"Israel must make it clear that while we share a number of values with the West, there is a basic difference,” Deputy IDF Chief of staff Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz said Sunday at the Herzliya Conference. ”We live with our values in a war zone. This fusillade does not allow us to respond any other way. We must remove this threat. We cannot remain victims.”
Gantz's statement at the prestigious annual conference on strategy and diplomacy, was an indication of the Israeli defense establishment's determined state of mind in the face of threats of international action against it, following the Goldstone Report.
Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz referred to the Goldstone report on supposed IDF war crimes in the Cast Lead counter-terror operation as “a Trojan horse.” The report “gives terrorist organizations legitimacy to fight us from urban populations," Gantz said.
"Our moral soundness is clear after dozens of investigations and interrogations. The famous army doctor who was head of the Israeli field hospital [in Haiti] also took part in Operation Cast Lead," he said.
Maj. Gen. Gantz related that during Operation Cast Lead, his mother, who passed away five months ago, told him: "Don't stop sending food to Gaza, but don't stop fighting either."
”This is the essence of it all, we must remain moral, but at the same time continue to fight in the face of the threats," he said. He also spoke of the importance of winning the media battle: "We must counter the way our enemies always turn from aggressors to victims."
Hizbullah gaining strength
Gantz said that Hizbullah became stronger after the Second Lebanon War. “They are investing a lot in deployment of arms to towns and villages," he said. "Hizbullah is moving its military bases and capabilities throughout the entire area of Lebanon including the northern part of Lebanon."
Gantz added that the IDF has to train for symmetrical and asymmetrical warfare. "Iran trains terror organizations with symmetrical tools for use in asymmetrical wars. The enemy is acting in urban neighborhoods and putting citizens in danger. To counter this we must always maintain conventional competence in the IDF. We must be prepared for both symmetrical and asymmetrical war. We must develop a combination of both abilities."