On paper, Israel could destroy Hamas and Hezbollah. Wars, unfortunately, are not fought on paper.

A friend sent me a Hezbollah video. The first thing I can say is that they need a new music director for their social media propaganda. The video is clearly a drone’s eye view of its approach toward an Israeli tractor, where it detonates to the side and toward the bottom of the tracks. Thank God, the soldier driver was unharmed. This is the second such video he sent me, as he previously sent one filmed by Hamas of an RPG hitting the antenna in front of the cab of a different armored tractor and thus exploding outside of the personnel area. For many, war is not some abstraction but is quite real.

The reality is that Israel could wipe out both Hamas and Hezbollah. If she could drop 18,000 munitions on Iran in only a couple of weeks, she could do the same on its more local enemies. The problem is not one of firepower or military capability. The problem is one of perception. If Israel really wanted to destroy Hamas, it could bomb Gaza in a Dresden-level attack. Thousands upon thousands would be killed, civilians and terrorists. That would be the only way to militarily defeat Hamas and its ancillary terror associates. Ditto for Lebanon. If you are okay with southern Lebanon looking like Berlin in May of 1945 or Tokyo a few months later, then Israel could get the job done. But in reality, she cannot even suggest doing the job as it needs to be accomplished.

Since World War II, the overriding rule in international conflicts has been hygiene. General Curtis LeMay burned 60 mostly wooden Japanese cities to the ground. He joined General Leslie Groves in dropping two atomic bombs. In one night in March 1945, LeMay’s B-29s burned a quarter of Tokyo and killed 100,000 Japanese. Even with all the destruction, it was........

© Townhall