Gideon Levy offers a profile of Prof. Asa Kasher, the author of the IDF’s Code of Conduct, in Haaretz. Kasher is philosopher who was won the prestigious Israel Prize and was a founding member of the Israeli refuser organization Yesh Gvul. He is also the author of the Israeli military’s code of conduct, "The Spirit of the IDF: Values and Basic Norms," and has become an apologist for Israeli war crimes. Levy:
In recent days, the United Nations’ Goldstone report has been denounced as "anti-Semitic propaganda," and white phosphorus bombs have become "legitimate weapons." Why? Kasher heard from an IDF colonel that when a phosphorus bomb fell near him, nothing happened to him. And what about the 200 children who were killed? They were of "legal adult age – 15 to 18 years – and they took an active part in the war." What about the killing of Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish’s daughters? He is responsible for their deaths. The bombing of hospitals? This, too, is permitted. Kasher knows that terrorists were hiding in their basements.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office could not have phrased it any better. The Foreign Ministry’s spin doctors could not have deceived any better. This is how Kasher has whitewashed the assassinations and resultant killing of innocent civilians. He also thought that the IDF did not do enough killing in Jenin. The army, Kasher thought, should have warned the civilians beforehand, and "whoever stayed, let the blood be on his head." This is how generals who try to justify their criminal actions speak. But an intellectual? An expert on ethics?
Levy summarizes, "If this is how a philosopher of ethics speaks, who needs propagandists?"
Levy doesn’t mention the growing academic boycott of Israel, but it’s not difficult to read between the lines:
Whoever said that intellectuals are keeping silent? Who claimed that academia is ensconced in an ivory tower? And who dared to think that Israel lacks a moral voice? One day, when historians take the time to examine Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza, otherwise known as "Cast Lead," they will settle a score with political leaders and officers who were responsible for committing war crimes. They will delve deep and denounce the enablers of this nation, the whitewashers and apologists, those who let the Israel Defense Forces win at any cost, even if it was the heaviest moral cost possible.
Compared to other facets of the BDS movement the academic boycott tends to be the most controversial given liberal Western ideas of freedom of expression and speech. But where is the accountability for academics like Kasher?
