Know thy enemy

It is clear to everybody that Hezbollah overplayed their hand. Even Hezbollah officials have admitted they did not expect Israel to respond to their aggression as it has.

So why did Hezbollah make such huge error? I think it’s because they believe their own propaganda and lies.

One of the basic rules in a war or conflict is to “know thy enemy.” But Israel’s Islamic enemies don’t know what makes Israel tick; they are ignorant of Jewish history, and they are unaware of the psychological impact of anti-Semitism, or the Holocaust, which they deny occurred.

The result is an inability to gauge how Israel will respond to threats. They taunt Israelis with threats of annihilation, never appreciating that Israel is not some demonic caricature, but a real living and breathing society that has already suffered genocide and will never let it happen again.

Many Muslims might believe that Israelis are pure evil, but Israelis don’t wake up in the morning feeling illegitimate or evil. And now that Israel’s population centers are being targeted by an openly genocidal terrorist army supported by Iran and Syria and cheered on across the Islamic world, Israelis are going to defend their homes. Because that’s what this war is about: defending Israel from pure aggression. There is no “occupation” that the Lebanese can point to; this war is the result of Israel’s audacity to simply exist at all. All Israelis are united the likes of which we have not seen in decades. Israel might be demonized and seen as a villain by much of the Islamic world, but this is reality, not the twisted dreams of religious fanatics, and the Israelis are not going to get defeated like the villain in some movie.

Why do so Muslims have no clue about Israel and Jews? Because to try to have a rational and sober understanding of Israelis and Jews and Jewish history means placing yourself in somebody else’s shoes—and when that happens, there is a chance you might come to a more nuanced understanding of the Jews. In other words, you can’t feel good about annihilating an entire society made up of millions of men, women and children if you can see their humanity, or maybe even learn about their history and understand why there is an Israel. No, in order to steel oneself to commit genocide, you have to dehumanize your enemy. But as I pointed out, in doing so you fail to “know they enemy” and the result is that you miscalculate, as the Arabs have done so many times before.