

likud mk danny danon’s facebook page, november 10, 2011 (screenshot via +972 mag’s ami kaufman)

Ami Kaufman of +972 Magazine highlights this disgusting message from Danny Danon, a Likud Party member of the Israeli Knesset:

I am currently in Ashkelon to witness the security problem facing the city specifically in neighborhoods with new Olim and have come to two main conclusions. Firstly, we must do everything we can to ensure the safety of all residents with an emphasis on areas with new immigrants who greatly lack protection, and more importantly, to deal with Hamas leaders in Gaza, and for every missile that falls in our southern towns, we retaliate by deleting a neighborhood in Gaza

It is disturbing to hear such a blunt call for collective punishment and the wholesale destruction of civilian life in Gaza from a politician with power in Israel. Unfortunately, it is no surprise–a similar mentality was behind Israel’s conduct during Operation Cast Lead.

Danon’s call echoes what former combatants in the Israeli army told the UK-based Channel 4 early this year:

24-year-old tank commander Ohad remembers being told the night before the operation that the entry into Gaza was to be “disproportionate”. Once into Gaza, he says his orders were unambiguous: “The order was very clear that if a car came within 200 metres of me I could simply shoot at it. Shoot a shell at it.” Some of the most disputed claims about the operation centre around firing at family homes and mosques. Ohad also says: “We needed to cleanse the neighbourhoods, the buildings, the area. It sounds really terrible to say “cleanse”, but those were the orders….I don’t want to make a mistake with the words.”

Danon is only vocalizing what has long been the Israeli establishment’s mentality towards the people of Gaza.

Alex Kane is a freelance journalist and blogger based in New York. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.