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<p align=center style='text-align:center'><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><b><font size=5 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Israel</span></font></b></st1:place></st1:country-region><b><font
size=5><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'> Must Win</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><em><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>"You Cannot Promise Victory, Produce a
Humiliating Defeat and Stay in Power"</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>By GILAD ATZMON </span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The ceasefire in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region>
was holding by a thread last night after <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> sanctioned a commando raid
in the east of the country. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General,
said <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
had violated the truce, and he was 'deeply concerned' about it.” - The
Guardian<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><b><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>08/22/06 --</span></font></b> For those familiar with Israeli aggression,
the IDF violation was no surprise at all. For a week or so, every Israeli
cabinet member and military official promised publicly that it is just a
question of time before there is a ‘second round’. Indeed, they
must come up with something. Since the end of the hostilities, all Israeli
political analysts and polls suggest that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s political and
military leadership failed completely. If elections were to be held soon, both
Labor and Kadima would simply disappear. It is no secret that with each passing
day, Olmert’s and Peretz’s popularity continually slumps to new
lows. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City></st1:place>
Post. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One may
wonder whether the Israelis are changing their spots, do they stop approving
Olmert’s policies just because peace is what they really prefer? The
influential political commentator Ari Shavit provided an answer two weeks ago.
Mr Olmert, so he says, had ‘failed shamefully’ and should resign.
Shavit continues, "You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory,
produce humiliating defeat and remain in power." As I mentioned more than
once before, the Israeli politician has to cope with a demanding, bloodthirsty
crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
realisation throws some light over the reasons behind the failed Israeli
operation in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>
just three days ago. Israelis are simply desperate to win. But it may also
explain why Israeli government decided to expand its military operation pretty
much at the same time it accepted the UN ceasefire resolution<a
href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/"><b><span style='font-weight:
bold;text-decoration:none'>.</span></b></a> Olmert knew that he must serve his
voters with what they interpret as a clear-cut victory. This would mean either
some severe form of revenge with lots of Arab casualties or a significant land
invasion. Olmert, his ‘national unity’ government and the army
leadership have to do something that would cover up four weeks of disastrous
military campaign that failed to serve the Israeli public with even a single
second of glory. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Indeed, the
IDF military offensive doctrine is grounded on one basic axiom that was defined
by David Ben Gurion in the early fifties: whatever it takes, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> must always win! This axiom
is indeed very powerful, yet, in reality, the Israeli army can’t provide
the goods anymore. In the last three decades the Israeli army is constantly
being beaten time after time by enemies that are getting smaller and smaller. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Yet, one may
mention that the IDF isn’t very original in being defeated. The IDF fails
exactly where the American army has been failing since <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Shockingly, the IDF has
managed to copy every possible American mistake. It religiously adopted the new
American military philosophy of a ‘compact highly sophisticated fighting
force’. Undeniably, this very doctrine is very effective in producing
some gigantic collateral damage i.e., war crimes. Yet, in the long run, it
fails miserably in wining wars. The new American military doctrine may win a
battle or two but no more than that. In the most recent years it has been
totally beaten in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>, <st1:City w:st="on">Gaza</st1:City>
and obviously in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Though the
early stages of the Israeli campaign in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place> looked very much like the
first few days of the second Gulf War (major air assault on civilian
infrastructure and populated areas), there is at least one major noticeable
difference. While <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>
can stand and even ignore international criticism referring to its own war
crimes, it isn’t willing to suffer much international criticism for
Israeli atrocities. While in the early stages of the war America was rushing to
provide Israel with air convoys loaded with its most lethal conventional
arsenal, we have learned towards the last week of the war that the American
administration changed its mind, it suddenly refused to provide the IDF with a
shipment of cluster bombs because it “would endanger the civilian
population”. Seemingly, there is a limit to what the Americans are
willing to do for their ‘closest friend’ in the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle
East</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This is
exactly where the Israeli limbo is. In order to maintain its status as a
winning regional super power, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
needs the blind support of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>
(politically, financially and logistically). Yet American blind support can be
grunted to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
only if the Jewish State is indeed a regional super power to start with. Olmert
and his government are fully aware of this very complexity. They know that
without being a regional super power in the first place, they have nothing to
offer their almighty American brothers. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> is crucial for the strategy
of the Americans as long as it can wipe out all its enemies in six days at the
most. The way things appear now, the Israeli Army is basically defeated by the
two smallest nations in the Arab world, the Palestinian and the Lebanese ones. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As much as it
clear to the Israelis, it is clear to the Americans that unlike the bold
Hezbollah, the IDF soldier has lost his will to fight. The IDF is a spoiled,
confused and tired army that is specializing solely in terrorizing civilian
populations while being engaged in constant tactical withdraw. This Israeli
Army is not trained to win wars anymore. Instead, its tank battalions are
mainly engaged in daily shelling of schools and hospitals. Its Air Force uses
the best American fighter planes to flatten neighborhoods and shoot deadly
rockets at cars in the streets of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Gaza</st1:City></st1:place>.
