It often happens to men as they get on with age that they
look back at the ideas to which they held dearly, and wonder if they were not
at times thinking the wrong things. I believe that Victor Davis Hanson is going
through such a period, expressing his sentiments sotto voce by adopting the
method used by superb writers who also have a flair for the drama – of which he
is one. Instead of making a direct confession that might compromise him while
still alive, he tells of seeing the light to future generations so as to clear
his conscience and affirm his shift.
He does that in the article he wrote under the title: “Sherman in Gaza ” which also
came under the subtitle: “His march through Georgia
has been gravely misunderstood – as has Israel 's
strategy in Gaza .”
It was published on August 20, 2014 in National Review Online. As evident from
the title and subtitle, Hanson is drawing a parallel between the strategy
employed in Georgia by
William Sherman 150 years ago, and the one employed in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) more
recently.
On the surface, Hanson appears to be saying that Sherman did what he had
to do given the difficult conditions under which he operated, and so did the
IDF. This makes them both misunderstood even hated by others, says Hanson, but
that was acceptable to hem because what they were out to accomplish was more
important than the image which they knew people will form of them. However,
buried in the 2,000-word essay are clues that tell future generations he did an
inversion by speaking of Sherman not as an
avatar of the IDF but one representing the commanders of the Gaza fighting force.
Seven times in the article, Hanson uses the word humiliate
or a derivative of it to describe what Sherman
was trying to accomplish. It was “central to his mission,” says Hanson. Well,
an army such as the IDF, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons produced
by America (the superpower of the day) and reputed to be superior to all its
neighbors put together, does not get into the business of humiliating a ragtag
guerrilla army of kids fighting with bare hands, bare feet and where possible,
a suicide belt. On the contrary, if humiliation is to happen, it will be that
the kids will have managed to humiliate the super military that the IDF is
supposed to be.
This being the most telling clue by which Hanson means to
say that the commanders of Gaza have been the modern Shermans while the IDF and
all of Israel have been the modern plantationist class, he went on to say that
“war … was not a struggle between militaries so much as between the willpower
of entire peoples,” which echoes almost verbatim what the Palestinians have
been saying about themselves all along.
Another telling clue is based on the fact that the Gaza commanders
repeatedly rejected the ceasefires which did not contain a provision affirming
that they will not lead to a “negotiated ... meaningless armistice.” These
being words out of Sherman 's mouth, it is as if
he was reincarnated in the form of a Gaza
commander.
And in the same way that Sherman wanted to remind “the
Confederacy it could not stop a Union army from going pretty much where it
pleased,” the Gaza commanders wanted to remind the Israelis they could not stop
them from reaching anywhere in Israel with their dug-by-hand tunnels, and reach
anywhere by air with their homemade and their smuggled rockets. What a
wonderfully matching parallel!
Like Sherman who “derided the mythography of the Southern
'cavalier' class,” Gaza has shown the world that the IDF can only kill women
and children with pilots flying advanced warplanes equipped with smart bombs;
and with a land army that displays its manhood by remaining hidden in a tank or
an armored vehicle when facing a Palestinian kid who is not even armed with a
pistol. Gosh, what a denigration of the IDF!
And like Sherman who said: “Fear is the beginning of wisdom”
for which Hanson says he earned the reputation of being “a terrorist,” the Gaza
commanders scared the Israelis enough, not because they are terrorists but
because, as Hanson describes them by pretending to describe Sherman using these
words: “not so much a killer as an avatar of ruin and humiliation,” since his
aim was to “instruct the civilian” population that “War is hell.” And those Israelis
learned the lesson.