The “Stop Me!” Strategy

The worn out clichés of “in a war, you know how you enter – but not how you leave” were voiced over and over again right at the beginning of this fighting, and even prior to that, when media commentators predicted that a military operation is practically inevitable.

Olmert explained the decision to begin the ground incursion saying the goals haven’t been achieved yet. Wouldn’t that be a proof for the unnecessity of this offensive in the first place?

And indeed, more than a  week since this operation started, and rockets are still fired at Israeli cities.

But the operation, judging by the reaction among the international community (obviously this term excludes activists, no matter how loud they are), has apparently turned out to be “too successful”. None of the world leaders has actually made any move more significant than some public announcement – some of them even surprised the Israeli public when they backed the military operation.

However, after exploiting the whole “targets pool” during the IAF airborne, and managing to take down less than a handful of Hamas seniors, the Israeli government was afraid of losing the momentum before a clear victory could be broadcasted. And so, after climbing a tree they simply cannot come down from, the cabinet took the only other option – that is, enhancing the military operation. And indeed, desperate situations call for desperate measures. Yearning to receive more international attention that could actually force halting the operation, the IDF bombed a gas supply installation and sent its troops to the Gaza battlefield.

Tzipi Livni and colleagues were safe to cite second-hand slogans like “changing reality” as designated goals for this offensive. People still argue that this action, pushing the people of Gaza to the edge (and practically beyong), is meant for changing their minds – make them abandon the Hamas agenda and walk towards peace. However, the only reality changed is the so-called (temporal) unity among Israelis, and the popularity of the current leaders – though, another goal.

It was only two or three days ago that the Israeli government considered European proposals for truce, but turned them down the minute the media found out about that. Military actions, some experts argue, are meant for expanding the grounds for politics. It might be true, but without even trying to assess the diplomatic achievements, were these specific actions really necessary? Is success truly defined by the rival’s casualties outnumbering ours?

But now, the plan is completed. If it wouldn’t be the world to stop the Israeli offensive, it would be the Israeli public (namely, parents) coming to realize it has far more casualties in uniform than civilians.