“Can we say this is the greatest victory in the history of the State of Israel?” This is what a host on Israel’s Channel 12 asked retired Israeli army General Giora Eiland — father of the so-called “Generals’ Plan” to starve and ethnically cleanse Gaza’s northernmost cities — some two hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took effect on June 24. Eiland was modest. The victory in the 1967 war was bigger, he reassured the anchor, but this was certainly a tremendous achievement.
As someone old enough to remember the euphoria following the 1967 war, I can’t deny the echoes between the Six-Day War and this “12-Day War” with Iran: the same collective relief that a perceived existential threat was supposedly eliminated, the same disdain and mockery directed at the enemy’s performance, the same overwhelming pride in Israel’s military prowess — paired with the belief that such a victory secures the country’s future for decades to come. ….more