Unbridled Enthusiasm

Some of you readers will remember, from a Seinfeld episode named “The Doodle”, a scene where Kramer describes a character named Billy Mumphrey (in a manuscript Elaine was supposed to have read) as having unbridled enthusiasm. This characterization of profound joy is a feeling we seldom have in life, reserving this level of happiness to major life events such as weddings and births. I daresay that I am having that feeling right now; this feeling has emerged following the most recent extraordinary achievements of the State of Israel in its continuing war with Hezbollah.

The Israel-Hezbollah war has been on somewhat of a low flame since October 8^th of last year, but certainly hot enough to result in the deaths and injury of many Israeli soldiers and civilians and the displacement of nearly 100,000 Israeli citizens from their homes in northern Israel. While the media portrays this fight as a tit for tat exchange of fire, it is painfully clear that these hostilities were started by Hezbollah, and continues to be waged by Hezbollah, to reflect Hezbollah’s alliance and support of Hamas while the fighting continues in Gaza.

The displacement of Israeli citizens from the border region has resulted in a de facto occupation of northern Israel by Hezbollah. In fact, US Secretary of State Blinken publicly stated on July 2^nd that Israel has effectively lost “sovereignty” in the northern part of Israel due to the persistent cross-border attacks Hezbollah has launched since October 8^th.

The persistent indiscriminate rocket fire, drone infiltration and anti-tank missile launches into Israel targeting Israeli citizens (and, seldomly, military forces) is a state of affairs no country can long tolerate.

This gets me, then, to recent events. Israel’s weaponization of the beepers and walkie talkies being used by Hezbollah was the piece de resistance of espionage activity. In an unparalleled operation, Israel was able to:

Severely diminish Hezbollah’s internal communications;
Target and incapacitate large numbers of Hezbollah’s soldiers who are the only ones issued these devices (although one wonders why the Iranian ambassador in Beirut was injured by an exploding pager);
Largely avoid civilian casualties;
Wreak havoc among the Hezbollah leadership and rank and file; and
Embarrassed Iran and its proxies.

Hezbollah supporters have derided this operation as a form of indiscriminate terrorism, which, of course, it wasn’t since it only targeted enemy combatants. UN Secretary General Guterres decried “the weaponization of civilian objects,” which is ludicrous since these objects were being used for a military purpose. The Secretary General says nothing of the constant barrage of weapons used daily against Israeli civilians.

The audacity and difficulty of this operation cannot be overstated. Its success will be demonstrated in the days and weeks ahead. All I can say, as I would say at any wedding or birth, is Mazel Tov.