The "Broken Window Effect" in War

Mr Bisharat has written an unbelievable column based on half truths. The fact is that the nations surrounding Israel have the declared goal of the complete annihilation of Israel. This tiny nation is in a death struggle against Muslims who though weak are dedicated to death.

Why doesn't Israel have the right to fight a declared war the way wars have been fought in the past: the goal in any war is TO WIN. You don't win by fighting tit for tat - you destroy your enemy. Why do Israelis have to live with the constant lobbing of bombs on their cities? I say NO MORE. If this was happening to America we would go all out to kill and destroy the enemy. The fact is that Bisharat's hatred of the Jews comes shining through and WSJ should be ashamed for having printed such a diatribe.

Israel has the right to live in peace and harmony among the nations of the world. If the enemy refuses to live like civilized human beings then the Israeli government has the right and the DUTY to protect its citizens. The fact that Israel has a superior army is not an argument for not fighting to the finish. Wars are never won with half hearted attempts. This just emboldens the enemy. Unfortunately Israel not only has this military struggle to win but the court of public opinion is always against them - why is that? Any country under attack has the right to fight to end and win decisively once and for all.

The "broken window effect" which was used to describe the detioration of a neighborhood if nothing was done to fight the small acts of crime can be applied to armed conflicts. If you allow one bomb to explode you give the enemy a kind of sanction by not defending yourself with total moral certainty. Half hearted attempts at armed struggle have never resulted in won wars. Our efforts in WWII was an all out fight to the death. And we were brave to do the ultimate act of dropping the atom bombs. It makes no difference to the dead whether they died by a bullet or by a bomb. But by this action it showed the Japanese that the we would not tolerate anymore killing and invasion - and the war ended. Note that the Japanese proceeded to become one of the great industrial nations among nations! They learned their lesson.

An important overlooked aspect of this conflict is the fact that it is incumbent upon the civilians to demand from their political leaders civilized behavior by ending war and putting in place institutions that promote freedom of thought, speech and action that is critically missing in the Muslim world. Israel as well must no longer tolerate anymore hostilities by their neighbors once and for all. (WSJ).