Peloni: Victory can only be won if it is pursued.
IDF captures territory and then evacuates it only to recapture it again. The war fluctuates between periods of high intensity and low-grade conflict, interspersed with ceasefires, only to repeat the cycle. What’s the excuse now?
Prof. Eyal Zisser | April 6, 2025
By IDF Spokesperson’s Unit photographer, CC BY-SA 3.0
The IDF has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 15 months, but it remains far from defeating the enemy. It seems that the picture of victory grows more distant as we continue to trudge along without purpose and without a goal.
The difficulties and even failures of the first weeks and months of the war in Gaza could have been attributed to the terrible blow we suffered at the hands of Hamas on October 7. The surprise attack, which we did not anticipate and for which we were not prepared, led to a loss of composure and system collapse in both political and military ranks, making it difficult to make decisions regarding the war’s objectives and how to conduct it.
After all, Hamas was still at the height of its power, while Israel found itself fighting on seven fronts and under tremendous international pressure. Many, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even harbored fears that the IDF would not be able to meet the challenge and that fighting in Gaza would claim casualties at a level the public could not withstand.
That’s why we became entangled in a prolonged war lasting many months without clear goals and objectives, and without a comprehensive operational plan detailing what needed to be done from beginning to end. Instead, we witnessed a random collection of operations that mostly lacked continuity and connection between them, and that did not lead to a decisive victory in the war – first fighting in Gaza City, then in Khan Younis, and then in Rafah, and so on.
But it seems that everything begins and ends with the fact that the war’s objectives were initially defined in a general and vague manner, without specifying how the IDF should achieve them on the ground. Eliminating Hamas’ military capabilities is an empty slogan and not a coherent military action plan with tangible goals to achieve. Is the IDF required to eliminate all Hamas terrorists?
After all, we are now reporting that Hamas is easily recruiting teenagers and young men to replace the fighters we’ve killed. Or perhaps it’s about eliminating Hamas’ rocket capability? But they continue to launch rockets almost daily toward Gaza border communities.
The sporadic rocket fire has returned in force, and our response is press releases about evacuating Gazans from rocket launch areas, so they can return to these areas after a day or two. Thus, we are engaged in a prolonged war where the IDF captures territory and then evacuates it in order to recapture it again. The war fluctuates between periods of high intensity and low-grade conflict interspersed with ceasefires, only to repeat the cycle.
One might have expected or even hoped that Israel would come to its senses, learn from past failures, and adopt a different approach, especially an updated goal of conquering Gaza or at least large areas of it, or alternatively – advancing a political arrangement that would ensure Hamas’s removal from Gaza or even a deal to release all our hostages. But none of this is happening, and we continue to move along a path without exit that doesn’t bring us closer to our goal.
In history books, the war of the last 15 months will be remembered as a failed war – first because of the way it broke out, but also and especially because of the way it has been managed since, primarily by the political echelon, which seemingly doesn’t want to decide and win the war and bring it to an end, but rather prefers a never-ending war.
There is currently no reason for this. The military leadership has changed, and they cannot be accused of lacking fighting spirit, the Trump administration gives us a free hand to act as we see fit, and even Arab countries have long concluded that it’s better for everyone if Hamas is defeated, so they too give Israel the green light to act in Gaza. But Israel is still stuck in place, avoiding making decisions and lacking vision and a plan of action.
And in the end, when the Americans see that we are unable to decide and win, and are also afraid to make decisions, they will decide for us according to their own interests, and then we will only have ourselves to blame.
Enough with the foot-dragging and endless trudging through the sands of Gaza, enough with the hesitation and fear of making decisions – it’s time to change course and break out of the cycle we’ve been in for 15 long months. This is how we will win and also bring back our hostages held by Hamas.
EvRe1… You are spot-on with your assessment of what’s really going on in Israel. The stench of leftism is all too apparent and this doesn’t bode well for the country. Israel owes nothing to the “rest of the world” and should take the necessary steps to make this clear, not by words but by military brilliance.
