The historian Georges Bensoussan was a guest of La Grande Interview d’Europe 1-CNews this Thursday. At the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk, the author of “The Origins of the Israeli-Arab Conflict” returned to the Israeli military operation against the Al-Chifa hospital and to the words of Dominique de Villepin, which he considers “inappropriate”.
The Israeli army continues its advance in the Gaza Strip. Since Wednesday, the IDF has been organizing a “targeted” operation against Al-Chifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza. A military maneuver that has been widely criticized internationally, especially by the United States, which denies having given the green light for the operation to be carried out.
Nevertheless, Israel quickly released photos and videos of Hamas weapons and uniforms from Al-Chifa Hospital. “The United Nations had already denounced in 2009 that weapons were being hidden in Al-Chifa Hospital, particularly under the operating rooms and under the children’s wards. Mahmoud Abbas said the same thing in 2014,” recalls historian Georges Bensoussan at the Europa 1 microphone.
Do not repeat the mistakes of the United States
“In Israel it was an open secret for a long time, but like all headquarters, Al-Chifa Hospital is Hamas’ command center,” he continues. “The real question for Israel was this: Should we or not?” “Attack the Hamas command center when it is located under a hospital?” asks the author of “The Origins of the Israeli-Arab Conflict.”
For the latter: “The Israeli army took the hospital without attacking. It didn’t destroy it. Remember the hospital in Mosul, when the Americans took it, they literally destroyed it,” adds Georges Bensoussan. “We can read there, we saw the pictures, they didn’t destroy anything, they entered through the emergency room, then they reached underground,” he continues, believing that the IDF took precautions as part of this operation.
But for the historian, “in this conflict we are in the presence of a reversal of realities, a reversal of the aggressor in the attacked, which astonishes historians and, I believe, will astonish in 20 years.” Proof in favor of former Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin calling on Israel not to repeat the mistakes of the past and in particular the mistakes of the United States, which “by fighting terrorism has ultimately fed the dirty animal of terrorism,” he judges.
Dominique de Villepin’s comments are deemed “inappropriate”
“In fact, a reaction like the United States stirs up hatred, fuels resentment, feeds and educates new generations of terrorists,” believes Georges Bensoussan. But the Jewish state is not pursuing the same strategy as the United States, he continues. “They don’t systematically destroy everything that comes their way. They are making slow and gradual progress,” he assesses, because “they are aware that we need to prepare for the future. At some point we will have to live with this population.”
But Dominique de Villepin criticizes the Jewish state for pursuing only a military strategy behind the country’s counterattack without foreseeing the future. “If Israel had only had a military strategy, it would have destroyed Gaza City in 48 hours. “Villepin’s comments are therefore inappropriate,” concludes Georges Bensoussan.