Beware the Backlash

Even in the wake of a horrific attack, support for Israel will be short-lived, as we watch an immutable rule of war demonstrated yet again.

Bottom line upfront, as they taught us bright-eyed young infantry officers in Building Four in what is now known as Ft. Moore, GA:

In asymmetrical warfare, where the two combatants have mismatched degrees of materiel might, it is standard for the insurgent force to carry out heinous acts of barbarism that provoke a draconian reaction from the more well-resourced side.

The purpose of this approach is two-fold.

The first is to attract the attention of the besieged party, and wider world, even if that reaction is horror and condemnation.

The second is to bring on a backlash that ultimately benefits the original attacker.

Hamas’s shocking attack on Israel of last Saturday, October 7, is a textbook example. The brutality of the attack — elderly Holocaust survivors in wheelchairs taken hostage, beheadings of children, bodies dragged through the streets, and more — has been widely reported. No matter what the political agenda, these are acts of pure evil: war crimes, irrespective of who committed them, or for what cause. It’s difficult to see how that helps Hamas, or its global approval rating.