Between the flow of analyses and discussions on the web  in comment on the July 2006 war, and particularly those published by Israeli, Zionist or Jewish writers for they reflect what haunts Israel’s mind, we present an article which goes far beyond the common (or classical) explanation of the Israeli defeat which is limited to the military factor, towards an explanation that highlights the crumbling of the state’s components and society with its military and civil institutions, as a main factor of Israel’s military defeat. The issue has developed into a vicious circle: Did the military defeat lead to the collapse of the society or is it vice versa? In both cases, after the July war, Israel arrived at a dangerous turning point, as the legend of the unbeatable Israel came to an end. The hero of this shift, according to the article, was “a single Muslim cleric…[who taught] Israelis what defiance was all about.”

The author of this article is Gilad Atzmon, a Jew born in Israel, who became a committed anti-Zionist after he served in the Israeli army, where he witnessed the mistreatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli authorities. He then devoted himself to music and created a website (peacepalestine), where the Palestinian flag waves on the front page next to the expression “There will always be a Palestine”. He currently lives in Britain.

The article is entitled: “Saying NO to the Hunters of Goliath”.

The article is in fact a presentation of a book named “Captives of Lebanon”⁽¹⁾, published a while ago by two Israeli military analysts, Yoav Limor and Ofer Shelah. Atzmon did well to review the book, since it is in Hebrew and its content is so important and is worth being spread immediately.

Atzmon repeated many times the expression of “the humiliating Israeli defeat” and this is not something new, considering Israel’s strategic, tactical, operational and military failures. The new thing however, is not only in his tone but also in his vision: “…a single Muslim cleric was teaching Israelis what defiance was all about. Seemingly, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and an insignificant number of warriors, proved to be the first Arabs to defeat the Israeli Army on the ground. Their victory left Israel in shatters. The Israeli power of deterrence disappeared completely. It became a subject for historical research.”

The defeat was hideous as the Israeli Army shot during the war 170,000 shells (compared to 53,000 shells in the 1973 war) and launched 17,550 air combat missions, which translates into 520 missions a day (almost as many as in the 1973 war, although Israel back then was fighting two well-equipped air forces, particularly in air-to-air and ground-to-air shells).

Where did the defeat circle begin?

The article says that the Israeli society is on the verge of a “total moral collapse”, as a result of leaders only seeking their own interests and the prevailing sense of enmity and terrorism, to such an extent that “there is a direct express path that leads from the `role of the assassin’ to the Government seat.”

He says that the Israelis sought to glorify assassins as if they were kings (pointing out at Sharon, Barak, Mofaz, Halutz, and Dichter).

Atzmon stresses that more and more people in Israel are reacting against Zionism, and says: “Would the Zionists understand the real meaning of their Holocaust, so the contemporary Israelite may be able to prevent the destruction that may be awaiting them in the future.”

The article says the Israelis adore what he calls “technological superiority” and counts it among reasons behind defeat. It says that monitoring wars while sitting in front of a computer is useless and that many field commanders are deficient in the arts of field combat. “[They] prefer to win wars while sitting in front of computer monitors moving joysticks,” the article says.

The Israelis have no concerns but their “good life” and “wealth”. Their expertise in corruption and their officials’ incompetence - whether military leaders or civil officials working in military institutions - led to the destruction of both the society and the State. The army lost its readiness to war and turned into a coward destruction tool that is not good but at “smashing Palestinian civilians in their homes, murdering their emerging leadership, terrorising pregnant women in roadblocks and shelling young kids in their school classes.”  

Atzmon says that when Dan Halutz, who was still the IAF commander, was asked “how it feels to drop a bomb that kills fourteen Palestinian civilians, his answer was short and simple. It feels like a light bounce on your left wing…it didn’t take long before he was asked to take the lead of the Israeli Army.”

Atzmon concludes his article, saying: “The Jewish state has already been defeated in battle and this may happen again sooner than we think.”

It is the end of both the cause and the doctrine.

* Writer and Editor-im-chief, Al Computer magazine.

⁽¹⁾ Captives in Lebanon, Ofer Shelah/Yaov Limor, Miskal, Yedioth Ahronoth and Chemed Books, 2007

2008 - ISSUE 73

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