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Israel's Most Conclusive Victory since 1949

(Tablet) Edward N. Luttwak - Tenacity is the most important virtue of national leaders at war, which allows them to press on with no assurance of victory, fending off tremendous political pressures to fold. Winston Churchill displayed this quality in 1940, when Paris and Western Europe had fallen and Germany appeared unstoppable. As Israel fought a major, multifront war in October 2023, key U.S. officials encouraged domestic uproar against Netanyahu and worked to constrain him and even collapse his government. Netanyahu had to overcome calls and protests by Israelis and American Jews, as well as all the usual suspects in European capitals and almost every other world government incessantly demanding a ceasefire, not as a pause, but as an end to the war. It is against this backdrop that Netanyahu's pure resolve must be understood. His tenacity was the only thing that mattered. Having withstood this unrelenting pressure over the course of a year, Netanyahu had maneuvered into a position where, in the second half of 2024, Israel was able to turn the tables and reshape the entire geopolitical picture The Mossad and the IDF brilliantly wrecked Hizbullah with exploding pagers, booby-trapped field radios, and the elimination of senior Hizbullah commanders in a precision strike that left the group totally paralyzed, nullifying its vast rocket arsenal. Because he had monopolized Hizbullah's command and control, Nasrallah's death shut down the organization. As a consequence of Hizbullah's demolition, Iran's Syrian vassal, Bashar al-Assad, found himself defenseless, having long become dependent on Hizbullah and Iranian militias for manpower. With the fall of Assad, and with the IDF in control of the Gaza-Egypt border, the Iranians lost the ability to rebuild Hizbullah and Hamas, giving Israel its most conclusive victory since 1949. Israel's astounding technical prowess and the fighting spirit of its military are, of course, integral to this victory. But it couldn't have happened had Netanyahu not held out against an unfriendly American administration and an accompanying assortment of authoritative figures and institutions, as well as howling mobs in Israel and around the world that demanded a ceasefire and the Israeli prime minister in handcuffs. The writer is a contractual strategic consultant for the U.S. government.
2025-04-17 00:00:00
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