The campaign mounted against Gaza’s Palestinians by Israel goes far beyond “self-defense,” and its reverberations will hurt Israel. From Moon of Alabama at moonofalabama.org:
On October 28 I posted (with the author’s permission):
An Interview On Gaza With Dominique De Villepin (As Translated By Arnaud Bertrand).
There is a new interview with Dominique De Villepin which has also been translated by Arnaud Bertrand.
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand – 1:22 UTC · Nov 8, 2023
Another masterful interview on Gaza of Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, who IMHO is the best diplomat the West has produced in decades.
Again I believe that his words are so important and so rare among Western leaders today, that I decided to translate it in full (the bold parts are emphasis Villepin himself made when speaking):
One does not have to agree with De Villepin. But one has to acknowledge that he is one of the few European politicians who has put real thoughts into the issue and who points to a potentially sensible end:
What follows is Arnaud Bertrand’s translation:
— Begin of translation —
“The Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed on October 7th and failed doubly. Firstly, in its ability to ensure the protection of the Israeli people by allowing massacres that are an abomination to occur. He bears direct responsibility for what happened. And his second failure is having encouraged a policy of occupation and colonization, which continues at this moment in the West Bank and constitutes another threat to Israel if a second front in the West Bank were to open.
“The Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed on October 7th and failed doubly. Firstly, in its ability to ensure the protection of the Israeli people by allowing massacres that are an abomination to occur. He bears direct responsibility for what happened. And his second failure is having encouraged a policy of occupation and colonization, which continues at this moment in the West Bank and constitutes another threat to Israel if a second front in the West Bank were to open.
