Defeat and victory
We lost because of euphoria and bragging, but we shall ultimately win because we have learned Israeli society is stronger, smarter than its political, military leadership
We lost because on the first day of the war the prime minister said that "we shall win."
We lost because on that same day the defense minister said, "Nasrallah will not forget the name Amir Peretz."
We lost because of the euphoria and the bragging, the aggressiveness and the vindictiveness.
We lost because instead of launching an immediate offensive against Hizbullah posts, we destroyed half of Beirut.
We lost because the IDF has become accustomed to operating in modes of policing, oppression, arrest and conquest.
We lost because we praised the home front's resilience without really assisting it. We lost because we didn't win. How simple.
Why we shall ultimately win
We shall ultimately win this war because we have learned that Israeli society is stronger and smarter than its political and military leadership.
We shall win because we have learned that force is not enough.
We shall win because we have learned that behind our leadership's schmaltz, slogans and self persuasion, there is an empty void. We shall win because we have learned that there is no final and decisive victory.
Managing the pain
In the past, when a person suffered from pain, doctors would insist on looking for the source in order to completely eliminate it. This practice worked quite well when treating a tooth cavity or a thorn in the foot, but it wasn't very successful in many other instances, and if it was, it only worked after continuous suffering and humiliation.
In today's modern medicine, there is a new field of medicine called "Pain Medicine", in this field of medicine one refrains from talking about great victories, and more often than not simply suffices with managing the pain. Namely, it is recognized that the pain cannot always be eliminated. However, the pain can be weakened, making a patient's life more bearable.
Pain management doctors do not say: "Your lumbago will not forget Doctor Peretz." They do not announce that "your gall stones are in our hands," before the end of surgery. They do not amputate a foot because of an ingrown toenail, and they don't bring down a 5 kilo hammer on a patient's head in order to convince the brain to conduct the rest of the body in a more appropriate manner. Most importantly, however, a patient's back pain is not cured by operating on someone else.
Innovations and surprises
This turbulent week's comical pauses were provided by the prime minister and cabinet minister Meir Shitreet. In a speech delivered by the prime minister before the heads of the local authorities, he announced that no one will defeat us – "because we are a resilient people."
On hearing this poetic phrase the audience applauded loudly in an outburst of Pavlovian patriotism, but I have no doubt that some suppressed giggling was also heard here and there. "A resilient people" is an old curse used by God and his prophets to denounce the people of Israel, and in no way praises them. I hope Mr. Olmert will not continue to praise us by using other Biblical expressions.
As to cabinet Minister Shitreet, he denounced the hypocrisy of the world by naming it "hypocrademocracy." I checked with a friend of mine, an expert in ancient Greek, who explained that Shitreet wasn't wrong. Democracy is the rule of the people, theocracy is the rule of religion, and "hypocrademocracy" is the rule of the hippopotamus.
