How long can Israel keep this up?

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Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[1] fair use.

Quite a long time ago—it’s been decades—I read a book, which I’ve long since completely lost track of, which explained about “terrorism” and asymmetric warfare. I have not since seen anything to refute the following takeaways:

So-called “terrorists” resort to “terror” when they feel they have nothing left to lose. It is desperation that produces “terrorism.” It means we have pushed people too far.
“Terrorists” defeat technologically and quantitatively superior forces because colonizers have difficulty distinguishing between indigenous civilians and indigenous fighters in communities where the civilians are often sympathetic to the fighters. Eventually and almost inevitably, public opinion will tire of the conflict or the colonizer will commit an outrage against civilians and public opinion will compel withdrawal.

My dim recollection is that the book focussed on the Algerian revolution against France but as the death toll in the Israel-Hamas War surpasses 20,000,^[2] for an increasingly doubtful outcome,^[3] the lessons clearly apply to Israel in Palestine.

A third lesson might be that colonizers never learn.

Summer Said, Margherita Stancati and William Mauldin, “Hamas Rejection Sours Israeli Bid to Revive Hostage Talks,” Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-offers-one-week-cease-fire-in-exchange-for-more-hostages-336ae59a

Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel is struggling to destroy Hamas, but it’s destroying Gaza,” Washington Post, December 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/20/israel-battlefield-gaza-defeat-hamas/

Julian Borger, “US says it is ready to support amended UN resolution aimed at boosting aid to Gaza,” Guardian, December 21, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/22/un-security-council-resolution-boosting-aid-gaza-usa-america-support

Louisa Loveluck et al., “The case of al-Shifa: Investigating the assault on Gaza’s largest hospital,” Washington Post, December 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/21/al-shifa-hospital-gaza-hamas-israel/

Paul Rogers, “Israel is losing the war against Hamas – but Netanyahu and his government will never admit it,” Guardian, December 21, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/israel-losing-war-against-hamas-netanyahu-idf

Robin Stein et al., “A Times Investigation Tracked Israel’s Use of One of Its Most Destructive Bombs in South Gaza,” New York Times, December 22, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-bomb-investigation.html

Adam Taylor, “More than 20,000 dead in Gaza, a historic human toll,” Washington Post, December 22, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/22/gaza-israel-war-20000-dead/

Patrick Marley, “Donald Trump is barred from Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot, the state Supreme Court rules,” Washington Post, December 19, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/19/trump-off-colorado-ballot/

Nick Coltrain, “Colorado’s Trump ruling sets off political firestorm, raising legal stakes and putting state at center of debate,” Denver Post, December 20, 2023, https://www.denverpost.com/2023/12/20/donald-trump-colorado-supreme-court-ballot-ruling-political-fallout/

George T. Conway, III, “The Colorado Ruling Changed My Mind,” Atlantic, December 20, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/dont-read-the-colorado-ruling-read-the-dissents/676920/

Chris Geidner, “Colorado high court rules Trump is disqualified from being president, cannot be on ballot,” Law Dork, December 20, 2023, https://www.lawdork.com/p/colorado-high-court-rules-trump-is

Ruth Marcus, “The Supreme Court should toss the Colorado case,” Washington Post, December 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/20/colorado-trump-ballott-supreme-court/

Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, “Trump’s lawyers tell Supreme Court to stay out of immunity dispute in 2020 election case for now,” Associated Press, December 20, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-jan-6-special-counsel-feb63a4ce7a807c11b523ded62a42881

Rachel Weiner, “Judge says Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million judgment immediately,” Washington Post, December 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/20/giuliani-judgment-pay-immediately/

Craig Mauger, “Trump recorded pressuring Wayne County canvassers not to certify 2020 vote,” Detroit News, December 21, 2023, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/21/donald-trump-recorded-pressuring-wayne-canvassers-not-to-certify-2020-vote-michigan/72004514007/

^[1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[2]Adam Taylor, “More than 20,000 dead in Gaza, a historic human toll,” Washington Post, December 22, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/22/gaza-israel-war-20000-dead/↩
^[3]Paul Rogers, “Israel is losing the war against Hamas – but Netanyahu and his government will never admit it,” Guardian, December 21, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/israel-losing-war-against-hamas-netanyahu-idf; Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel is struggling to destroy Hamas, but it’s destroying Gaza,” Washington Post, December 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/20/israel-battlefield-gaza-defeat-hamas/↩
^[4]Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater, “All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators,” New York, August 25, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-mug-shot-gallery.html ↩

Irregular Bullshit

How long can Israel keep this up?

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

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