A black flag hangs over the "rolling" operation in Gaza. The more the operation "rolls," the darker the flag becomes. The "summer rains" we are showering on Gaza are not only pointless, but are first and foremost blatantly illegitimate. It is not legitimate to cut off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on 20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost towns. It is not legitimate to penetrate Syria's airspace. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter of a parliament.

A state that takes such steps is no longer distinguishable from a terror organization. The harsher the steps, the more monstrous and stupid they become, the more the moral underpinnings for them are removed and the stronger the impression that the Israeli government has lost its nerve. Now one must hope that the weekend lull, whether initiated by Egypt or the prime minister, and in any case to the dismay of Channel 2's Roni Daniel and the IDF, will lead to a radical change.

Everything must be done to win Gilad Shalit's release. What we are doing now in Gaza has nothing to do with freeing him. It is a widescale act of vengeance, the kind that the IDF and Shin Bet have wanted to conduct for some time, mostly motivated by the deep frustration that the army commanders feel about their impotence against the Qassams and the daring Palestinian guerilla raid. There's a huge gap between the army unleashing its frustration and a clever and legitimate operation to free the kidnapped soldier.

To prevent the army from running as amok as it would like, a strong and judicious political echelon is required. But facing off against the frustrated army is Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz's tyro regime, weak and happless. Until the weekend lull, it appeared that each step proposed by the army and Shin Bet had been immediately approved for backing. That does not bode well, not only for the chances of freeing Shalit, but also for the future management of the government, which is being revealed to be as weak as the Hamas government.

The only wise and restrained voice heard so far was that of the soldier's father, Noam Shalit, of all people. That noble man called at what is clearly his most difficult hour, not for stridency and not for further damage done to the lives of soldiers and innocent Palestinians. Against the background of the IDF's unrestrained actions and the arrogant bragging of the latest macho spokesmen, Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant of the Southern Command and Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, Shalit's father's voice stood out like a voice crying in the wilderness.

Sending tens of thousands of miserable inhabitants running from their homes, dozens of kilometers from where his son is supposedly hidden, and cutting off the electricity to hundreds of thousands of others, is certainly not what he meant in his understated emotional pleas. It's a shame nobody is listening to him, of all people.

The legitimate basis for the IDF's operation was stripped away the moment it began. It's no accident that nobody mentions the day before the attack on the Kerem Shalom fort, when the IDF kidnapped two civilians, a doctor and his brother, from their home in Gaza. The difference between us and them? We kidnapped civilians and they captured a soldier, we are a state and they are a terror organization. How ridiculously pathetic Amos Gilad sounds when he says that the capture of Shalit was "illegitimate and illegal," unlike when the IDF grabs civilians from their homes. How can a senior official in the defense ministry claim that "the head of the snake" is in Damascus, when the IDF uses the exact same methods?

True, when the IDF and Shin Bet grab civilians from their homes - and they do so often - it is not to murder them later. But sometimes they are killed on the doorsteps of their homes, although it is not necessary, and sometimes they are grabbed to serve as "bargaining chips," like in Lebanon and now, with the Palestinian legislators. What an uproar there would be if the Palestinians had grabbed half the members of the Israeli government. How would we label them?

Collective punishment is illegitimate and it does not have a smidgeon of intelligence. Where will the inhabitants of Beit Hanun run? With typical hardheartedness the military reporters say they were not "expelled" but that it was "recommended" they leave, for the benefit, of course, of those running for their lives. And what will this inhumane step lead to? Support for the Israeli government? Their enlistment as informants and collaborators for the Shin Bet? Can the miserable farmers of Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia do anything about the Qassam rocket-launching cells? Will bombing an already destroyed airport do anything to free the soldier or was it just to decorate the headlines?

Did anyone think about what would have happened if Syrian planes had managed to down one of the Israeli planes that brazenly buzzed their president's palace? Would we have declared war on Syria? Another "legitimate war"? Will the blackout of Gaza bring down the Hamas government or cause the population to rally around it? And even if the Hamas government falls, as Washington wants, what will happen on the day after? These are questions for which nobody has any real answers. As usual here: Quiet, we're shooting. But this time we are not only shooting. We are bombing and shelling, darkening and destroying, imposing a siege and kidnapping like the worst of terrorists and nobody breaks the silence to ask, what the hell for, and according to what right?

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A note from Tikkun:

Why Aren’t American Jewish voices of Protest Being Heard?

The answer is simple: the forces that support Israel’s government no matter what it does have successfully united and created ÅIPAC as their primary spokesgroup.  But the forces that critique Israeli policy and yet wish to Israel secure and safe have refused to unite their energies. Instead, they find minor points to disagree with each other and then use that as their basis for insisting that a unified alternative to AIPAC will not be created with their participation.

We in the Tikkun Community have repeatedly called for this kind of coalition to work together and create a progressive alternative to AIPAC. We recognize the legitimacy of groups saying that there need to be some clear guidelines so that this alternative to AIPAC is not dismissed as part of the anti-Israel forces whose real agenda is to dismantle the state of Israel altogether, nor part of the “Palestinians are always victims and Israelis are always evil” propaganda machine. Similarly, it should not be a technocratic peace voice that talks only in terms of why peace is in the interests of the Jewish people-it must affirm the humanity of the Palestinian people and acknowledge that their human rights are important to us also, not only instrumentally as a way to maximize the best interests of Jews.

You can do something about this. Challenge those who support these peace groups and insist that they get their organizations to work together with Tikkun and with each other to form a united progressive middle path voice in Washington, D.C.  While recognizing that each group has legitimate needs in terms of fundraising and getting their own groups’ ego needs met, it’s also important to recognize yet a higher need: to be effective in challenging policies that are immoral and self-destructive. Insist to the people who support these organizations that they work with Tikkun, Jewish Voices for Peace, MeretzUSA, and other peace groups that support a two state solution.

The primary obstacles to putting this kind of coalition together with each other and with Tikkun have been:

1.    Brit Tzedeck ve’Shalom 2. Americans for Peace Now  3.Israel Policy Forum
4. Churches for Middle East Peace

If these 4 groups would join with each other and with the Tikkun Community/NSP and with Jewish Voices for Peace to create a unified voice in Washington D.C. and a unified annual mobilization, the peace voices would be greatl strengthened.  Take, for example, one instance of this: the recent National Advocacy Days of Brit Tzedeck v’Shalom, last week. In their recent national communication they proudly announce that they brought 100 activists to D.C.  In our last visit, Tikkun had brought some 300 activists. We say this NOT to say we are stronger, but to say that 400 activists together would have been even better, and had we cooperated with each other and with the other groups mentioned above we probably could be bringing between 1,000 and 2,000 people at a time—and that would have a far greater impact. The differences between these groups are far less important than the similarities, and the urgency of having a coherent voice for Middle East peace should be sufficient grounds to turn attention away from the differences to focus on the similarities.
 
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