A few comments on the just-ended war in Gaza and how it has and will effect our relationships with Europe, with Hamas and with each other.

By far the most important lesson from this war is that Israelis have the will and the ability to fight and fight well. This war showed that many of the weaknesses exposed by the Lebanon fiasco have been addressed. Also, whether or not Rachel Imeinu actually showed up to give combat tips, this war will -- in retrospect -- come to be seen as a salient step in the ascendancy of traditionalism as the cornerstone of a new Israeli ethos. (Ironically, the imminent demise of sectarian Religious Zionist politics is another key step in this ascendancy; more about this another time.)

In terms of its impact on Hamas, it obviously would have been better if we bombed them until they cried Uncle. We could have made a laundry list of demands including the release of Gilad Schalit, the beginning of the disbanding of UNWRA and so on. But, the truth is that that was never a realistic goal and further fighting is unlikely to have achieved it. A realistic goal that was not achieved, and for which we will pay a huge price, is retaking the Philadelphi route. This was a blunder, plain and simple. Other than that, the war restored our deterrence and destabilized the Hamas regime in the long run. My guess is that we will not be seeing many rockets for a good while now. (I hope tomorrow's headlines don't prove the foolishness of publishing predictions.)

On the diplomatic front, a few good things and a few bad ones. The bad ones all are closely tied to our Foreign Minister being a complete moron. The main culprit in the events that made this war inevitable is Egypt, which aided and abetted weapons smuggling into Gaza from the beginning. But instead of shouting this from the rooftops and taking measures to pressure Egypt into allowing others to prevent smuggling, our Foreign Ministry allowed Egypt to take center stage as peacemaker and negotiator. In the end, as many times before, Livni placed her faith in worthless paper and photo-ops for preventing smuggling from Egypt into Gaza instead of ensuring a physical presence on the border that might actually achieve this. (Olmert had a moment of pleasure at her expense when he sent her off to the U.S. to sign a meaningless document so that she'd miss the press conference where he declared victory.)

The good development on the diplomatic front is the one that, to my amusement, gets most people of good will rather exercised. Europeans (and Jewish apostates) are truly threatened by our moral superiority. The obviousness of this superiority so frightens them that they twist themselves into pretzels trying to level the playing field. Trust me, friends, you needn't shout yourselves blue in the face explaining that the goyim wouldn't set up humanitarian corridors for their enemies' benefit in middle of a war. For God's sake, who knows this better than them? They are the Goyim; you think they don't know what goyim would and wouldn't do? The more hysterically they try to tear us down, the more certain you can be that they get the point.

All I want from the Europeans is that they fear and respect us. That roving band of clueless European Ministers posing for photos today wasn't here after Lebanon, if you know what I mean. Fear and respect.