Having used the great opportunity in Gaza, Israel is turning to a new one - the war in Lebanon. When it comes to wars, Israel is a land of unlimited opportunities. Every war is an opportunity, every opportunity is a war. We have a problem in Gaza? The solution is war. Trouble on the northern border? War again. The majority of Israelis are delighted because they have been waiting for this kind of opportunity for years, the rest are giving their support in silence and pain, and almost all of them are convinced that there is no other choice.
It is one thing to see war as a necessary evil, and another to see it as an opportunity: an opportunity for a new world, for a different, better reality. Hamas will be destroyed, the abductees will be freed, Hezbollah will be defeated and humiliated, the northerners will return, the Galilee will flourish, the flora and Otef will be restored. What a wonderful opportunity war presents. Israel has never in its history entered into a war that improved the state of the country or solved a problem - and several wars, such as the one in 1967, worsened the situation beyond recognition. But that fact hasn't deterred anyone yet. Wait until the next war. That will solve the problems once and for all.
"Once and for all" means absolute victory. Having supposedly defeated Hamas - once and for all, Israel will crush Hezbollah - once and for all. It's just that it always ends once and for all with just a few years of truce, after which comes a war worse than the previous one. Now supporters of the great war in Lebanon justify their desire to see the Israeli army again at the entrance to Beirut by claiming that a great opportunity has been created for Israel. At the end of the week, they even rushed the decision-makers: 500 blind people in Lebanon after the pager explosion are a golden opportunity that will not return soon. Hell, when are you going to go to war?
Seeing war as an opportunity is in itself a sign of a sick train of thought. To think of war as the first and only means of solving problems is a sign of mental disorder. But in a country where Israel HaYom columnist Karni Eldad calls dozens killed, thousands wounded and hundreds blinded due to pager explosions in Lebanon "a rare gift for this nation, which deserves it the most in the world on the eve of the new year", this should not surprise us. "The unimaginable blows received by the enemy in the north are exactly what this nation needed: elegance, precision, humiliation, thinking a million steps ahead", exults Eldad. A million steps ahead. It's just that for the reasonable public, war is not an occasion for anything but bloodshed, destruction and losses.
The "once and for all" school of thought shows itself in a particularly terrible light after Gaza. The terrible war there was supposed to solve the problems once and for all, but none were solved after a year of painful fighting, high death toll and total destruction. Israel will emerge from the war in Gaza in a much worse state than the one it was in before it. How is it even possible to believe that a war against a much stronger organization, in much more difficult field conditions with an exhausted army, with the disgust of the world, will lead to better results than the defeat in Gaza. It's just that most Israelis haven't yet grasped the dimensions of the defeat in Gaza. They didn't even come to the obvious conclusion that it would be better if Israel didn't even enter that war, and instead rushed towards the Lebanese Sidon. As in the case with Rafijah - there is no opposition. People are demonstrating, but not against the war.
It's hard to think about this incredible coincidence: while soldiers kill and die for no purpose or benefit as they destroy Gaza, troops are already making their way north toward an even bloodier war that should also solve the problem once and for all. We see everything and agree to lies. After Lebanon we go to Iran. And there will be opportunities, there we will also solve problems - once and for all.
(Haaretz; Peščanik.net, translation from Hebrew by Alma Ferhat)
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