International Military Experts Agree: Israel is Exceptional

Israel’s uniqueness is what renowned military analysts John Spencer, Richard Kemp and Andrew Fox marvel at as they attempt to compare the IDF and the Gaza war to other armies and other conflicts. In so doing, they use phrases like, “There’s no conflict to which to compare this one in the annals of urban warfare.” Or, “No army has ever gone to such lengths to limit civilian casualties.” And, “We’ve seen tunnel warfare, but nothing of the kind the IDF has conducted in a subterranean city of terror tunnels stretching over 400 miles [644 km.].”

The Double Standard

These experts point to a nagging double standard when it comes to the many ill-informed pundits and politicians who seem more interested in blaming the Jews than in constructively critiquing Israel’s military and humanitarian actions in Gaza. Fox, Spencer and Kemp argue that this allows critics to hold Israel to a standard to which they would not hold any other nation. Such duplicity is, in the least, grossly unfair, and at the most, darkly antisemitic. However, it will always be applied to Israel for something the Jewish state cannot escape: they are truly exceptional.

Because of God’s choosing, Israel is uniquely called. Owing to the Jews’ regathering from all the nations of the earth, Israel is uniquely constituted. Given that her ancient homeland is claimed for Allah by the jihadists, Israel is uniquely targeted. And since Jew-hatred hides in the hearts of so many Western elites, Israel is uniquely delegitimized.

Lessons Learned

When authorities like Spencer, Kemp and Fox examine this singular nation for its military capabilities and conduct through the lens of Israeli exceptionalism, they end up teaching the nations invaluable lessons. Consider this sampling.

Israel is in an existential fight for its survival: The great powers mostly only know wars of choice that serve their economic interests abroad. In contrast, Iran is committed to the destruction of Israel and has been manipulating its jihadist proxies encircling the Jewish state for decades toward that end. 

Israel’s battle lines are the frontline of the West’s defense against global jihadism: Israeli military operations against Iran’s nuclear capabilities and ballistic missile systems were highly successful strategic victories for the West. The IDF-led defense against the most massive long-range missile onslaught of all time set records not likely to be broken.

The only way to achieve lasting peace is through overwhelming military pressure: Although the experts have varied on how far to press militarily before negotiating, they have agreed in principle that Israel should not succumb to massive international pressure for a premature ceasefire.

Charges that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza are wholly unfounded: Genocide requires specific intent to destroy a people, and that has never been stated or demonstrated either politically or militarily. If Israel’s intent was genocide, it could simply carpet bomb instead of fighting door-to-door, losing hundreds of its young men. Moreover, they would not have administered vaccines to children or facilitated over two million tons of humanitarian aid to the Gazans.

Hamas, not Israel, is to blame for Gazan civilian casualties: When international bodies, including the UN, amplify Hamas’s propaganda that blames the Jews, they only embolden further terrorist intent.

Noncombatant casualty figures reported by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry are supremely unreliable: Focusing the media on civilian losses is integral to Hamas’s successful strategy of “information warfare.” Judging a war by raw casualty ratios without context, is a deliberate distortion of international humanitarian law.

Israel has failed to fight effectively against Hamas’s propaganda strategy: Over the past two years, Israel has fought successfully on seven battle fronts yet has lost the battle of public opinion on what can be considered the eighth front of the war. This has led to international isolation, a decline in global support and a spike in antisemitism.

A new approach to Gaza’s future is needed: Eschewing the futile two-state solution as a fatally flawed collective model for a clan-based culture, they advocate exploring a “United Palestinian Emirates” system integrated into the Abraham Accords, with Arab state involvement in reconstruction and the IDF maintaining overall security control to prevent future losses.

We Expect More of Israel 

Yes, because Israel is unique, we really do expect more of her. No, not in the “blame the Jews” way that political pundit meant it, but in the way God fashioned her to be different from all other nations. While it is unfair and even antisemitic to single Israel out for criticism, it’s going to be the norm from a world that perceives Israel as exceptional but can’t understand why, that it is God’s choosing to have a land and people of His own for His plan of redemption and ordering of the nations of the earth.