In trying to look at an overall picture, