Israel defeated the combined might of five Arab armies in the War of Independence. We fought a war on three fronts in 1967, handing the Arabs a humiliating defeat. We beat back the Arabs on two fronts in 1973, despite a nefarious surprise attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. How did the United States fare against a handful of tiny men wearing black pajamas in Vietnam? How about Somalia? How did the United States fare then? I will tell you. In both, instances, the United States got kicked to the curb. Hasn't gone at all well in Afghanistan, Iraq, Waziristan, Yemen and Libya, either. Terrorists annihilated over 240 American Marines in Lebanon, and the U.S. turned and ran. On the bright side, from your perspective -- you did "win" in Grenada and Panama. Wow! Cool beans! The United States defeated two banana republics. I am SO incredibly unimpressed with American military (snicker) "prowess ...."

In these days of Gaza rocket wars & Turkish bottoms being kissed.

What a pile of spineless self-loathing crap. Learn to get a backbone and stand up!

Turkey is an "empire"? It may be larger and more populous than Israel, but the IDF is a better-quality military by far. Israel would be a formidable match for Turkey in any confrontation. It's not big mighty Turkey vs lilliputian Israel, the Turks would soon find out they've bit off more that they can chew if they were to provoke war. How is Israel arrogant? A few troublemakers got killed trying to breach a military blockade, and now Turkey is up in arms demanding Israel apologize for doing what any sane nation would do. What I find most irritating about Eitan Haber is the way he makes Israel out to be a weak nation, and advocates grovelling before the world.

Jewish Home leader, Naftali Bennett did not say Prime Minister Netanyahu's apology to Turkey's supremacist Islamic regime was wrong. He said Erdogan is making us regret our apology. I was hoping for much more from MK Bennett.

...to assume Sarah B is merely searching for "laughs". I suspect her facile, sophomoric "legal" arguments, obsession with others' grammatical errors, and near-constant use of the term - ersatz "palastinian" - are actually intentional acts intended to undermine the validity of the State of Israel. I am therefore almost certain that she is a leftist who supports the palestinian cause. Just a word to the wise.

So, all Morons are welcome to fill them, Haber is one of the chosen ones

You are right on target like usual, Sarah. Right now, Israel protects enemy civilians at any cost. This is ludicrous. You can't win wars with such a mindset. Israel needs to adopt Churchill's approach to hostile civilians. Churchill deliberately made as many Germans homeless as possible to dampen their enthusiasm for Hitler. Israel must stop playing games with "Palestinians", who'd mass murder us in a heart beat if they could. Israel needs to do whatever it takes to achieve total victory over "Palestinian" poseurs and get them out of our land forever.

don't forget that the turks lost a lot to the arabs

"Military operation again the flotilla." This is but one example of the crap that comes out of Haber's keyboard. There were repeated warnings to the flotilla and the IDF peacefully boarded the ship to check for weaponry that would have only been used to kill Israelis. I can't agree with a single other point he made either. What a sell out!

but the people were violent thugs from Turkey on the Mavi Marmara and they got what was coming to them for running a legal blockade and attacking soldiers, as underscored by the UN Palmer report. Perhaps you believe Israel isn't really feared, but notice Turkey didn't make anymore attempts on Israel, and the Arabs have been quiet for a while. They don't often do that if they feel they have the upper hand. So arrogance is a sign of inferiority? That certainly explains Arab actions for the past few centuries.

reality doesn't seem to come easily to israeli left-wingers.

well written and accurate

Senility settles in with age and it looks that is the case for Mr Haber,who has become israeliphobe, and being so anti he should consider emigrating to Turkey for instance to support mad pitbull Erdogan. Mr Haber your articles are VOMIT

Mr. Haber is approaching academical and He is always rational. I like reading his articles. Landing operations of troops on a beach are the hardest. Especially when looking towards mountains. Do you know the differences between Iwo Jima & D-Day? Do you know how many countries are successful? :-) An hiding sniper eats an army! War is an art. Do you know the topography of Eastern Turkey and Cyprus? I don't think so. Greeks are not joke! You need to know. Turkey joined the Korean war. Do you know the details? Wounded soldiers were looking after Korean orphans instead of sleeping. Putin ordered large-scale military exercises in the Black Sea (not Afghanistan :-) on Thursday with 36 warships and an unspecified number of planes. During the cold war, Turkish pilots were sleeping inside their planes. Do you know the structure of NATO? They even have their own heating system which comes from Appalachian Marcellus shale gas if they need an urgent supply. Take off your horse glasses and see things at different angles please.

In order to confront Israel's army (which has more recent battle experience), Turkey's would have to cross quite a bit of territory. Any confrontation would involve naval and air forces. Turkey's navy is larger, but Israel's is still quite potent, and includes advanced subs. And Turkey's Air Force would be advised not to challenge the IAF.

