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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-771242
Israel's Sensitivity to IDF Casualties
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Why did Israel let Hamas build up a terrorist empire? Why did Israel allow Hizbullah to build up an arsenal of 130,000 missiles in Lebanon and sit right on the border and peer into Metulla? The answer is the fear of losing soldiers. Israel has a tremendous sensitivity to fallen soldiers. Their smiling faces are featured on the front pages of newspapers, their funerals are broadcast on the television news, and their friends and relatives are interviewed on the radio. Because a large percentage of the population has loved ones somewhere in harm's way, almost everyone can put themselves in the shoes of the families of the fallen. Israel avoided going into Gaza at full throttle in the past to avoid casualties. It avoided going into Lebanon and pushing Hizbullah far beyond the border to avoid casualties. IDF casualties in Lebanon numbered between 16 and 22 annually from 1985-2000. In both cases, Israel withdrew soldiers from buffer zones it had created to defend civilians, only to find that as a result of these withdrawals, civilians in both sectors were left horribly exposed. According to Udi Lebel, a researcher at Bar-Ilan University's BESA Center for Strategic Studies, things are different this time. If Prime Minister Netanyahu would have initiated an action into Gaza two months ago to dismantle Hamas, there would have been rigorous protests both in Israel and abroad, with critics saying that war was unnecessary and that Hamas could be contained. But once Hamas carried out its barbarous attack, once this war was foisted on Israel, once it became clear that the soldiers were fighting to literally protect their homes, it made it easier for the country to absorb the losses because there was a purpose to them.