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The IDF has overall performed really well in the fighting in Gaza by comparison to how other militaries have fared in dense urban warfare against Muslim terrorists. (Anyone who wants to imagine the nightmarish future of Europe and some parts of America can look to battles in Gaza, Iran, and Chechnya against a rooted Islamist insurgency operating amidst a supportive population.)
However the underlying problems that led to the strategic errors in Oct 7 remain. First communications are bad. Core errors and lives continue to be lost because information is not getting where it needs to go. The different moving parts of a large military operation are not in sync. That was catastrophic on Oct 7, slowing and confusing the response with horrifying results.
It’s still an issue.
The larger issue though is that while Israel excels at offense, it’s bad at defense, and that Hamas (like most terrorists) operate by learning the patterns of their targets, finding weak spots and repetition, and then exploiting them to launch attacks.
Terrorists don’t defend, they become mobile, they blend into the civilian population (which is where most of the hostages were kept) and then pop out again to carry out attacks.
This time around (unlike previous attacks on Hamas), Israel is actually thinking about how to eliminate Hamas infrastructure and control territory on the ground. That’s important, but it also creates patterns and can put IDF soldiers on the defensive.
Both of those have now been effectively exploited by Hamas.
To retake Gaza, the IDF leadership needs to think deeply about the lessons of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Israel’s own lessons in Lebanon where terrorists were initially weak, but focused on staying in the fight and maintaining continued attrition of civilized forces. That is the Hamas game plan in Gaza. To beat it, Israel needs to operate offensively, avoid predictability and focus on keeping Hamas on the defensive so it does not have the opportunity to regroup and carry out attacks.
This is where the proposals for any kind of truce, let alone a proposed 2-month pause to the fighting in exchange for the hostages, are disastrous. We’ve already previously seen the consequences of giving Hamas any time to regroup. In exchange for the release of some hostages, Hamas was able to move other hostages and its military assets, regroup and launch new attacks.
Victory means pushing Hamas. The more breathing room the terrorists have, the more they can settle into a new routine of pop up attacks, studying and exploiting IDF patterns, scoring occasional victories, damaging morale and building up pressure for an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel’s war strategy against Hamas should be to keep decapitating the Hamas leaders wherever they are,
and decapitate the depraved psychopathic murderous Iranian Islamic regime.
Anything less will just draw out the war and conflict indefinitely, until the Islamic lunatics finally have the military power/nuclear weapons/demographics to put an end to Israel.
This should be obvious to everyone.
Tunnel warfare means the terrorists can pop up almost anywhere to launch an ambush.
The IDF has been demolishing and flooding those rat warrens but you’re right. Those tunnel rats can pop up at any time.
I’m glad there aren’t any of them in my neighborhood. I want to go to sleep or take a walk without being blown up.
We would do well to remember the words of Winston Churchill, who knew a thing or two about how to wage war effectively – he wrote that the way forward, which meant defeating your enemy, so that they could wage war no more, was “the proper application of overwhelming force.”
Not a “proportionate” response. Not a “cease fire.”
Overwhelming force.
Until the enemy’s forces are annihilated.
It is necessary to conduct war without making it a police action with undue consideration for enemy “civilian” casualties.
The fight against terrorism is a two pronged effort: military engagement and propaganda. This is true not just for Israel but the US and Europe as well. Why? because we are all dealing with a fifth column; a subversive element, largely media, that cheers for the terrorists. There are too many politicians that are influenced by that. It is why the Biden administration is constantly asking for moderation in the Israeli offense. The military war cannot be effectively won without the propaganda being won as well. Israel must increase their efforts to publish the atrocities of October 7th. People need to see what was done not only then but for so many years. It has to be in their face. Our recalcitrant media has to be broken.
In the close of WW2 Eisenhower made it a point to document the atrocities committed by the Nazis. He had journalists brought in to photograph and document the concentration camps. Eisenhower understood the historical importance of this. It is critical!
