On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization

by Douglas Murray

In fact, while the Israeli Air Force began carrying out targeted strikes against Hamas positions inside Gaza within a week of the 7th, major ground operations did not begin until the 27th. Shortly after they had begun I sat down in Tel Aviv with a retired IDF general who had been involved in the “conception” and in planning for such an eventuality in Gaza. I asked him why it had taken the IDF such a long time to go in. Would it not have been better to go in immediately and to try to chase after the Hamas terrorists right away? He was adamant that this would have been wrong. He was one of the architects of the plan that was currently unfolding. He said that if they had gone in straightaway they would not have known exactly where they were going and they would have lost many soldiers. The fighting would have been chaotic. He insisted that the IDF needed the weeks after the 7th to get its plan in order, train for the specifics of the operation, and ensure that the response was as clinical and precise as possible.