Between the Alleged Victory in Iran and the Eternal War in Gaza

Author: سليمان أبو ارشيد

Many military experts and analysts attribute the "success" in Iran, in contrast to the "failure" in Gaza, to the gap between the Israeli Air Force that fought in Iran and the ground forces (infantry and tanks) trapped in Gaza for nearly two years without being able to achieve the declared war objectives, and have only reaped death and destruction, which is also recorded in favor of the Israeli Air Force.

In this context, military analyst Amir Oren wrote that the success achieved against Iran highlighted the deep gap between the two armies that compose the Israeli army, the "strike force" and the "constant engagement force", noting that this same gap (the shortcomings of the ground forces) has deterred the Israeli army from launching a large ground attack and retaking control of Gaza until October 7. The air force, which he refers to as the "Israeli attack army", succeeded because it was properly prepared, while the "Israeli defense army" failed due to shortcomings in preparation and readiness.

The Israeli Air Force enjoys excellent human resources, in addition to abundant material resources, where the saying of the former Air Force commander Ezer Weizman, "the good ones go to the air force", is etched in the minds of Israeli youth, driven by the privilege they enjoy over other branches of the Israeli army and the social status they acquire. This preference has intensified the existing social gaps in the army and Israeli society between "Ashkenazim", "Sephardim" and other lower-ranking groups.

As is well-known, Israel invested in its Air Force since its early years and transformed it into a striking arm, through which it succeeded in winning the majority of its wars against Arabs and Palestinians. The first airstrike, which destroyed the Egyptian Air Force, decisively ended the 1967 war, which broke the back of the nationalist current led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. This arm also targeted and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, and the under-construction Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, up to the recent airstrikes carried out with American assistance on Iranian nuclear energy facilities, all of which are operations through which Israel eliminated what it considers a threat to its existence.

Zionism arbitrarily links the existence of Israel as a state with the existence of the "Jewish people", justifying, as is known, the establishment of the State of Israel as a life necessity for protecting Jews from extermination and the occurrence of another holocaust against them, with Israel viewing the air force as a symbol of power capable of providing such protection, to the extent that Thomas Friedman, in his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem", described Israel as a disaster museum (Yad Vashem) that has an air force.

However, conversely, Israel's reliance solely on the air force was one of the reasons for its failure in the October 1973 war, in which the participating Arab countries managed to have effective air defenses, as well as in the Second Lebanon War in July 2006, during which the former air force commander (Dan Halutz), who held the position of chief of staff, failed to win the battle from the air, and his forces suffered painful losses in the ground battle, a pattern that is now evident in Gaza as well, despite the brilliant success achieved by the air force in destroying stone and human flesh, as fighters continue to emerge from the rubble and inflict losses on the occupation army.

When Saroor Arti published an article titled "Army Above and Army Below" in Yedioth Ahronoth recently, he wrote that both the reasons for success and failure in Gaza and Iran go beyond preparation to reach the internal rift in the army, and the social gap that strikes Israeli society. He refers to a book by General Guy Hazut entitled "The High-Tech Army and the Cavalry Army", which clarifies the prioritization of the concept of the superior technological army over ground forces, which are asked to engage with the enemy in a less shiny manner and at a high bloody price.

In the Israeli army, two armies have emerged in the last decade, reflecting Israeli society, as Hazut says in his book released before October 7; the first reflects the bright Israeli face represented by renewal and creativity and the "start-up" nation, while the second reflects the true Israeli chaos and neighborhood culture.

It is no surprise that after the aggression on Iran, there was a flood of announcements celebrating the heroism of pilots and condemning statements made against them by ministers and members of the Knesset from the right-wing government coalition, following their signing of petitions opposing the judicial coup led by this government.