We can’t defeat our enemies because we are convinced that they think like us.
Before the foundation of the state of Israel, there was still plenty of terror by Arabs against Jews. If you ever happen to take Route 1 from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem, you will see in the median of the road old metal frames of trucks of various shapes and sizes. These were not the trucks used by Jews to break through Arab lines and get food to Jerusalem, but they were put there years later as a reminder of the dangerous and brutal period that preceded the formal birth of the modern state of Israel. A lot of people lost their lives trying to feed their brothers in Jerusalem.
During those days, a rabbi hired an Arab driver to take him to Haifa to pick up from the port there an important American rabbi who came to visit the Holy Land. The rabbi and driver arrived and picked up their guest. On the way back, the driver suggested that he should really get paid more than they had agreed as it was now night and there was a real danger that they were going to be shot at. The Jerusalem rabbi suggested that they pull over to discuss the matter. Much to his surprise the American guest saw the two leave the car, the rabbi give a solid slap to the face to the Arab driver and then the two return to continue the drive to Jerusalem. The American rabbi switched to Yiddish and asked about the events he witnessed. “Why didn’t you explain to him that according to Jewish law an agreement is binding and that one side cannot unilaterally change the terms for his advantage.” The aged Jerusalem sage, having grown up his whole life with Arabs and even speaking fluent Arabic, answered, “I don’t understand your question. He asked to raise the price. I answered him in the language he understands, and we returned to the car to continue our journey at the original price.”
One of the major problems we have had in warfare in the past few decades is that we do not understand the head of our enemies. For years (and to this day), Israel would punish the families of terrorists by either sealing or destroying their homes. The West protested this practice, but Israeli leaders understood that in the Arab world, land is king. By destroying or making their homes unusable, Israel gave a punishment in the language of the terrorists and their supporters. Hamas does not care about Gazan civilians or the hostages. It doesn’t care if a single building stands at the end of the war. Its only concern is that it will be in charge and that the IDF will be far enough away that it can once again make war and kill Jews. If we don’t understand the thoughts of our enemies then we have no possibility of defeating them.
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When General McChrystal was running the show in Afghanistan, he called an emergency meeting of his top people. An F-16 had dropped a bomb that fell on an Afghan house and killed a large number of people from one family. “Who ordered the strike!!” thundered the general shortly before being cashiered by President Obama. A French general sheepishly admitted that he put the plane in the air and was thoroughly brow-beat for his effort. We in the West are making war unwinnable. Israel’s telling people to move from areas of fighting via SMS and drones is setting a dangerous precedent that all future wars will have to be fought this way. The same for feeding the enemy so that he won’t be hungry when he fires RPGs on the home team troops. If both sides do not state in writing that they will follow the Geneva Conventions and the accepted laws of war, then no side should obligate itself with the same. War must be on equal footing if you don’t want it to go on forever.
We don’t know how to fight wars anymore because we have become too smart. We think that wars need to be managed rather than won. We are somehow expected to only kill bad guys with no civilian casualties. We are expected to feed our enemies or face calls of genocide. We somehow imagine that only civilians read the maps and move to safer ground—and that the terrorists stay put in order to get wiped out. We don’t have a clue on how to win wars, and for that reason the Afghan campaign went on for two decades and the victory over Gaza—the size of a New York neighborhood—is still elusive after two years. The New York Times once had a columnist named Bob Herbert. He said that when he was in the Marines, his drill sergeant said that their only purpose was “to kill, kill, kill”. Oh that was about 60 years ago.
War is ugly and brutal. The more violent and destructive the fighting is, the faster it is over. When one tries to fight a war and win over the locals, he will always fail. Violent war leading to unquestioned victory sets the baseline for rebuilding the enemy’s society in a way that will not threaten the victors in the future. Trying to win hearts and minds at the same time as shooting chests and heads is a recipe for disaster. We cannot win wars if we chew out generals who dropped a bomb in the wrong place. We cannot win wars if we tell the terrorists where to leave so that they can fight again. We cannot win wars if we provide the bad guys with food, water, and electricity—and thus give them no reason to quit.
An American POW told a story about his life in a Japanese camp. He said that he was beaten ruthlessly and frequently. Any minor violation of the rules led to his being beaten. One day, word was going around that the Allies had won and that Japan had surrendered. He wanted to find out if the scuttlebutt was true. He saw one Japanese officer who repeatedly delighted in beating the daylights out of him. So the American walked passed a line into a zone that was forbidden to POWs. The officer ran over and rather than beat him took a deep bow in his direction. The American then knew that the war was really over and that the good guys had won.
If you want to win a war, think like your enemy. What is important to him? What would most hurt him if deprived of the same? How much pain will he endure and how do you give him the same and another 10%? Fight to win and then build a better future; don’t do both at the same time as you will have neither victory nor a better future. We did not win in Afghanistan and the country is more Taliban today than before we arrived to fight.
Specifically for Gaza, start building permanent IDF structures all around Gaza: you have forfeited land and will never get it back again. Stop all aid except the American program that has been the most successful in feeding Gazans and not making Hamas rich. Make it clear that Gazans will never work again in Israel and that their future in Gaza will be awful. Prepare them to want to leave. And then hit them hard wherever the bad guys are and stop telling people to move. Just give one warning: if you are within 10 feet of a Hamas fighter or position, prepare your last will and testament.
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