We won! Victory is ours! We accomplished our goals!
The internet was abuzz. Facebook celebrations. Twitter propoganda. The stench of the spin doctor. If only it were so.
Netanyahu and his crew are spitting out lies faster than they can print them. The copious declarations of our victory in Gaza. Military experts explaining to us how badly Operation Protective Edge damaged Hamas. (Funny how these same experts also maintain that a protracted campaign would require five years and cost us the lives of unknown numbers of Jewish soldiers. If this is the case, then they merely made a tiny dent into an absolute monster of a terror network.) Naturally these carefully well crafted statements were to be expected, yet they are still terrible to read. Military minds using pseudo-babble to argue a ridiculous assertion. The same kinds of expert voices that swore to us that Gaza would never become a place where rockets could reach Israel. The illusion of victory.
What victory?
The truth is painful. We lost. We are reeling as a nation, while Hamas gloats. Fatah is watching, and so is Hizbollah. And you better believe that Iran is taking notes. Don’t think for a moment that the image of the IDF pulling out of Gaza doesn’t embolden them.
Politicians can twist the story, but the facts say otherwise. When one looks at what Hamas accomplished and where Israel stands today, there can be no discussion. Hamas defeated Israel. They don’t need to demolish us or invade the country to seize a victory. During this long dry summer season, we had plenty of rain in Israel. Deadly storms. A month of qassams and death raining non-stop upon the country. A tiny country where, by the IDF’s own estimates, at least 70% of the populace are within the rocket range.
While Hamas fought like hordes of blood crazed jinn, Netanyahu undermined the war effort by appeasing Obama and Kerry and allowing world diplomacy to take over. Weeks of government spokesmen whining about “our rights.” Countless lectures and TV interviews extolling Israel’s code of “moral warfare” from right out of the pages of the Mapai manual. This is Israel’s policy of skewed mercy, which Nachmanides rightly called “the mercy of fools.” One unilateral nonexistent ceasefire followed by another, and then another. What was the end result? Vulnerable Jewish soldiers waiting around while Hamas slaughtered them. Many soldiers died, not in combat, but rather while waiting around to resume combat during Bibi’s sham ceasefires.
Hamas Accomplishments: The Facts
* Infrastructure and Leadership Largely Intact: The Hamas leadership is breathing and smiling. Operation Protective Edge didn’t reach them for the most part. Hamas retains an unknown labyrinth of fortified tunnels. We have no idea how many tunnels remain, because the IDF was focused on the ones that crossed our border. And while we are on the discussion of tunnels, how was such a complex network which required years to build constucted right under our noses? Did our leaders know about them and remain quiet? Or is Israel’s security so severely compromised in the 21st century? Edge: Hamas
* Arsenal: Hamas retains a huge arsenal of rockets and they easily can replenish what they lost. It won’t be long before they start firing at us again. This will be alright with Bibi until they start aiming at Central Israel. The double standard of the western Negev is intolerable and repugnant, and it is indicative of the discrimination of the Israeli elite. Translation: The primitives of the South can endure rockets. Wars are fought when Tel Aviv leftists are in the crosshairs. Edge: Hamas