A dangerous beast.

While the world watches, Israel is preparing to go into the Gaza Strip after an horrific aerial bombardment which killed 2300 Palestinians, but its war aims are as murky as those of the Hamas attack for which the Israeli attack is being launched. One motive which is not realized is that of revenge. It is not so much revenge for the killing and kidnapping of Jews, but revenge for the way that the Israeli Defence Forces were unable to prevent those attacks, having their defences overwhelmed by the original Hamas attack, and by the intelligence failure made evident by the surprise achieved by the Palestinians.

The IDF has great influence within Israel, because of the universal conscription, which means that everyone has served before the colours. Another effect has been that military men have often made a career in politics, and three former chiefs of defence staff (or heads of the Israeli IDF) have even become prime minister. Indeed, even now, one of the members of 'war Cabinet' created by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is Benny Gantz, a former chief of defence staff.

One of Israel's problems is that the 'war' is asymmetric. After all, it is not against a state. The previous wars Israel has fought have all been against states. This war is against Hamas. This means that formulating war aims is that much more difficult, because it is engaged in what is essentially a police action.

In 1967, Israel fought the Six-Day War, which was almost ideal, in that it ended in Israel occupying the Sinai Desert from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and handing out a defeat to the Arab countries. In 1973 it is true that the Egyptian forces broke through the Bar Lev Line, the fortifications erected by the IDF, then under the command of Lt Gen Haim Bar Lev in the Sinai.

True, the Egyptians did not do all that well, but the doggedness with which its forces resisted the Israelis at the Chinese Farm redeemed something of the military honour they had lost in 1967. Though Egypt had achieved strategic surprise, at the end of the War, they had not lost all their gains in the Sinai, but they had not been able to stop Israeli armour from crossing into the Egyptian mainland and poising itself to reach the Nile. However, one view is that the 1973 War led to the Camp David Accords, when Egypt exchanged land for peace, getting back the Sinai in exchange for recognising Israel.

One of the consequences of the current invasion has been to expose all the governments of...