There is far too much ignorance and distortion of the history of Israel and the Middle East. Our Universities and our media have been corrupted by a collusion of anti Western, echo extremist, Islamic terrorist radicals. We have spent enough time talking and writing about how that has all come about. The war against terrorism cannot be won without winning the propaganda war as well. The recent Congressional interviews of the presidents of our leading Universities has revealed just how extensive this radical collusion has become. We need to see a lot more of that. Thank you Marie Stefanik
Harvard, U Penn and MIT have shown just how degenerate our most elite universities have become. So many of our elected and business leaders have come through these schools it is no wonder we have lost our way. The boards of all universities need to examine their product and fix this toxic bacteria they have allowed to ferment in the minds of our children.
Agree and thank you for writing this. Political pressure on Israel from foreign nations, mostly hostile, including the US is high,This is complicated by need for certain war material from the US and also by the left in Israel -and some of the hostage families – who are calling for new elections. To install a far left government now is to lose the war, endanger 7 million Jews, and gives no guarantee that hostages will be returned alive.,It seems the Biden government backs the Israeli left.
The Biden government doesn’t back any Jew, left or right. In word and action, it backs Hamas. Hamas means all Gazans because, all Gazans are Hamas, because they don’t want to leave, to be “displaced”, according to the government; they all are “dying” to stay in harms way and continue to house the hostages and murder as many Jews as they can.
Can you imagine, mothers and babies don’t want to leave, their husbands don’t want them to leave, according to the US government.
And still no forthcoming aid package to Israel from Congress. Blinken’s deliberate delay tactics, crashing Israel’s war cabinet, making impossible demands and actual threats to a sovereign ally, which sound like ultimatums to an enemy……because they are.
Biden’s open call for “regime change” in Israel is to bring about Israel’s destruction more quickly.
God forbid.
In defense of the IDF, communications are always at their weakest during the initial stages of any combat operation. Having worked alongside them very briefly while I was still in uniform, I was in awe of their expertise at fast mobilization, but that expertise does come at the price of a recognizable pattern. Unfortunately, it’s intrinsic to a large scale military op. Perhaps Mossad and/or Sayeret Matkal can modify their strategies to compensate for this.
Overall, I still observe this operation to be incredibly successful given the situation and hope tactical lessons can be learned for future reference. Battle is always the best operational teacher.
Thank you for sharing that and yes, all too true of large military organizations. Patterns and consistency are how large civilizations operate as a whole. It’s what insurgents and terrorists exploit.
Hard to get away from that. It’s why you can’t play defense.
Hey Daniel,
Israel is in the unique position of being one of the best trained and well armed militaries in the region. When we couple that with the fact that Israel’s land mass is roughly the size of New Jersey and the ‘usual suspects’ enemies are always encamped around them, it’s little wonder that deployment patterns have emerged over the years. Obviously, knowledge is power and knowledge of these patterns can and will be used against them, but I can only imagine that it’s become an “I know that you know” situation for the IDF at this point. Small cell and lone wolf attacks have proven themselves to be highly effective throughout the centuries, so Hamas will always have the tactical advantage and why it’s vitally important that Israel be allowed to finish the job.
Have a great day.
Half of the war is about propaganda.
Hamass terrorists started the war after making sure they have all their propaganda agents all over the world. Look at all the “protests” worldwide.” Their goal is to to win the at least the large percentage of population support worldwide, by pretending to be victims.
What’s really needed to win the war against islamic terrorists is a massive global attack on their ideology itself. An attack on islam, all of islam. People in the world are still ignorant about how evil islam is, and how much blood the muslims have on their hands. Most importantly, how dangerous they are to the natives wherever they invade.
That’s what will put them o the defensive. They must be confined to islamic countries only and then cut all the ties with them. A 100% sanction on all of them.
Anyone who has not come to the conclusion that deceptive depraved psychopathic murderous Islam has been the
scourge of humanity for 1400 years, has no understanding of what is going on in the world.
Again, always on Point.
It’s a pretty that is really civilian leadership and military leadership don’t get this.