- The following quote is from remarks made in January,
2003 and published in the promient Dutch publication 'Elsevier' Magazine. Much
has progressed for the Israeli military since 2003 and the subject of its
Bioweapons capability is not even addressed directly.
-
- (Prof Creveld) "Let me quote General Moshe
Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
I consider it all hopeless at this point. We shall have to try to prevent
things from coming to that, if at all possible. Our armed forces, however,
are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or
third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can
assure you that that will happen, before Israel goes under."
-
- Here is one of the stories about the Professor's remarks
in January, 2003...
-
-
- Israeli Prof Suggests Israel Can Destroy
- All European Capitals
- By Nadim Ladki
-
-
- (IAP News) - An Israeli professor and military
historian hinted that Israel could avenge the holocaust by annihilating
millions of Germans and other Europeans.
-
-
- Speaking during an interview which was published in Jerusalem
Friday, Professor Martin Van Creveld said Israel had the capability of
hitting most European capitals with nuclear weapons.
-
-
- "We possess several hundred atomic warheads and
rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even
at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force."
-
-
- Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, pointed out that "collective deportation"
was Israel's only meaningful strategy towards the Palestinian people.
-
-
- "The Palestinians should all be deported. The people
who strive for this (the Israeli government) are waiting only for the
right man and the right time. Two years ago, only 7 or 8 per cent of Israelis
were of the opinion that this would be the best solution, two months ago
it was 33 per cent, and now, according to a Gallup poll, the figure is
44 percent."
-
-
- Creveld said he was sure that Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon wanted to deport the Palestinians.
-
-
- "I think it's quite possible that he wants to do
that. He wants to escalate the conflict. He knows that nothing else we
do will succeed."
-
-
- Asked if he was worried about Israel becoming a rogue
state if it carried out a genocidal deportation against Palestinians,
Creveld quoted former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan who said "Israel
must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
-
-
- Creveld argued that Israel wouldn't care much about becoming
a rogue state.
-
-
- "Our armed forces are not the thirtieth strongest
in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to
take the world down with us. And I can assure you that this will happen
before Israel goes under."
-
-
- __________________
-
-
- Here is another, more complete version of the interview
from http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1154.htm
-
- "The prominent Dutch magazine Elsevier has published
a conversation with Dutch-Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld.
The following has been translated from the Dutch [and then from the German]":
-
- "We Are Destroying Ourselves."
-
- "In Israel a scenario of doom is taking shape."
-
- Interview with the much reviled Dutch-Israeli Military
Historian Martin van Creveld
-
- Professor Martin van Creveld, an internationally known
and controversial professor of military history at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, foresees only extreme developments for the appreciable future.
The methods by which Israel is currently combating the Intifada are doomed
to failure. The chances for peace and the founding of a Palestinian state
are visibly diminishing. A conversation with a pessimist, who, as he himself
says, is reviled in his own country.
-
- Interviewer: Your specialty is war. Is what's going
on here war at all?
-
- Creveld: Certainly, although the Palestinians have no
government, no army, and no [nationality]. Everything is in chaos. That's
why we won't win the war, either. If we could identify and eliminate every
terrorist, we'd win this struggle within forty-eight hours. The Palestinian
administration has the same difficulties. Even in Arafat decided to comply
with our conditions and surrender tomorrow, it's virtually certain that
the Intifada would continue.
-
- Interviewer: Are there any similarities on the Israeli
side?
-
- Creveld: If the dispute lasts much longer, the Israeli
government will lose control of its people. For people will say: "If
government can't protect us, what on earth can they do for us? If the government
can't guarantee that we'll be alive tomorrow, what good are they? We'll
defend ourselves."
-
- Interviewer: So Israel is beaten in advance?
-
- Creveld: On that I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In
campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win,
and the rebels win by not losing." That certainly applies here. I
regard a total Israeli defeat as unavoidable. That will mean the collapse
of the Israeli state and society. We'll destroy ourselves.
