Israel Air force commander – 1; Nitpicking journalist – 0
Haaretz journalist, Vered Halevi-Barzilai, tries to pick on Israel Air Force chief, Major General Dan Halutz. He puts things straight, decisively, with regard to killing Shehadeh, leftist activists, nitpicking journalists and more. In short, one hell of a guy.
Nitpicking journalist: "If you had known in advance that there were 15 or 17 people in the building (Shehadeh was in), including children, would you still have ordered the bombing to go ahead?"
Major General Dan Halutz: "I am not willing to answer a question like that, and certainly not to cite numbers. I am ready to discuss the question of principle: Is there a situation in which it is legitimate to strike at a terrorist when you know that the operation will exact a price in the form of casualties among civilians and uninvolved people?"
Nitpicking journalist: "And what is your reply?"
Major General Dan Halutz: "I have no doubt about it. The reply is positive. Against a person who has perpetrated, or who is known for certain to have a plan for what is called mega-terrorism, my reply is categorical: yes. How many people? I don't know. I will be able to give that answer at the moment of truth. Let's go back, to the suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in Netanya on the eve of Passover. Let's say we would have known about this terrorist in advance and would have trapped him in his house - would it have been legitimate to strike at him even if there were other people there? My answer is yes. How many people? I don't know and I am not ready to state a number. I repeat again that I am very sorry about innocent children who are killed. But anyone who sets out to murder children in Israel has to take into account that children are liable to be killed in his surroundings.
"And to those who jump up and judge us, I say: I feel that I am the moral compass and conscience of the nation of Israel no less and perhaps even more than those who purport to be that. Because on the basis of what criteria, exactly, do they have the temerity to point an accusing finger at me? The criteria of which army? The French? The German? The Russian? The Syrian? The Chinese? The American? OK, let's examine them one by one and place ourselves in a test of moral armies. I can give you hundreds and thousands of examples. There is no more moral army than the IDF."
(My emphasis).