Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Anan 7: You realise what you have done?
Capt Kirk:Yes, I do. I’ve given you back the horrors of war. The Vendikans now assume that you’ve broken your agreement and that you’re preparing to wage real war with real weapons. They’ll want do the same. Only the next attack they launch will do a lot more than count up numbers in a computer. They’ll destroy cities, devastate your planet. You of course will want to retaliate. If I were you, I’d start making bombs. Yes, Councilman, you have a real war on your hands. You can either wage it with real weapons, or you might consider an alternative. Put an end to it. Make peace.

Star Trek A Taste of Armageddon 1967

In the final volume of Shelby Foote’s three volume series there is a very telling post war story.

aboard a Chesapeake bay steamer, not long after his surrender, the general [Joe Johnston] heard a fellow passenger insisting that the south had been “conquered but not subdued.”  Asked in what command he had served, the bellicose young man — one of those stalwarts later classified as “Invisible in wr and invincible in peace” —- replied that ,  unfortunately , circumstances ha made it impossible for him to be in the army .  ” Well sir, I was, Johnston told him.  “You may not be subdued, but I am.”

This illustrates a very important point, until the rise of Grant and Sherman an outnumbered south fought long and with some success against a better armed and supplied enemy.  It wasn’t until they faced Grant who was willing to keep going in the face of massive casualties and Sherman whose philosophy of combat was:

We can’t change the hearts of these people of the south but we can make war so terrible … [and] make them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.

that the south eventually fell, and even that took a full year of hard fighting.  But when it was done slavery was confined to the dustbin of American History, not because southern leaders like Alexander Stephens or Howell Cobb no longer believed in their right to hold slaves it but because the population that they persuaded to go to war to preserve it (and until you read the newspapers of the time please don’t start the “secession not slavery” argument)

And that brings us to the situation in Israel today:

For the last couple of weeks the citizen of the Jewish state have been regularly attacked by Palestinian who have deliberately targeted the population.  Israel’s ambassador to the UN put it very well:

Mr. President,
Over the course of the last month, 24 terror attacks have claimed the lives of 8 Israelis, and injured 70. 15 of them are still hospitalized. This tide of terror has washed over the entire nation and it spares no one: Young and old are being targeted every day.

Israelis do not feel safe walking down the street, they avoid taking the bus to work, and they fear for the lives of their children every time they walk out the door.

The root cause of this wave of terror is clear. It is inflammatory rhetoric and lies lit the fuse, and incitement that keeps feeding the flames.

The Israeli people have responded by arming themselves, the media  has responded with yet does of moral equivalency and in all the nonsense but within that noise is a hidden gem that Israel needs to take to heart:

But what does seem guaranteed is that most Palestinians will continue to believe that if the occupation is cost-free, there will be little incentive to end it.

While Nathan Thrall’s words have been correctly identified as BS there is a critical point that needs to be understood by Israel.

The Palestinian authority has absolutely no incentive to ease up on Israel.

They continue to receive funding, they continue to live easy and their leaders believe that thanks to western pressure they will remain untouched.

The history of the Arab wars against Israel has been a history of the west saving the arabs from destruction as Israel pounds them.  The only reason why Damascus is still in the hands of Syria and the Suez Canal is in the hands of Egypt is because outside pressure stopped it from happening.

But the dynamic today is different.

With the changing demographics and the dechristianization of the west, plus the sheer fear of the muslim populations within their borders the simple fact is that there is no action that the Palestinians can do that will draw the condemnation of the west.

Contrariwise  we have reached the point where if even shooting an active attacker by Israel is, in the eyes of any journalist not named Jake Tapper is an action to be condemned.

That changes the arithmetic for Israel much in the way Lincoln saw it.

After the disaster at Fredericksburg Lincoln commented if the battle was repeated everyday for a week with the same casualties the North would have a huge army and the southern army would be gone, as he put it:

No general yet found can face the arithmetic, but the end of the war will be at hand when he shall be discovered

Israel need to look at the arithmetic and simply say “enough” no more negotiation, no more fancy conferences, no more dinners.  Israel needs to annex the west bank, and give those living there a choice.  1.  become full citizens of Israel, 2.  sell their land to Israel and leave, or remain on a special lifetime visa which can be revoked if they aid or abet any terror activity.

The Palestinian “leadership” need to know that their meal ticket that is making them and their cronies rich is gone and the world needs to be presented with a fait accompli.

The Palestinians want war, give it to them.

The world will scream, the world will shout and there will be protests but the bottom line is the citizens of Israel will be safe in their own country.

This arithmetic has been true for a while but I suspect with this latest attack we’ve finally reached the point where Israel is finally ready to face the arithmetic.

and perhaps some day a arab student who has spent a lifetime in the west will be sitting next to Abbas on a plane and declare that the Palestinian will never be subdued and he will answer “You may not be subdued by I am.”

That should be Israel’s war aim.

Update: Case in Point via instapundit:

How does CNN report a near massacre of Israeli children? “Palestinians shot boarding kids’ bus”

While millions tune in to Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony, CNN’s ticker continues to display the outrageous headline from earlier today where they reported on the Palestinian terrorists who tried to enter a children’s school bus to carry out a horrific terror attack this morning. The Palestinians were shot before carrying out the potential massacre – somewhat of a miracle in and of itself.