Its command units are expert in abducting democratically elected middle-aged
Palestinian politicians. The IDF is basically a heavy army specializing in
merciless regional bullying. Yet, it cannot win a war, and as such it has
nothing to offer the American empire. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But the
Israeli military defeat has some further implications. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> without a victorious army,
has nothing to offer to world Jewry either. It can never present itself as the
ultimate cosmic Judeo bunker. It is pretty shocking to prospect the relative
silence of the infamous Zionist media shield. While just six weeks ago the loud
supporters of Anglo-American interventionism were still pushing for democracy
in the Arab world and beyond, they were enthusiastic about killing in the name
of human rights and about <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
being the only democracy in the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.
Somehow, since the war began, since <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> revealed once again its
murderous tendencies and Hezbollah proved to be the new Robin Hood, these
voices are caving in. Many among the global Zionists do already understand now
that the Anglo-American assault on the Arab world just suffered a major blow.
Some of them probably grasp that it is just a question of time before more and
more Europeans and Americans join the sacred battle against the Americanized Global
Zionism, i.e., neo-conservatism. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The recent
victory of the Hezbollah therefore must be realized as a major event with some
global implications. While the Hezbollah regards itself a paramilitary
organization concerned mainly with some local issues having to do with Israeli
expansionism, it has managed to cause a serious blow to neo-conservatism as a
political praxis as well as a philosophy. It has beaten the Zionized
Anglo-American worldview. Standing up to Zionism and Americanism, it is the
Lebanese, the Palestinians, the Iraqis, the Afghanis and the Iranians who
happen to be at the vanguard of the war for humanity and humanism. For those
who are yet to be convinced that this indeed the case, I will mention that the
fact that it is Iran who rushed to pay 3 billion dollars to rebuild Lebanon
after the destruction made by ‘American interventionism’ leaves no
room for interpretation. While <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region>
spreads destruction and death all over the world, it is <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iran</st1:country-region></st1:place> and the Hezbollah that offers
a new beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Olmert knows
very well that if <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
doesn’t win this war, it is global Zionism that is defeated, he knows as
well that without the backing of global <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Zionism</st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> is
basically a dead entity. Olmert knows that without <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region>,
it won’t take long before <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
turns into an historic event. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
will have to win its mighty regional power status whatever it takes. Israeli is
indeed in the very eye of the neo-conservative storm. And the Hezbollah is
threatening something far greater than just the Jewish State. As the Israelis
keep telling us, the fight in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>
will resume soon and every European leader knows it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm;
margin-left:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Even now,
they all know who is going to be the aggressor when violence spreads again in
the region. They are all clever enough to hesitate about whether they want to
send their soldiers to the region. They know that if <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> must win, it is better to
stay out of its way. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic'><br>
Gilad Atzmon</span></font></i></b></strong><i><span style='font-style:italic'>
was born in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and served in the Israeli military. He is the author of two novels: A Guide to
the Perplexed and the recently released My One and Only Love. Atzmon is also
one of the most accomplished jazz saxophonists in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>.
His recent CD, Exile, was named the year's best jazz CD by the BBC. He now
lives in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">London</st1:City></st1:place>
and can be reached at: <a href="mailto:atz@onetel.net.uk">atz@onetel.net.uk</a></span></i><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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