Israel Cannot do a Donald Rumsfeld

Some historical lessons are better not to be repeated

There is still time to prepare for the future (Licensed Image)

A military ground offensive conducted by the Israel Defense Forces within the Gaza Strip will face enormous challenges, predicted General David Petraeus.

In an interview on POLITICO’s Power Play podcast, Petraeus cautioned that such an operation would likely extend over several years and entail extremely intense combat. The former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency likened a potential IDF land invasion to a scenario akin to the

“Mogadishu incident on an amplified scale.”

He referred to the events of 1993 in which three American Black Hawk helicopters were shot down in the Somali capital, leading to a harrowing urban conflict as American forces struggled to rescue the survivors of the crashes. Petraeus emphasized that the IDF would face a comparable challenge when operating on the ground in hostile territory.

But this is only one part of the problem.

We can divide the challenges Israel faces into three different parts

1. Before the ground invasion of Gaza Strip (which is where we are at the moment)
2. During the ground invasion of Gaza Strip (This is the period General David Petraeus is…