It's the "Rocky Balboa" theory of victory: If I am still standing at the end of the fight against a superior opponent, that is a victory. That was the claim of Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War and now of Hamas in Gaza.
While it is true that in both wars Israel did much more damage to the other side, it is also true that no knock-out blow was delivered. The reason is the same in both cases: the government of Israel (more or less the same government in both wars) had no intention of doing what needed to be done to knock out either Hezbollah or Hamas. In both cases, Israel won the round on points, but everyone knows there will be another round. And another. And another. Until Hezbollah and Hamas are beaten so badly that can't afford to try again. Just like has happened with Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Here, the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh attempts to
dispels exaggerated Hamas victory claims:
Hamas's claim that it has emerged victorious from Operation Cast Lead is reminiscent of the fiery statements of Ahmed Said, the famous Egyptian radio announcer who, during the Six Day War, continued to report the fictional downing of dozens of Israeli warplanes after Israel destroyed the Arab air forces.
Listening to the commanders of Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, who held a press conference in Gaza City on Monday, one is left with the impression that it was the Israelis, and not the Palestinians, who suffered thousands of casualties and lost nearly half of their weapons during the war.
Hamas's claim that the movement lost only 48 of its gunmen and that the IAF had used half of its ammunition in air strikes on the Gaza Strip is not being taken seriously by many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Nor are many Palestinians taking seriously Hamas's claims that its men destroyed 47 tanks and armored vehicles, killed 80 IDF soldiers and wounded hundreds of others.
BUT:
A veteran Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip said that he does not believe that anyone would ever be able to find out exactly how many gunmen Hamas lost during the fighting...
The journalist quoted a top Hamas operative as saying that Hamas lost less than 10 percent of its weapons and ammunition in the past three weeks. "Despite the severe blows, Hamas remains as defiant as ever and it's believed that they still have a lot of weapons," the journalist said...
One medic said he believes at least 250 Hamas militiamen died in the fighting, while a journalist put the figure at over 400...
Hamas alone has about 25,000 gunmen and policemen in the Gaza Strip who are well-trained, highly-motivated and strictly-disciplined. About half of the gunmen belong to Izzadin Kassam, while the rest serve in different security branches, including the much-feared Internal Security Service...
Hamas believes that it won the war not only because its men "defeated" the IDF... but also because the movement is still in power despite the massive military operation and the heavy damages and losses it incurred.
But because these two goals were not achieved - and are unlikely to be achieved in the foreseeable future - Hamas will continue to celebrate its purported victory until the next round of fighting.
Got that? If Hamas lost 250, or 400 or 1000 of its 25,000 gunmen and police, that is still a small fraction of its manpower. And it will take years to find and destroy all their weapons. So Hamas, like Rocky Balboa, will certainly be able to fight another round, presuming that this one is actually over.
It is ironic because the Rocky Balboa approach has long been the consolation that Jews take regarding our many enemies in the past: Yes, they rose up and did much harm to the Jews, but the Jewish people ultimately survived long enough to see the fall of those same enemies.
Now it is the hope of radical Islamics that they will keep fighting and surviving long enough until they ultimately win over Israel.
Perhaps they should study history a bit better. They might then realize it will probably be the other way around.
