Yuval Steinitz knows more about Israel’s military than most anyone in Israel.  He’s the former head of the Knesset Defense Committee and for years met with the top Israeli military leaders about its preparedness for war. 

For example, he and members of his committee met with IDF officials about a possible war on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah.  He warned the IDF that beating the Hezbollah and its thousands of missiles by air power alone was impossible.  He also warned that the impact of not eliminating those rockets in the initial stages of a future war would be disastrous.  He said the cost would be huge in terms of both money and morale.  

CBN News talked to him about the warnings he gave the IDF over the past several years; his predictions came eerily true.  He said the Hezbollah rockets would paralyze one- fourth to one- third of Israel’s economy and that’s exactly what happened.  Hundreds of thousands of Israelis fled northern Israel, the major port of Haifa was brought to a stand still and Israel seemed impotent in the face of this missile menace. 

He also said a massive ground operation was what was needed to eliminate the dangers of Hezbollah rockets.  Israel launched that massive ground operation in the final days of the war but it was far too late to eliminate the threat of Hezbollah rockets. 

Stienitz says the biggest lesson Israel needs to re-consider after its inability to eliminate Hezbollah is its “culture of war.”  By this he means that during war Israel has historically tried to destroy the capacity of its enemy to wage war.  He notes this was the doctrine used by Ben Gurion in Israel’s 1948 War for Independence and by Ariel Sharon in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. 

In both cases, Ben Gurion and Sharon tried to destroy the Egyptian army’s ability to wage war against Israel.  However, in the recent war, Steinitz says Israel fought like it was trying to score points in a boxing match than going for the knock out punch.  With such an inconclusive outcome to the war, he believes it’s only a matter of time before Israel will face the same enemies on the battlefield.