Let's hear it for the cheese-mongers! (Bad "Life of Brian" joke)

Here's one for all you hawks out there (and when it comes to Israel, I'm a hawk, whatever anyone might want to believe otherwise about me). Andrew Roberts, a Conservative historian, as these things go, says it all in his article title (courtesy of The Tablet) "Defeat Hamas. There, I said It".

What it comes down to is that, in his view, superior technology, allied to a high level of ability to use that technology well, will always prevail. Or, in his better phraseology, "In the eternal battle between medieval hatred and Enlightenment technological know-how, the latter has always managed to contain the former." He also, openly, dubs Hamas (and by implication Hezbollah and their sponsors - you know who you are) a fascist organisation. No argument from me on that one. Although I marginally prefer the term "clerico-fascist". So much more insulting, don't you think: gets two desirable targets in one phrase.

I'm reminded of the aphorism attributed to Patton (probably not original with him, but who cares?): "No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He wins the war by making the other poor bastard die for his." And Israel has the technology, the flak jackets and the know-how to make the other poor bastard to die for his country/ideology. Especially when he's looking to be martyred. The best soldiers are those determined to stay alive to allow the other side to martyr themselves.

While he's at it, Roberts also takes to task those (especially those outside Israel) who see the result of Operation Pillar of Cloud as somehow a defeat for Israel. His point is that whatever Hamas try to say otherwise, they got clobbered, and they achieved very little while doing so, not even anything close to what might be termed a Pyrrhic victory (as the ancient King Pyrrhus is reputed to have said, complimented on another hugely costly victory over the Romans "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.").

By: Brian Goldfarb