All Hamas needs to do is survive

I hope our generals have learned enough from history not to repeat it.

They should be looking at George Washington and the Viet Cong.  What did they have in common?

As leader of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Washington lost more battles than he won.  He was often outgunned and outmaneuvered by the British generals, and his army suffered from low morale, supply problems and inexperienced leadership.

Yet Washington’s overall strategy was to keep the army intact and the population loyal, and avoid big, decisive battles.  In the end, after six years of fighting, this strategy wore down the British army, and they were surrounded (with a little help from the French fleet) and surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.

While Washington won some battles, the Viet Cong did even worse in direct confrontations they had with the American army in Vietnam.  But General Vo Nguyen Giap said that he won the war despite losing battles, as long as the Viet Cong survived to fight another day.  The Viet Cong used an extensive system of tunnels and booby traps.

Even though the Americans had superior firepower, Giap’s guerilla warfare was able to break the will of the U.S. government to continue the war.  The will of the fighters, he stressed, was a more important factor in winning than weapons.

I read somewhere that after the war, Giap was told by an interviewing journalist, “But you realize that in every major battle with the Americans, your army lost.”  Giap answered (I paraphrase), “That is a matter of complete irrelevance.”

Henry Kissinger had this to say about Vietnam: “In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.  The conventional army loses if it does not win.”

Where does all of this leave us?  It’s pretty clear.  Hamas has entered the phase of fighting a guerrilla war against us.  All they need to do to win is to survive.  If the IDF does not defeat them thoroughly and decisively, we will lose.

The positive narrative we’re now hearing is that the IDF can actually win the war.  The planning, the tactics, the technology and the fighting spirit (what Giap called “the will of the fighters”) have led to successes on the battlefield that have been praised across the political spectrum, even by those most opposed to the present government.

The recent rescue of two hostages in Rafiah even silenced (for a few brief moments) those who insist that the captives can only be freed by submitting to the demands of Hamas.

“We are in a non-winnable situation,” they shout, looking for support from Generals Washington and Giap.  “The government feeds us illusions by talking about victory.”

But a military victory over Hamas is indeed possible, as should be clear to all impartial observers.  To achieve it, Israel has to destroy all remnants of Hamas that can be interpreted as their survival.  This includes the military units still hiding in Rafiah and elsewhere, of course, but also the civilian bureaucracy and apparatchiks that have enabled Hamas to maintain control of Gaza.

Operating against Israel from achieving victory are forces from within and from without.

From within, the Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons (or whatever they call themselves these days) is spearheading the drive for allowing Hamas to survive and kill another day.  Sitting atop a seemingly bottomless treasure chest, the Forum has aligned itself with the most extreme anti-government forces: the “Kaplan Force,” the “Save Our Democracy” crowd.  They call for the acceptance of all Hamas demands to free the hostages, and for new elections now while the war is being fought.

(In all fairness, there are families that reject giving in to Hamas “at all costs,” but their voices are drowned out by the shouts of “NOW! NOW!”)

The PR agencies that are running the show, and their radical leftist funders, have decided to renew the street demonstrations that tore the country apart before October 7.  As soon as it suited their needs, they quickly showed their contempt for the spirit of unity that the war engendered, and that our soldiers and the home front have displayed since the start of the war.

The demonstration planners have become more and more extreme and hysterical, blocking traffic, attacking the police, starting fires, threatening the country with strikes and damage.

The plight of the hostages is no more than a cynical means for them to attain their true political goals.

The script writers have pulled out all stops to exploit the anguish of the family members.  An elderly lady was chosen to shout out, “This is not my flag.  This is not my country.”  Another was told to scream into the microphone that she hears her daughter calling her, “MOMMY!  MOMMY!”  At each demonstration, at each press conference, they become more and more frenzied.

It’s good street theater that plays into the hands of Hamas to get the Israeli government to agree to its absurd terms for freeing the captives and to end the war.  The Families’ Forum has no lack of funding to bring its campaign to prime time television, huge advertisements in all media, overseas locations, and to every street corner in Israel.  Those liberals who usually decry the influence that money has on politics look the other way when it’s a political cause that they agree with.

At the same time, our media has abrogated its journalistic responsibility to become cheerleaders for the “Free Them NOW!” cause.  Relatives and friends of the hostages are given huge amounts of air time to read out professionally scripted statements without being questioned about anything they say.

They are the new “etrogim” of the Israeli left, protected by a warm, fuzzy layer of supportive journalists who keep the family members flawless and squeaky clean.

From abroad as well, Israel is under intense pressure to surrender.  Voices from the UN and the EU can be easily dismissed.  They are expected and overwhelmingly toothless.  But in the U.S. there is a President for whom (as someone else noted) the two-state solution does not mean Israel and Palestine, but Michigan and Wisconsin.  He cares not so much about the Arabs in the Mid-East, as he does about the Arabs in the Mid-West.

The Presidential elections are coming up in November, and if the Arabs vote against him in these two swing states, or just stay home, he will probably lose.  The Arabs and the progressives are calling him “Genocide Joe,” and to prove to them that he is not, he must press Israel to accept a ceasefire.

For him, it’s a political game.  For us, it’s life or death.

It’s a good thing we have leaders who do not listen to the howls of the mob, the fanaticism of the PR handlers, the defeatism of the leftist millionaires, nor the threats of the American politicians.

We have to win this war in the only way it can be won: By completely wiping out Hamas and its supporters.

It’s time to listen to the wisdom of General Washington and General Giap.