Israeli minister criticises military operations

Israel’s Infrastructure Minister has criticised his country’s military operations on Palestinian and other targets. According to Israel Radio, Uzi Landau called the invasion of the Gaza Strip a “strategic failure”.

“It was a first-rate Israeli failure and it damaged our deterrence,” he said, in reference to “Operation Cast Lead” led by Defence Minister Ehud Barak in December 2008. Landau accused Barack of not learning from the lessons of the past.

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Mr. Landau, who is a member of the right-wing party Yisrael Beiteinu, said that the Israeli army’s withdrawal from Lebanon more than 10 years ago, which took place when Barak was prime minister, actually strengthened Hezbollah. This was denied by a spokesperson in the Defence Minister’s office. The same source also claimed that Operation Cast Lead clearly deterred Hamas from making any more rocket attacks against southern Israel.