Another twist to this Georgian saga:
TEL AVIV TO TBILISI: ISRAEL'S ROLE IN THE RUSSIA-GEORGIA WAR
By Ali Abunimah
12 August 2008
electronicintifada.net
From the moment Georgia launched a surprise attack on the
tiny breakaway region of South Ossetia last week,
prompting a fierce Russian counterattack, Israel has been
trying to distance itself from the conflict. This is
understandable: with Georgian forces on the retreat, large
numbers of civilians killed and injured, and Russia's fury
unabated, Israel's deep involvement is severely
embarrassing.
The collapse of the Georgian offensive represents not only
a disaster for that country and its US-backed leaders, but
another blow to the myth of Israel's military prestige and
prowess. Worse, Israel fears that Russia could retaliate
by stepping up its military assistance to Israel's
adversaries including Iran.
"Israel is following with great concern the developments
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and hopes the violence will
end," its foreign ministry said, adding with
uncharacteristic doveishness, "Israel recognizes the
territorial integrity of Georgia and calls for a peaceful
solution."
Tbilisi's top diplomat in Tel Aviv complained about the
lackluster Israeli response to his country's predicament
and perhaps overestimating Israeli influence, called for
Israeli "diplomatic pressure on Moscow." Just like Israel,
the diplomat said, Georgia is fighting a war on
"terrorism." Israeli officials politely told the Georgians
that "the address for that type of pressure was
Washington" (Herb Keinon, "Tbilisi wants Israel to
pressure Russia," The Jerusalem Post, 11 August 2008).
While Israel was keen to downplay its role, Georgia
perhaps hoped that flattery might draw Israel further in.
Georgian minister Temur Yakobashvili -- whom the Israeli
daily Haaretz stressed was Jewish -- told Israeli army
radio that "Israel should be proud of its military which
trained Georgian soldiers." Yakobashvili claimed rather
implausibly, according to Haaretz, that "a small group of
Georgian soldiers were able to wipe out an entire Russian
military division, thanks to the Israeli training"
("Georgian minister tells Israel Radio: Thanks to Israeli
training, we're fending off Russian military," Haaretz, 11
August 2008).
Since 2000, Israel has sold hundreds of millions of
dollars in arms and combat training to Georgia. Weapons
included guns, ammunition, shells, tactical missile
systems, antiaircraft systems, automatic turrets for
armored vehicles, electronic equipment and remotely
piloted aircraft. These sales were authorized by the
Israeli defense ministry (Arie Egozi, "War in Georgia: The
Israeli connection," Ynet, 10 August 2008).
Training also involved officers from Israel's Shin Bet
secret service -- which has for decades carried out
extrajudicial executions and torture of Palestinians in
the occupied territories -- the Israeli police, and the
country's major arms companies Elbit and Rafael.
The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis appears to have been
cemented at the highest levels, and according to YNet,
"The fact that Georgia's defense minister, Davit
Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli who is fluent in Hebrew
contributed to this cooperation." Others involved in the
brisk arms trade included former Israeli minister and Tel
Aviv mayor Roni Milo as well as several senior Israeli
military officers.
The key liaison was Reserve Brigadier General Gal Hirsch
who commanded Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon
during the July 2006 Second Lebanon War. (Yossi Melman,
"Georgia Violence - A frozen alliance," Haaretz, 10 August
2008). He resigned from the army after the Winograd
commission severely criticized Israel's conduct of its war
against Lebanon and an internal Israeli army investigation
blamed Hirsch for the seizure of two soldiers by
Hizballah.
According to one of the Israeli combat trainers, an
officer in an "elite" Israel army unit, Hirsch and
colleagues would sometimes personally supervise the
training of Georgian forces which included "house-to-house
fighting." The training was carried out through several
"private" companies with close links to the Israeli
military.
As the violence raged in Georgia, the trainer was
desperately trying to contact his former Georgian students
on the battlefront via mobile phone: the Israelis wanted
to know whether the Georgians had "internalized Israeli
military technique and if the special reconnaissance
forces have chalked up any successes" (Jonathan Lis and
Moti Katz, "IDF vets who trained Georgia troops say war
with Russia is no surprise," Haaretz, 11 August 2008).
Yet on the ground, the Israeli-trained Georgian forces,
perhaps unsurprisingly overwhelmed by the Russians, have
done little to redeem the image of Israel's military
following its defeat by Hizballah's in July-August 2006.
The question remains as to why Israel was involved in the
first place. There are several reasons. The first is
simply economic opportunism: for years, especially since
the 11 September 2001 attacks, arms exports and "security
expertise" have been one of Israel's growth industries.
But the close Israeli involvement in a region Russia
considers to be of vital interest suggests that Israel
might have been acting as part of the broader US scheme to
encircle Russia and contain its reemerging power.
Since the end of the Cold War, the US has been steadily
encroaching on Russia's borders and expanding NATO in a
manner the Kremlin considers highly provocative. Shortly
after coming into office, the Bush Administration tore up
the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and, like the Clinton
administration, adopted former Soviet satellite states as
its own, using them to base an anti-missile system Russia
views as a threat. In addition to their "global war on
terror," hawks in Washington have recently been talking up
a new Cold War with Russia.
Georgia was an eager volunteer in this effort and has
learned quickly the correct rhetoric: one Georgian
minister claimed that "every bomb that falls on our heads
is an attack on democracy, on the European Union and on
America." Georgia has been trying to join NATO, and sent
2,000 soldiers to help the US occupy Iraq. It may have
hoped that once war started this loyalty would be rewarded
with the kind of round-the-clock airlift of weapons that
Israel receives from the US during its wars. Instead so
far the US only helped airlift the Georgian troops from
Iraq back to the beleaguered home front.
By helping Georgia, Israel may have been doing its part to
duplicate its own experience in assisting the eastward
expansion of the "Euro-Atlantic" empire. While supporting
Georgia was certainly risky for Israel, given the possible
Russian reaction, it has a compelling reason to intervene
in a region that is heavily contested by global powers.
Israel must constantly reinvent itself as an "asset" to
American power if it is to maintain the US support that
ensures its survival as a settler-colonial enclave in the
Middle East. It is a familiar role; in the 1970s and
1980s, at the behest of Washington, Israel helped South
Africa's apartheid regime fight Soviet-supported
insurgencies in South African-occupied Namibia and Angola,
and it trained right-wing US-allied death squads fighting
left-wing governments and movements in Central America.
After 2001, Israel marketed itself as an expert on
combating "Islamic terrorism."
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez recently denounced
Colombia - long one of the largest recipients of US
military aid after Israel -- as the "Israel of Latin
America." Georgia's government, to the detriment of its
people, may have tried to play the role of the "Israel of
the Caucasus" -- a loyal servant of US ambitions in that
region -- and lost the gamble. Playing with empires is
dangerous for a small country.
As for Israel itself, with the Bush Doctrine having failed
to give birth to the "new Middle East" that the US needs
to maintain its power in the region against growing
resistance, an ever more desperate and rogue Israel must
look for opportunities to prove its worth elsewhere. That
is a dangerous and scary thing. |