The reason Israel does that is because in reality it is the US which tells Israel what to do when to do it and how to do it.
Now Trump “gifted” Israel with a 17% tariff in exchange for Israel removing all tariffs for the US (especially for the agricultural products it imports from the US making itself especially vulnerable) and explained in front of the reporters that it is because the US “gives” Israel 4 billion $$ a year.
Any excuse for evacuating the Arabs will do but What if the next U.S. administration is a Democrat one? We saw what became of Trump’s long range plans before. And, now, Egypt is building up its forces in the supposedly demilitarized Sinai. There is no alternative to Israeli sovereignty and permanent bases supported by Jewish communities. All past withdrawals have been shown to be folly and must be reversed.
Still relevant
https://barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com/2012/12/israel-us-and-stinking-fish-1976.html
Goals:
Make Gaza unlivable for decades to come. Destroy it so no one can live there.
After that, transfer it to the US either for Trump Rivera or the US military base.
Instead of going after Hamas, go after the regime change in Iran. It is a much easier target to defeat than the regime change in Gaza supported by the population, and has a greater benefit with the new Iran: no nukes, trade, cooperation and defunding of all terrorists in the area.
Professor Zizzer’s column is right on target. The Israel government and armed forces leadership have defined their goal as the removal of Hamas from power in Gaza. However, they have failed to take military measures that are likely to achieve that goal. They have consistently carried out halfway military measures that have left Hamas in control of large parts of the strip and that has failed to identify a possible alternative leadership that would be willing to coexist peacefully with Israel. Israeli has repeatedly occupied some areas of the strip, declared them free of terrorists, and then has been forced to return to fight in these areas when it became clear that the terrorists either never evacuated these areas or quickly returned to them once IDF forces had withdrawn. Hence a cycle of endless war with no “light at the end of the tunnel.”
What professor Zizzer does not mention, however, is that this pattern of decision-making by Israel’s military and political leadership has characterized Israel’s military reponses to Arab and Iranian aggression consistently since 1948. Israel has r withdrawn troops from areas that it has occupied during the wars that it was forced to fight, after theoretically “winning” these wars. There were troop withdrawals from occupied areas after War of of Independence, the Sinai campmpaign of 1946, and the War of Attrition of 1969-72, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. There were also withdrawals from the territories occupied in 1967, although these withdrawals took a bit longer to be carried out. Still the withdrawal from all of the Sinai was carried out in 19758as part of the Begin-Sadat peace. and the withdrawal ofrom parts of Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 1993-94 as part of the Arafat peace, and all of Gaza and part of Samaria as part of Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005. So the Israel governments withdrawals from Gaza and Hezbollah- occupied Lebanaon in2024-25 follows a consistent pattern over 77 years.
I may have a misunderstanding, but I have the impression that the Israeli top brass have been working against a devastating defeat of Hamas since before the 7th of October and continued to foot drag in concert with Biden’s obstacles that were continuously being placed in the way.
There are also those who advise negotiating with mass murderers using a terrorist state, i.e. Qatar as the mediator. It is one thing for Trump to suggest this it is another for Israel to go along with it. Americans have varying degrees of capacity to understand what it feels like to be Israeli.
Have all the foot draggers in the top brass been fired and replaced?
If not, why not? Who is responsible for them not being replaced?
If they have all been replaced, who is now responsible for battle plans which do not call for taking and HOLDING ground for every inch in Gaza?
Does Israel need a Department of Government Efficiency to examine the deep state data and find out exactly who is responsible for treasonous decisions that involve allowing Hamas to survive?
Are there well funded NGOs gumming up everything? Someone or some individuals are responsible for the decisions being made that are affecting the lives of every Israeli, and the Israeli people deserve to know.
It is the equivalent of some of the Jews on the night of Passover in Egypt telling a large group of Jews preparing to leave, “Don’t listen to Moses, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s not abandon the Egyptians.”