Israel is the real empire with 500 nukes on several platforms. F16 to F 15/phantom 2000/jericos range 10000 miles/6 dolphin subs/ miniature suitcase bombs/5000 tanks and manufacturing media as/ laser weapons classified. 20 minutes and turkey,Iran,Syria are history. Think no Korea with 6 nukes. My advice. Don't upset a sleeping tiger. Read the Samson option and Wikipedia for proof. Israel is exceptional like it or not. Better the pall bearer than 6 m holocaust victims just 67 years ago. Get it erdogan and Ahmad. advice never apologize. It makes thing worse

You are forgetting that in 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus, first day of war the Turkish Air Forces sunk their own ship and the crew was saved by friendly Israeli military ship. Other then that the only experience of the Turkish military since 1950 Korea war is using F16 s to bomb PKK targets over North Iraq Kandil mountain. BTW; I served in Turkish military in 1977. I have insider information about a this.

Israel would never have come to be. This self-hating terror apologist would probably have preached that the Jews' insurgence was a 'provocation' against the Brits, and state his mantra that "it is not always beneficial to be right, but it is always important to be smart"... And the 'smart' move, according to him, would be to stay quiet. Seeing how deranged his personal assistant has become over the years, Rabin must be rolling in his grave.

The IDF can't even stop Arab boys with rocks. How does fighting a war 40 amd 50 years ago make a military battle tested? All the soldiers who fought in that war are gone. If The IDF is so mighty and power why does you little colonial outpost of a nation keep begging the the US for military help with Iran? You have a tiny, pathetic Military that only manages to keep the Arabs at bay because of American military aid. This is fact!

I won't claim to know Israel but the characterization of Turkey is completely inaccurate. Turkey is no Empire, in fact it is barely a country. Turks have on average 1 child but Kurds have about three or four. The Turks will lose Anatolia, it is just a matter of time. The Turkish Army has not been tested in real battle since a single *brigade*! Went to Korea and was savaged, losing 15 percent of their personnel and 70% of their equipment in a very short time frame. They actually performed very poorly - their so called fierceness was a propaganda exercise.When they invaded Cyprus holding a 4 -1 advantage in troops, and a massive equipment advantage, they still took 10% casualties. They have a large and bad army. Finally the Turks dislike Israel not because of the ethos of the few against the many. Their conception of Israel is that of a world wide Zionist conspiracy. They do not like Israel because they are Islamizing. They do not like Jewish power.

Israeli army has won all military operations weather in Lebanon, Gaza, WB or even Uganda (Entebbe) Irak (Osirak) and elsewhere. Just like USA did in Iraq and Afghanistan recently. However fighting a terrorist group such as Hamas, Hezbollah or Al Kaida is different. They are not officially military but rather ordinary people full of hate and armed somehow with light arms such as stones or IED's They pop up out of nowhere in place such as metropolitan transit, airports etc and kill a few innocents then run away. They always hide behind civilians. When you try to catch or kill them there are often innocent bystanders also harmed. This is why it has been difficult to fight these terrorists by Israel but also by USA and even Turkey who has been fighting PKK for many years. And as for Iran: Don't forget that even the mighty USA had to get many allies and international support to intervene in Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Having the diplomatic capability to gain that support is part of fighting the enemy. Hope we start getting some warm air in NY. Good week end.

As you may already know I a mover 60 born raised in Turkey and served in Turkish military as a Yedek Subay in Air Forces Ankara in 1977. I read what you wrote about the Turkish military. But you forgot that i n1974 the huge Turkish military fought a bunch of Greek militants not a regular army to invade 20% of the island and shot her own military ship which the crew was saved by Israeli navy. You also forgot to mention that most experienced well trained military officers in Turkey (that includes almost all navy commanders) are in jail at Silivri being accused of plotting a military coup that never happened. In fact the biggest accusation about Ilker Basbug stems from a photograph where he was wearing a kippa during his visit to Israel's wailing wall. Right now you have a military that is in disarray and if there is war with Israel just like 1974 you can expect a massive embargo in my humble opinion. Iyi cumalar.

Most of the readers don't obviously understand the dangers that Israel is facing with current policy of stubbornness and arrogance. They wonder why they were kicked out of Lebanon and Gaza, because they don't understand that the support of the few allies is matter of life and death for the state of Israel. Nobody in politics will tell them the truth, because you can't survive elections with that kind of truth in Israel.

While we are acting wrongly, there is no much to do other than submit. We need Turkey desperately. They don't need us. They can humilliate us and we, for the sake of a bunch of settlers, we'll have to submit. A whole nation in its knees for only 500 thousand people. That is the price to pay. Erdogan and Iran are gaining moment in the Arab world playing the "end of occupation" card. We should be controlling this process, making proposals, imposing our visions, but we are being leashed like a dog by these disgusting countries. It is time to Israel raise its head and with bravery get rid of Palestinians giving them sovereignty and treating them as enemies not occupied people. Then, we can face Turkey properly and say: no, we are not going to apologize for our legitime borders.

Yes, unstoppable. But the Egyptians would be unstoppable without the Operation Grass Nickel. Don't mess with Turkey. You have a generous neighbour who handed you 150+ coffins in 2006 when you had asked for 2.

David, I can't understand why you hat Turkey, your country of birth. The important thing was in 1974, that Greek army could not dare to fire a single bullet. That's the power.