We conquered, expelled, killed, blew up, crushed, eliminated, and we failed. So once again into the breach
So now what? Another operation and war? And again? And again? And again? And what?
By Kobi Niv • Translated by Sol Salbe
Since the outbreak of Zionism more than a century ago, Jews began to immigrate and invade, arriving in what was called Palestine on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. They called the place the Land of Israel. The Palestinians, whose home it was, understood that the Jews intended to establish a “National Home” for themselves here at their expense. We, at first as the “Yishuv” and its undergrounds, and then as the State of Israel and its army, have been waging a bloody and unceasing campaign against them, which is still around in all its glory and horror.
It’s a history which includes hundreds and thousands of military operations and expulsions and massacres and killings and demolitions and shelling and bombing and assassinations and whatnot. And all this led to nothing, but only to the continuation of wars and battles and operations and destruction and death, until “total victory” or, as we say in Hebrew, until the coming of the Messiah. Whichever comes first. And neither of those will never come. So here is a tiny short sample of some of our wars and military operations over the past 100 years, which have brought us to the present time, which is not all that great:
Before the establishment of the state, for example: in 1938 a bomb in a market in Jerusalem killed 18 [Palestinian] Arabs, including six women and three children; 43 Arabs were killed in an explosion in a market in Haifa; 24 Arabs were killed a blast at the market in Jaffa. In 1939–20 Arabs were killed in when a bomb carried by a donkey exploded in a market in Haifa.
The operations of the War of Independence in 1948–49 included those named after [overwhelmingly Biblical] individuals such as Abraham, Gideon, David, Yoav, Yuval, Yoram, Yael, Isaac, Moses, and Samuel, and also those with very explicit names such as Iron Fist, Removal of Leaven, Slice off [Batek], Annihilate, Eradication, Siege, Death to the Invaders, Broom, etc.
In any case, the main operation and goal of the war was the Nakba — the expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from the territory of the Jewish state that was established and the destruction of over 500 of their villages and towns.
This was followed by dozens of reprisal operations in the years 1951–6, the most notorious of which was Operation Shoshana in which an Israeli Defence Force unit, commanded by a future Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, raided the Palestinian village of Qibya on the West Bank [then controlled by Jordan] and blew up the village homes with their inhabitants — elderly, women, and children. The then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion lied and denied that the IDF carried out the operation.
Then came the Sinai War of 1956 (Operation Kadesh) 1956, which included the massacre in Kafr Qasem, where 47 Palestinian Israeli citizens, men, women, and children, were murdered by IDF and Border Police soldiers.
There were also operations between the Sinai War and the Six-Day War in the years 1956–1967, most of which, for some reason, were named after birds — Yargezy, Bluejay, Woodpecker, Swallow, Kingfisher, and Shrike.
And then came the miraculous Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel completed the occupation of all of mandatory Palestine — the Jordanian West Bank and the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip. And even after signing peace agreements with these two countries, Israel did not return the territories it had conquered from them, but kept them in its hands, while the Palestinians living in them have lived since 1967, for almost sixty years now under a regime of Israeli military occupation and continuous killing, destruction, and plundering.
Even between the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition, in the years 1967–69, operations did not cease, including Operation Avuka [Flare] (the bombing and destruction of the oil refinery and port in Suez), Operation Tofet [Inferno] (the failed Battle of Karameh), and Tshura [Payback] (the operation to destroy MEA planes at Beirut airport ).
Even during the War of Attrition from 1969–1970, operations were plentiful: Amha 1, Assuta 12, Bulmus 5, Bulmus 6, Bustan 22, Bustan 25A, Bustan 37, Bustan 38, Bustan 39, Kitan 10, Kalachat 2, Shiar 265, and even Tarnegol [Rooster] 53. The most well-known operations between the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War from 1970–3 are Aviv Ne’urum [Spring of Youth], in which three senior officials of the PLO were assassinated in Beirut, and of course the rescue operation of the passengers of the hijacked Sabena plane in Lydd/Lod.
After that, the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973 with almost 3000 Israeli fatalities.
Among the operations between the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War from 1973 to 1982 were Operation Opera (the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor), Operation Yonatan (Entebbe airport), Operation Litani (the invasion of southern Lebanon), and Ma’alot (the failed rescue of school children taken hostage).
Then came the First Lebanon War (Peace for Galilee) in 1982, a strategic, military, and political blunder of Defence Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Begin, culminating in the massacre in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, carried out by the Christian Phalangists, under the command of the IDF.
The most notable operations between the First Lebanon War and the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon leading up to the Second Intifada from 1982 to 2000 include Operation Displaying a Purpose (the killing of Abu Jihad in Tunis), the failed rescue operation to save the kidnapped soldier Nachshon Wachsman, Operation Venomous Sting (the kidnapping of Mustapha Dirani from Lebanon), Operation Handsome Youth (the kidnapping of Sheikh Ubayd from Lebanon), Grapes of Wrath, Wooden Leg (the IAF bombing of PLO headquarters in Tunisia), and Night Hour (the killing in Lebanon of Hezbollah’s then-secretary Abbas Musawi, who was replaced by one Hassan Nasrallah).
The most memorable operation during the Second Intifada in 2000–2005 was Operation Defensive Shield.
Even between the Second Intifada and the Second Lebanon War in 2005–2006, we did not skimp on operations: First Rain, Summer Rains, Bringing the First Fruits, Southern Arrow, Lightning Strike, Blue Skies.
And then, in 2006, the Second Lebanon really arrived.
And here we also have a selection of good operations between the Second Lebanon War and the Iron Sword War in the years 2006–2023: The Four Species, House of Cards, Home and Garden, Closed Garden, Returning Echo, Sad Melody, Black Belt, Iron Law, Warm Winter, Shield and Arrow, Northern Shield, Lightning Strike, Cast Lead, Breaking Dawn, Pillar of Defence, Olive Branches, Tropical Fruits, Protective Edge, The Smell of Pines, Brother’s Keeper, Breakwater, and Guardian of the Walls.
And here we come to the Iron Swords war that began in 2023 and would continue until further notice.
So we conquered, expelled, destroyed, killed, slaughtered, blew up, smashed, bombed, stopped, eliminated and failed. All the wars and battles and the exalted glorious operations that we conducted did not benefit us at all, and although our military might grew to a seemingly mighty power; our security, personal and national situation deteriorated and degenerated to the point of abandonment. So now what? Another operation and war? And again? And again? And again? And what?
