How to Lose a War

by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

(First published at Israelnationalnews.com)

For most of history, nations went to war, frequently and usually at the caprice of one man, but never without a strategy for victory. It was clear what victory entailed: conquest of the enemy’s territory and subjugation of its population. In ancient times defeat was often accompanied by the coerced renunciation of gods of the defeated enemy and its embrace of the victor’s culture. In more modern wars, the objective of World War II was the “unconditional surrender” of the Axis forces, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Many Allied soldiers died, and far more enemy civilians were ruthlessly killed, in order to achieve that goal of “unconditional surrender” rather than accept various offers of cease fires that would have left the Nazi regime in place and Japan’s emperor as ultimate authority.

Israel has never enjoyed such victories, firstly because its strategic goals have been more limited – and usually focused on survival. The War of Independence was successful because nascent Israel repelled numerous Arab invaders, retained most of the territory granted it under the UN’s Partition Resolution and even expanded beyond it. The Six Day War was arguably an unambiguous victory as well, given that another Arab invasion was successfully resisted, the biblical homeland of Israel was liberated, the Arab nations that invaded were sufficiently cowed at least for a few years – but mainly because Israel had no designs on Egyptian, Syrian, or Jordanian territory outside the boundaries of Israel. The notion of “unconditional surrender” had no relevance, as Israel was content to allow all Arab countries to exist as long as they allowed us to exist.

Wars that do not have the goal of “unconditional surrender” are almost by definition “limited” wars, and all subsequent conflicts have been such limited wars. Enemies attack, we defend. Enemies encroach on our land and commit acts of terror, we respond. Enemies fire rockets and missiles at our cities and we “mow the lawn,” deflate their military capabilities, and wait for the next round. We play this macabre game and never win.

There is a second reason why victory in any form eludes us. It is because the “international community,” which includes the United States, the United Nations, and most countries across the world, impose cease fires on Israel whenever victory is close – not even the success of “unconditional surrender” but even to save our enemies and allow them to fight another day. This is unprecedented, and uniquely applied to Jews.

Thus, the Yom Kippur War was halted with Israel on the march to Damascus, with a stronghold in Egypt west of the Suez Canal, and with the Egyptian Third Army surrounded in Sinai. Israel, under pressure, withdrew from Egypt and Syria, allowed the Third Army to escape, and wound up retreating from Sinai. Israel abandoned its positions in Egypt, while Egypt was not forced to vacate its captured land in Sinai. This was not just a stunning diplomatic defeat; it also enabled Egypt to claim victory in the war, which otherwise would have abruptly ended in a colossal failure.

Similarly, the various incursions into Lebanon from the 1970’s through 2008, always ended with cease fires that left the PLO intact, Arafat still functioning, terror just moments away from recurring, and Hezbollah ascendant and gloating. The Ehud Barak-led flight from Lebanon in 2000 catapulted Hezbollah to dominance in Lebanon; Barak’s brazenness in remaining in the public eye, aggressively and abusively, his craving to be taken seriously as a commentator and social agitator, are unusually impertinent illustrations of chutzpah. The Olmert-Halutz catastrophic handling of the 2008 Lebanon War – including the unconscionable deaths of Jewish soldiers fighting for territory that would be abandoned the very next day as part of the cease fire – would be disqualifications for either person to be taken seriously but for the utter shamelessness that today pervades public life.

Israel’s historical handling of Gaza has been just as ineffective. For decades, there was never any intention to prevail, to subdue the enemy, and to conquer its territory. All the skirmishes, culminating in the current war, have ended inconclusively, with forced ceasefires. The obvious consequences of this policy are before our eyes: Gaza and Lebanon are powder kegs waiting to explode – and Israel is on the verge of succumbing yet again to a global demand for a cease fire that will yet again save its enemies.

How does one lose a war? This is how:

