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Israel's Enemies Must Be Made to Believe that the Cost of Attacking the Jewish State Is Too High
(JNS) Joshua Katzen - As the war against Hamas in Gaza drags into its second year, international hostility toward the Jewish state continues to intensify. For decades, Israel has voluntarily limited its existential war against Palestinian attempts to wipe it out by self-imposed moral constraints. These constraints - designed to win favor with the global community and maintain a sense of ethical superiority - have not yielded strategic dividends. Instead, they have led to painful losses, squandered leverage and emboldened its enemies. Israel must adopt a new strategic doctrine grounded in realism and deterrence. Being liked might have been a necessary strategy for Jewish survival when it depended on non-Jewish largesse, but it is a bad strategy for an independent, self-respecting, and increasingly self-reliant state. Being morally superior has not brought peace. It has not earned goodwill. It has not prevented charges of war crimes. Instead, it has made Israel look weak, hesitant and unsure of its own legitimacy. Hatred of Israel has only increased. Killing terrorists is necessary, but it is not sufficient. The strategic elimination of enemy combatants has rarely deterred the next generation from taking up arms. In fact, martyrdom has often fueled the ranks of jihadist movements. Israel must get tough, not out of cruelty, but out of clarity. Not to match the barbarism of its enemies, but to defeat it. The wars against Palestinian exterminationism and for public opinion will be won when the enemies of Israel believe that the cost of attacking the Jewish state is too high to bear. The writer is the publisher of the Jewish News Syndicate.