Sol Salbe objects to the anonymous poster’s statement that Avigdor Lieberman recommended nuking Gaza:
Avigdor Lieberman is an extremist politician who is comfortable with his reputed comments that tens of millions of Egyptians should be killed (by bombing the High Aswan Dam) if Israel feel threatened. But I don’t think he’s stupid or out to alienate potential voters. I think you are drawing a long bow with the quote you have provided.
Lieberman speaks his mind; if he wanted to say nuke Gaza he would have been explicit. When he said “Do to Hamas what the US did to Japan …” he meant keep on bombing them with everything that works, till they stop fighting. The Americans used more than just nuclear weapons. The firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than Hiroshima and Lieberman would no doubt be aware of it. That IMO is what Israelis would have understood he meant. They wouldn’t have expected a nuclear bomb over Gaza as too many of them would have seen it and nobody wants to be that close to a nuclear bomb going off. If a Hiroshima-size bomb would have been dropped over Gaza , the majority of people in Sderot would have died from it. They would have included quite a few Lieberman voters. The distances there are incredibly small. Forget about Sderot, Tel-Aviv is 71 kms (44 miles) away. Can you imagine any US politician advocating nuking a city in Mexico that far away from a major US city? Last year the Israeli air force had to give up using the sonic boom weapon over Gaza as air inversion conditions meant that half the children in Israel got scared to death as well. No Israeli politician would like to be thought a fool and advocate nuking Gaza. Lieberman is evil but not stupid.
Sol Salbe
Melbourne Australia
