In all probability, one day Yahya Sinwar came across these three sentences:

“You can kill ten of my men for every man of yours that I kill. But even with these numbers, you will lose and I will win.” – Ho Chi Minh

“Our goal was not to destroy the US army, but to break the government’s will to continue the war.” – Vo Nguyen Giap

“America has lost because of its democracy: through dissent and protest it has lost the ability to mobilise the will to win.” – Bui Tin

Sinwar probably took notes.

Western attrition

Nothing that happens today was unpredictable. Even before I was born, Western public opinion had already eroded the strategic hold of the United States from within. After the Tet Offensive, which was not a military defeat, America began to retreat anyway, overwhelmed by internal attrition, a defeatist youth and even an army with an alarming rate of drug addiction.

Later, I saw Spain abandon Iraq after the al-Qaeda attacks. And finally, the ultimate paradigm: the withdrawal from Afghanistan. A war that began with unanimous acclaim and ended under the weight of selective reporting, intermittent indignation and one-sided humanitarian rhetoric. In the end, when the Americans left, the same public opinion that demanded withdrawal demanded explanations for the abandonment.

Everything already seen. All already written.

The Israeli exception

But today there is one variable that many, perhaps in good faith, continue to ignore: Israeli public opinion, and Jewish public opinion more broadly, does not function according to the same codes. It does not orient itself to trending topics. It does not break with ease.

On the contrary: it strengthens itself under attack. And it has learnt, over millennia, that surviving requires a will stronger than the judgement of others.

The full stop

Therefore, while thanking those states that chose to recognise Palestine, thus transforming Yahya Sinwar into a new Carlo Cattaneo and on 7 October into the Five Days of Milan, and while congratulating those exemplary citizens who shout ‘Free Palestine’ in order to feel morally absolved while also physically attacking Jews as such, it is good to make a point: it will not work.

In the meantime, sit down and buckle up.