Appeacement of terror,Gidys craft 18:04  |  TOMY 27/01/08
  48.   Levy = a disgrace of the first order 18:06  |  Marietta 27/01/08
  49.   fadi,if there more Gidys in Israel,G..D forbid 18:09  |  TOMY 27/01/08
  50.   # 44, STEPHEN 18:17  |  indrajaya 27/01/08
  51.   Gideon Wrong Again 18:19  |  Ron 27/01/08
  52.   Re S #46 18:52  |  Esther 27/01/08
  53.   The inability of the right to cope with reality 19:09  |  Mark Lincoln 27/01/08
  54.   Westwell #26: LEB 2 Is Not Quite The War Israel ... 19:16  |  Lavi 27/01/08
  55.   Esther #52 19:32  |  S 27/01/08
  56.   LINCOLN #53: Israel`s Northern Jugular Vein Will Be Protected .. 19:46  |  Lavi 27/01/08
  57.   Indra 19:52  |  bytheway 27/01/08
  58.   More Self Delusional Tales from Comrade Gidon 19:54  |  Oiy Va Voiy 27/01/08
  59.   Lavi:You Got It Right About Hezbollah`s Advantage 20:03  |  massaraksh 27/01/08
  60.   so anyone who questions or critisizes zion is an 20:14  |  Assad-u-LLAH 27/01/08
  61.   Gideon Levy is an Israeli Jesus 22:38  |  Yaakov Sullivan 27/01/08
  62.   Stabbed in the back myth 22:51  |  Colin Wright 27/01/08
  63.   Indrajaya`s delusions 22:52  |  Gary 27/01/08
  64.   #61,Totally mistaken ..... 22:56  |  Gary 27/01/08
  65.   S - will palestinians only find equality in graves 23:41  |  kiwi girl 27/01/08
  66.   #65 and you have strict proff of these allegations kiwi girl? 23:53  |  v hardman 27/01/08
  67.   Yes Yaakov, Gideon Levy is like a devine figure 23:55  |  Dutch 27/01/08
  68.   # 61 G Levy not a Jesus ! 00:01  |  AbuShanab 28/01/08
  69.   # 63, GARY 00:09  |  indrajaya 28/01/08
  70.   Gideon Levy is the quintessential coward and terror apolgist 00:13  |  Marwan مروان خوري 28/01/08
  71.   a first! 00:24  |  hollingsworth