On the day that Israeli human rights organizations are saying the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has reached 1,000 and the number of wounded 5,000, the New York Times op-ed page unleashed the 'good cop/bad cop' routine to justify the ongoing violence in Gaza.
First "good cop" Thomas Friedman in "Israel's Goals in Gaza?":
trying to “educate” Hamas, by inflicting a heavy death toll on Hamas
militants and heavy pain on the Gaza population. If it is out to
destroy Hamas, casualties will be horrific and the aftermath could be
Somalia-like chaos. If it is out to educate Hamas, Israel may have
achieved its aims.
Aside from endorsing war crimes as an "educational" campaign, Friedman at least acknowledges there is an occupation and even broaches the taboo subject of diplomacy as a possible avenue forward with Hamas.
The same can't said for "bad cop" Jeffrey Goldberg in "Why Israel Can't Make Peace With Hamas":
I asked him the question I always ask of Hamas leaders: Could you
agree to anything more than a tactical cease-fire with Israel? I felt
slightly ridiculous asking: A man who believes that God every now and
again transforms Jews into pigs and apes might not be the most obvious
candidate for peace talks at Camp David. Mr. Rayyan answered the
question as I thought he would, saying that a long-term cease-fire
would be unnecessary, because it will not take long for the forces of
Islam to eradicate Israel.
Israeli leaders that Hamas can be bombed into moderation. This is a
false and dangerous notion. It is true that Hamas can be deterred
militarily for a time, but tanks cannot defeat deeply felt belief.
It was difficult to find one quote from Goldberg to use, as the entire article is a noxious regurgitation of almost every orientalist, racist, decontextualized and unsubstantiated (Hamas didn't renew the cease fire out of competition with Hizbollah?) justification for the slaughter of the Gazan people. We not only learn that Hamas doesn't believe in the Holocaust or that they think Jews are somehow related to apes and pigs, but Goldberg posits the only hope for peace is to instigate an all out Palestinian civil war. As crazy as that sounds it is unfortunately the foreign policy of the United States. If nothing else Goldberg has accomplished the impressive feat of making Thomas Friedman look measured and considerate. But the thing to remember with the 'good cop/bad cop routine' is that they're both cops.
While the Times is worried about Jewish apes and bombing Gaza into enlightenment, Israeli human rights organizations report:
According to the testimony of residents of the Gaza Strip and media
reports, military forces are making wanton use of lethal force which
has to date caused the deaths of hundreds of uninvolved civilians and
destroyed infrastructure and property on an enormous scale. In
addition, Israel is also hitting civilian objects, having defined them
as "legitimate military targets" solely by virtue of their being
"symbols of government." . . . This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of
warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the
commission of war crimes.
