Israelis unhappy to see world class military surprised again

[Liberal_in_LA]

Israelis Unhappy to See World-Class Military ‘Surprised’ Again
Michael Crowley @CrowleyTIME Aug. 6, 2014

A high Israeli troop death toll in Gaza, with inconclusive results, reminds some of a "severe sense of failure" after a 2006 ground war

Israel’s military can be fearsomely destructive. From the day in July 1967 when Israeli planes preempted an Egyptian attack by destroying Cairo’s air force on the ground, to surgical airstrikes on nuclear reactor projects in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, the Israel Defense Forces have displayed crack intelligence and technical skill.

So why does Israel keep getting caught by surprise when it fights ground wars against its neighboring enemies?
http://time.com/3086424/israel-gaza-hamas-idf/p


Sixty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza over the past three weeks—more than six times the 10 lost in Israel’s 2008 incursion into the Palestinian territory. The Gaza incursion “revealed worrisome shortcomings in the Israel Defense Forces in battle readiness and management,” the Israeli daily Haaretz laments. The chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is vowing to investigate both diplomatic and military failures, including the use of a poorly-armored personnel carrier in which seven Israeli soldiers were killed by a single missile last month. Military experts also say the IDF was generally “operating from an old playbook and [was] not fully prepared for a more sophisticated, battle-ready adversary.”

Other Israeli politicians are also asking “why the extent of the Hamas tunnel system into Israel was either not known or not prepared for better,” the New York Times reports, which adds that the tunnels were “a psychological and tactical surprise.”

[4now]

1. Incompetent leadership

Can really screw up a good invasion.
Netanyahu is as good of a military leader as George Bush was.

[gratuitous]

2. Don't second guess Bibi!

But keep sending the money.

[n2doc]

3. It isn't much good for asymmetrical warfare

The IDF could easily sweep through Gaza in a short time. Military machines are built for this. Just like we swept through Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem comes with what to do next. Israel thought they could have the best of both worlds- destroy Hamas from afar and not have to become mired in so called nation-building (used to be called Pacification). Militaries are not good at all at winning hearts and minds, quite the opposite. We were able to do so at the ned of WWI in Europe because we treated the People with respect and threw a bunch of money at the problem to start them up. Hasn't worked well since.

[Orsino]

4. When your enemy shows up equipped with little more than its hearts and minds...

...a world-class military is a guarantee only of failure.

[4now]

5. I wish we could still rec posts

+1 for both.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Using a sledgehammer to fight a war against mosquitoes usually leaves rubble and more mosquitoes.

[CJCRANE]

7. I almost thought this was the Onion: so ironic yet so true.

It seems RWers don't read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" or the various Abrahamic prophets who stressed Mercy over Wrath.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Here's the thing: Israel is not "fighting a war".

Israel is engaging in collective punishment of the population of a territory under Israeli occupation. There is a very significant difference between those two things.

Geneva Convention (IV):
(Article 4.)
Persons protected by the Convention are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals. (NB: This is the status of the Palestinian population vis à vis Israel.)

(Article 33.)
No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.(NB: This provision is routinely breached by Israel as a matter of policy through their demolition of the houses of families of persons accused...note, not convicted...of "terrorism".)

(Article 49.)
The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
(NB: This is what the Israeli settlements are; the illegal transfer of Israelis into occupied territory.)

http://www.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/475?OpenDocument