Legal Commentary

Pollak on Uniquely Israeli Stupidity

By David Bernstein

Noah Pollak:

Those who sent an elite unit into a hostile confrontation armed with toy weapons made an incredibly stupid decision. And a uniquely Israeli one. In recent memory, Israeli military action has been violent but not decisive, bloody enough to provoke the outrage and condemnation of the world (at this point, a stubbed toe will do), but not enough to actually change facts on the ground (the Hamas and Hezbollah wars being prime examples). These halfhearted wars and battles have earned Israel demerits in world opinion without enough to show in improved strategic position.

I think Israel has been trying to avoid truly decisive, and very bloody, military action in the hope that by containing the situation, time will be on its side, and the strategic situation will change for the better, e.g., the Iranian mullahcracy will be overthrown (seemed plausible last year), the Lebanese government will get the strength to kick out Hezbollah (seemed plausible a few years back), Hamas will collapse, etc. So far, not so good, and the strategic situation has seriously deteriorated in at least two ways: Turkey has gone from an ally to a virtual enemy, and Hezbollah has rearmed itself in Lebanon with much better missiles than it had previously. Actually, three ways: instead of having a clear friend in the White House, Israel has a lukewarm ally.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on May 31, 2010 (boomark / email).