• A nation states and restates its military objectives – such as defeat of Hamas and its liquidation as a military and political force – and then gradually abandons them under pressure.
• A nation makes bold pronouncements – “no food or fuel in Gaza until the hostages are release” or “no aid through Ashdod or Erez” – and then under pressure allows food and fuel to resupply our enemies, and then accepts it as its responsibility to resupply its enemy. 
• A nation can lose when on its own accord it halts the battle when it has momentum and then informs its enemy in advance where it is next attacking, which gives the enemy time to regroup, rebuild, replenish, and re-strategize.
• A nation can lose when it suddenly adopts the bizarre notion that the fate of enemy civilians is the “top priority” in war – and especially when such risible ideas emanate from diplomats who care not a whit about Israeli civilians in captivity, Israeli civilians who were brutalized in their homes, and Israeli civilians who have spent months dispossessed of their homes.
• A nation allows another country with similar but not identical interests (like the United States) to micromanage the war in terms of goals, tactics, location, timing, and weaponry.
• A nation worries more about the welfare of enemy civilians than about the lives of its own soldiers.
• A nation, shocked by the appalling invasion, murder, abuse, kidnapping, and humiliation of its citizens, allows its righteous anger to dissipate, and instead begins to listen to intellectuals and novelists about how a cease fire will improve its international image.
• A nation’s media gives prominence to those voices that insist that “total victory” is impossible.
• A nation allows the defeated hostile population to remain, which enables them to prepare an insurgency campaign that will cost the lives of its soldiers and sap the spirit and will of the people.
• A nation allows disgruntled supporters of opposition parties to riot, protest, threaten, and intimidate, which encourages the enemy to believe that Israel’s society is at war with itself, collapsing from within, and cannot possibly prevail in this conflict.

And this is what defeat looks like:

• Six months after the start of the war, there are still enemy rockets and missiles falling on Ashkelon, the communities around Gaza, and in the north.
• Tens of thousands of Israelis cannot return to their homes.
• A “cease fire,” which leaves Hamas in power, a return to the status quo ante, and preparation for the next wave of missile attacks, terrorism, and response.
• The release of terrorist murderers in return for freedom for innocent hostages, which only precipitates the next round of kidnappings – for which the enemy laughs at us and pays no price.
• Israel, despite its efforts to avoid collateral damage to enemy civilians, is becoming a world pariah, whose elected government is reviled and whose internal politics are considered appropriate for world intrusion, intervention, and meddling.
• The enemies who attacked us have the world’s sympathy, and we are the world’s villain.
• The enemy leaders gloat at their successes and are considered worthy interlocutors by diplomats and other hypocrites.

I still remember when Israel was the envy of the world because of our steadfast claim that “Israel never negotiates with terrorists” and surrenders to their blackmail. Wow, that was a long time ago, for now most of what we do diplomatically is surrender to terrorists and their blackmail.

Victory is going to require more than slogans that “together we will win.” The anarchists who have been allowed to take over our streets and highways in the last year in violation of the law, and who have resumed their violent demonstrations, would rather see Israel defeated or stalemated, and certainly if a victory helps the Prime Minister remain in office.

It is time we realize what victory does look like and try to achieve it. The world hates us anyway, will not have greater love for us if a cease fire is imposed tomorrow, and, in any event, has more respect for winners than for losers. It is not too late to achieve victory but our goals must be clear. The cardinal sin was succumbing to the obsession with the welfare of the enemy civilians – yes, those who supported, participated in, and rejoiced over the rapes, murders, and abductions of October 7. Pursuant to (the farce known as) international law, the Gazan civilians had a legal right to “safe passage” out of a war zone. They were denied that right, not only by Egypt but also by the world community that sees Gazans as an indispensable entity for the continued war against Israel.

We should be advocating for that right to free passage – and doing it in every television interview and every diplomatic exchange. We should prioritize the release of our hostages and tie it directly to the provision of humanitarian aid. We should reject with contempt the hypocrisy of nations who wage war, kill civilians, and see no need to apologize for it (see United States, Kabul, August 28, 2021, 10 civilians killed including 7 children, with denials that continued for weeks, and with a Biden apology to the world yet to be offered).

And then we should finish the job. Victory entails full control over the conquered territory which can never again be used as a launching pad for terror against Israel, an enemy population that leaves because it wants to leave, sees no future for itself in that land, or is encouraged to leave because its opposition to the Jewish national idea is implacable.

We need to remind ourselves of the fundamentals of Jewish destiny that should determine our statecraft. We have returned to the land that G-d granted our forefathers after we forfeited it due to our misconduct. Our generation was blessed to be the beneficiaries of the prophecy of ultimate return. For thousands of years until today, we have been accused by our enemies of being “robbers,” stealing other nations’ land (Rashi, Breisheet 1:1). That has not changed, and we should not expect it to change anytime soon; but it also requires us not to internalize that false indictment and pretend there is some way we can persuasively defend against it. That charge is built into the history of the world and of the Jewish people, a ubiquitous reminder that we must be worthy of this land, permeate it with holiness, sanctify it with mitzvot, and defend it for the honor of G-d and two millennia of Jews who could not defend themselves and suffered the predations of the precursors of all our enemies today.

Even in these difficult and perilous times, we should count our blessings, among which are the knowledge we have of how wars are lost – but also how wars are won, and how victory in this conflict will have positive ramifications in many spheres, and for years to come.