The IDF cannot win this time
Op-ed: How can an army, no matter how big and strong it is, prevent a 13-year-old boy from stabbing an innocent citizen on the street?
But beyond the public stand, in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem or in the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, in front of the IDF chief of staff, the Shin Bet head or his representative and the relevant IDF generals, they wring their hands, raise their voices during the night discussions and ask those present: Well, what do we do now?
Good listeners will notice the embarrassment in the leaders' voices and questions. Observant people will notice almost immediately the anger reflected in their faces. The security forces - in other words, the IDF and Shin Bet - are incapable of "delivering the goods." In other words, the political echelon is usually furious at the security forces for being unable to suppress the Palestinians' acts of terror and bring peace to the land.
Later, at the end of the long meeting, in the corridor discussions, the security officials will reveal what they think about the political echelon. The political echelon, for its part, will also have a lot to say about the army and the security services.
They say and will say: The great IDF - which made it to Entebbe and bombed (according to foreign reports) the nuclear reactors in Iraq and in Syria, which defeated the Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians in an instant in the Six-Day War, which planted a flag on the banks of the Suez Canal, took over the entire West Bank, occupied the Syrian Golan Heights with clenched teeth in 1967 and pushed the Syrians away from it in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when it also erased the Egyptian army's achievements - is incapable of dealing with several dozen boys and girls with knives and penknives and screwdrivers?
The answer is: No, and the war speeches and attempts to inflame the situation and the "we will eradicate" and "we will destroy" won't help. This kind of terror cannot be defeated, because like in the Yom Kippur War, it is taking advantage of the breaches left behind by the IDF for lack of any other option.
The Palestinians are learning and are making an effort not to repeat their mistakes. In this case, they are often using children and the most primitive weapons, and encouraging a sort of popular civilian uprising. How can an army, no matter how big and strong it is, prevent a 13-year-old boy from stabbing an innocent civilian on the street?
The IDF has Iron Dome batteries, which cost taxpayers hundreds of millions, laser cannons, the latest innovation in laser screens, advances cyber means - and what more can we ask for?
And what do the Palestinians have? Knives, primitive guns and rockets and missiles which cost almost nothing, a few hundred dollars at the most. We, thank God, have missiles which cost millions of dollars.
So why are missiles which cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit incapable of defeating the primitive missiles which cost only hundreds of dollars, although they are much, much "smarter" than them? How is it possible that because of kitchen knives, tens of thousands of people are fearfully closing themselves up in their homes? Why are we categorizing every person with an Arabic accent as a suspected terrorist?
The answer, for the moment, is that the Palestinian despair has recently met the Israeli despair. The knife cannot win, but it holds the Palestinian problem "in a picture" and is making the world believe that all its troubles are concealed in it. For the Palestinians, that's enough.
The Palestinians feel they have nothing to lose, and are going out with knives to intimidate us. We are scared and show our panic. The Palestinians are encouraged and believe they will win. They still don’t know that both sides will have no other choice but to find a way to reach a diplomatic solution. It's very simple: Unlike them, we Israelis have nowhere else to go to.
