There are currently two wars going on involving Israel and Hamas. The war we all see here in America is the propaganda war. As always, Israel is at a severe disadvantage in that war because the world’s media (including social media) side with the people who are murderously antisemitic, misogynist, homophobic, anti-Christian, anti-American, and anti-Western. However, the war that we don’t see is the actual war, the one that involves boots on the ground. Regarding that war, Israel is achieving an impressive victory.

Colonel Richard Kemp is a rare bird: A former British Army officer who is not blinded by hatred for Israel. Indeed, he’s long respected the fact that Israel, unlike her Arab opponents, tries to fight a moral war. To this end, Israel focuses on military objectives and, despite her opponents draping themselves in civilians for protection, Israel does everything she can to limit civilian casualties, even if that means putting her own troops at risk or losing the element of surprise before an attack.

In the case of the current war, Colonel Kemp has ignored the propaganda noise because he recognizes it for what it is and, instead, has focused on Israel’s military achievements. According to him, Israel is fighting an incredibly efficient war that is overwhelming Hamas defenses and achieving its objectives.

Colonel Kemp notes that the US military told Israel that a large campaign would be a bloodbath for the Israel Defense Forces because of the nature of urban warfare. Indeed, as I look back at the Iraq War, it’s easy to see why the US military might think that.

Image: A tunnel entrance in Gaza. X screen grab.

After all, urban warfare against terrorists hidden amongst civilian communities—with many of the civilians supporting the terrorists—was a nightmare for American troops. The two Battles of Fallujah were some of the hardest fought battles in American history, with the six-week-long Second Battle of Fallujah being the bloodiest battle for American troops in that entire war. There was every reason to think IDF troops would face the same in Gaza…only worse, given that Hamas is a death cult, whereas Saddam Hussein’s troops were more ordinary Islamic fighters.

What’s happened in Gaza has been different, reports Kemp:

The IDF has exceeded even its own commanders’ expectations with the speed and the extent of Hamas’s destruction. It has encircled Gaza City and is assaulting terrorist strongholds, killing large numbers of fighters including key commanders, smashing command posts and gaining valuable intelligence, while its forces have sustained fewer casualties than anticipated.

Kemp explains that this is exceptionally impressive given that Hamas had turned Gaza into one giant booby-trap, and that’s not even counting the rabbit warren of tunnels underlying Gaza. When it comes to those tunnels, though, the IDF is destroying them without entering them, damaging Hamas capabilities while protecting its own fighters.

Hamas, by contrast, is not doing well:

Just as Hamas almost certainly exceeded its own expectations in its initial assault, it probably also underestimated the ferocity of Israel’s response. Although the IDF hasn’t yet located and killed the top level terrorist commanders, there are signs that Hamas is now under enormous pressure. Rocket launches from Gaza are at the lowest level since the war began, and Hamas leaders are reportedly pleading with Hezbollah in Lebanon to mount sustained attacks to divert the IDF’s attention.

With its spectacularly successful October 7 raid on Israel, Hamas may have bitten off more than it could chew. It expected that Israel, as always, would respond with a few targeted strikes, destroy a neighborhood or two, and give it the gift of propaganda photos showing dead children. It never expected that Israel would have reached its breaking point and determined that its survival required destroying Hamas once and for all.

The faster Israel wraps up the war that she’s winning, the more quickly the propaganda war—which she is losing—will end. What’s happening is also an excellent reminder that, as my father, a veteran of WWII (the Royal Air Force, where he was essentially an infantryman) and the Israeli War of Independence, always said, “You have to fight a war to win it.”

Wars fought with limited objectives tend to be wars without end, because the wise enemy, realizing that you are halfhearted, will fight whole-heartedly. That’s been the case for fifty years when it comes to Israel and her enemies. Now, though, at long last, she seems to have figured out that your enemies will not love you more if you fight them less.

Bonus video:

Difficulty Level: Israel pic.twitter.com/v9MOJOyKQx

— Dani Buller (@askdani__real) November 9, 2023