NAPOLEON WON the battle of Waterloo. The German Wehrmacht won World War II. The United States won in Vietnam, and the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Zealots won against the Romans, and Ehud Olmert won the Second Lebanon War. You didn’t know that? Well, during the last few days the Israeli media has paraded a long … Read more
EHUD OLMERT has found a convincing proof of his great victory over Hassan Nasrallah: “I am touring the country freely while Nasrallah is hiding in his bunker!”It is said that “the style is the man,” and by these words Olmert shows his quality (or lack thereof). At the moment, dozens of Israeli airplanes and helicopter … Read more
A STORY has it that Oscar Wilde once attended the premiere of a colleague’s play and every few minutes raised his hat. When asked about this odd behavior, he replied: “I am a courteous person. I raise my hat when I meet an old acquaintance.”If I wore a hat, I would have to raise it … Read more
WITH A few words, a Lebanese army officer destroyed, the day before yesterday, the illusion that Israel had achieved anything in this war.At a televised Lebanese army parade that was also broadcast on Israeli TV , the officer read a prepared text to his assembled troops, who were about to be deployed along the Lebanese-Israeli … Read more
THIRTY THREE days of war. The longest of our wars since 1949.On the Israeli side: 154 dead – 117 of them soldiers. 3970 rockets launched against us, 37 civilians dead, more than 422 civilians wounded.On the Lebanese side: about a thousand dead civilians, thousands wounded. An unknown number of Hizbullah fighters dead and wounded.More than … Read more
SO WHAT has happened to the Israeli army?This question is now being raised not only around the world, but also in Israel itself. Clearly, there is a huge gap between the army’s boastful arrogance, on which generations of Israelis have grown up, and the picture presented by this war.Before the choir of generals utters their … Read more
TODAY, THE war entered its fifth week. Hard to believe: our mighty army has now been fighting for 29 days against a “gang” and “terrorist organization”, as the military commanders like to describe them, and the battle has still not been decided. Yesterday, military sources in Israel announced that 400 of the 1200 Hizbullah “terrorists” … Read more
FOR ME it was a moment of shocking revelation.I was listening to one of the daily speeches of our Prime Minister. He said: “We are a wonderful people!” He said: We have already won this war, it is the greatest victory in the history of our state. He said: We have changed the face of … Read more
THE DAY after the war will be the Day of the Long Knives. Everybody will blame everybody else. The politicians will blame each other. The generals will blame each other. The politicians will blame the generals. And, most of all, the generals will blame the politicians. Always, in every country and after every war, when … Read more
IT IS the old story about the losing gambler: he cannot stop. He continues to play, in order to win his losses back. He continues to lose and continues to gamble, until he has lost everything: his ranch, his wife, his shirt. The same thing happens in the biggest gamble of all: war. The leaders … Read more