WISHFUL THINKING

 

It’s no wonder we Jews are a little paranoiac. We may have won the wars forced upon us but we never seem to reap the “fruits of victory.” We are not warriors at heart, in spite of Archie Bunker’s colourful warning: 

“A coloured guy gets into trouble, he runs right away to the NAACP. Italian guy gets into trouble, he runs over to see the Pope. But you do anything to a Jew, whoa! The whole Israeli Air Force swoops down on you and kicks the f***ing hole out of you”!

                                                                    

Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Israel is called upon to make concessions, to be generous, when no other nation has voluntarily yielded a bare outcrop of land to others.

 

When it comes to the war of words and propaganda, Israel loses big time. The Western world is well known for being dominated by Arabists. This is most evident in the ivory towers of academia, which are corrupted by massive financial support from oil-rich Arab countries. In addition to which, we have the age-old policies of anti-semitism, in which they hide behind semantic word games of anti-Zionism. Not to mention the kangaroo courts of the United Nations.

Islam teaches it’s fine to lie to your enemy, break treaties, etc. in order to defeat them later on. People forget that, in 1983, Israel signed an agreement with Lebanon terminating the state of war between them. By expelling the PLO, removing Syrian influence over Lebanon, and installing a pro-Israeli Christian government led by Bachir Gemayel, Israel hoped to sign a treaty which the Prime Minister Menachem Begin promised would give Israel "forty years of peace".

Unfortunately, Israel’s desire for peace was again thwarted. Following the assassination of Gemayel in September 1982, Israel's position in Beirut became untenable and the signing of a peace treaty became increasingly unlikely. While the PLO state-within-a-state had been dismantled, Syrian troops remained in Lebanon. The Christian-dominated Lebanese Government was too weak to control rival factions from attacking each other, and Israel. A year later, under pressure from the Syrian government, Lebanon reneged on its agreement - and the country remained volatile.

The Lebanese civil war would continue until 1990, at which point Syria had established complete dominion over Lebanon. The Syrian occupation of Lebanon lasted from 31 May 1976, beginning with the Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War, until 30 April 2005. This period saw significant Syrian military and political influence over Lebanon, impacting its governance, economy, and society.

The simple truth is that Israel doesn't win wars against neighboring aggressors, because winning such wars is measured by achieving one’s goals. The ultimate goal of Israel is to achieve peace with its neighbors and raise the region into a greater state of prosperity and enlightenment. Israel isn't enjoying much success along those lines.