Liberty Maven

Expect a world-wide condemnation of Israel to erupt in response to the Israeli Air Force attack today across Hamas-ruled Gaza. If that outrage is to be valid, however, it should place equal blame on Israel and the Hamas operatives who have been firing rockets into Israel. Not because those rockets inflicted major damage to Israel, or constituted a clear threat to the state- they did not- but because they offered the rationale for the Israeli attacks. Without the Hamas rockets, which achieved next to nothing strategically for Hamas, the IDF would not have been in a position to attack Gaza, and they would not have done so. As things stand, the Hamas rockets and the Israeli response have gained nothing for either side except the ego gratification derived by small entities who start major conflicts. Hamas and the IDF have been, in this sense, partners, and it’s a safe bet that both Hamas and IDF insiders are pleased with the outcome.

What we need in international affairs are chess players, that is players who make subtle moves, or non-moves that constitute moves. One finds such a player in China. We are accustomed to attributing China’s current global prowess to its nurturing in recent decades of Chinese-style capitalism, but we can find instruction in an earlier Chinese coup, in the Vietnam War. North Vietnam defeated America in that war partly because China played chess instead of poker. China’s move, or non-move, was to not invade Vietnam in response to the American invasion. This one non-move was as important as North Vietnam’s resilience in securing the American defeat. We were so clearly the aggressor against a third world agrarian state that our military vulnerabilities were greatly compounded by overwhelming propaganda defeat, both domestic and international. By playing a smart game, China emerged without a debilitating war, which would have included American bombing, and with something of the sheen of victory.

This is the kind of strategy that Hamas should have pursued, and the rage of Gazans should be directed as much against their Hamas leaders as against Israel.