Whatever decision the Israeli government makes, Michael Oren is confident that it must continue to press its advantage:
Though the terrorists have yet to unleash the full brunt of their most lethal and accurate rockets, their image has been irreparably tarnished. For that reason alone, Israel must not agree to a ceasefire that will allow Hizballah to rearm and rebuild its command structure. . . . A ceasefire that enables Hizballah to remain deployed along [Israel’s] northern border and resume daily firing at our citizens will not enable tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their home.
Oren compares Israel’s current war to the U.S. experience in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II, which began with severe, even humiliating setbacks. The past two weeks in Lebanon, he writes, have begun to resemble the crucial battles that turned those wars around:
This is Israel’s Midway moment. In Lebanon, Israel can have its Gettysburg and its Yorktown. The alternatives are the examples of Iraq and Afghanistan, America’s most recent wars that ended inconclusively with ignominious withdrawals. Israel, fighting an existential war on our own borders, must not go that route. Rather, by resisting pressure for a ceasefire that leaves Hizballah unbowed, Israel can fully restore our deterrence power and regain our regional preeminence.
It’s worth noting that it took the Union nearly two whole years to defeat the Confederacy following its victory at Gettysburg, and the war with Japan dragged on for three years after Midway. The Jewish state may well have a difficult slog ahead.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/turning-the-tide-of-war-israels-midway-moment/