-
- Interviewer: Is there any point to the recent Israeli
military offensive?
-
- Creveld: This offensive is totally useless; it's only
further enraging the Palestinians. Perhaps there will be a short-lived
calm, but in the end there will even more suicide attackers.
-
- Interviewer: Is there any hope?
-
- Creveld: If I were Arafat, I wouldn't stop either. I'd
only cease in exchange for a very far-reaching political accord. And it
seems as if we have a government [under Sharon-tr.] that won't make Arafat
such an offer. If elections were held today, the Left would be thoroughly
beaten.
-
- Interviewer: Some maintain that it is Israel's foreign
enemies that keep the country unified.
-
- Creveld: That's right. I only wish that there were foreign
enemies, but that isn't the case. We've fought our external enemies for
so many years. Each time there was a war, we took a mighty hammer to our
foes, and after being defeated a few times, they left us alone. The problem
with the Palestinian revolt is that it doesn't come from without, but rather
from within. Therefore we can't avail ourselves of the hammer.
-
- Interviewer: Is the solution, then, to keep the Palestinians
outside the borders?
-
- Creveld: Exactly, and right now there's nearly unanimous
agreement on that. We ought to build a wall "so high, that not even
a bird can fly over it." The only problem is: where to put the border?
Since we can't decide whether the territories conquered in 1967 should
be included, for the time being we improvise a little. We're building a
series of little walls, which are much more difficult to defend. From a
military standpoint this is very stupid. Every supermarket has gradually
acquired its own living wall of security guards. Half the Israeli population
is guarding the other half-unbelievable. Aside from the fantastic waste,
it's almost totally useless.
-
- Interviewer: Does that mean that the Palestinians stay
within the borders?
-
- Creveld: No, it means that they all get deported. The
people who strive for this are waiting only for the right man and the right
time. Two years ago only 7 or 8 percent of Israelis were of the opinion
that this would be the best solution, two months ago it was 33 percent
and now, according to a Gallup poll, the figure is 44 percent.
-
- Interviewer: Will that ever be possible?
-
- Creveld: Sure, since desperate times give rise to desperate
measures. Today there's a fifty-fifty split on where the border should
run. Two years ago 90 percent wanted the wall built along the old border.
That has completely changed now, and if things continue, if the terror
doesn't stop, in another two years perhaps 90 percent will want to build
the wall along the Jordan. The Palestinians talk of "summutt,"
meaning hang tough, cling to the ground and the soil. I have enormous respect
for the Palestinians. They fight heroically. But if we in fact want to
strike across the Jordan, we would need only a few brigades. If the Syrians
or the Egyptians were to try to stop us, we'd wipe them out. Ariel Sharon
is leader. He never improvises: he always has a plan.
-
- Interviewer: A plan to deport the Palestinians?
-
- Creveld: I think it's quite possible that he wants to
do that. He wants to escalate the conflict. He knows that nothing else
we do will succeed.
-
- Interviewer: Do you think that the world will allow
that kind of ethnic cleansing?
-
- Creveld: That depends on who does it and how quickly
it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and
can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most
European capitals are targets for our air force.
-
- Interviewer: Wouldn't Israel then become a rogue state?
-
- Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel
must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother." I consider it all
hopeless at this point. We shall have to try to prevent things from coming
to that, if at all possible. Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth
strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability
to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen,
before Israel goes under.
-
- Interviewer: This isn't your own position, is it?
-
- Creveld: Of course not. You asked me what might happen
and I've laid it out. The only question is whether it is already too late
for the other solution, which I support, and whether Israeli public opinion
can still be convinced. I think it's too late. With each passing day the
expulsion of the Palestinians grows more probable. The alternative would
be the total annihilation and disintegration of Israel. What do you expect
from us?
-
- This interview was conducted by Ferry Biedermann in
Jerusalem.
-
- Source: http://www.de.indymedia.o rg/2003/01/39170.shtml
|
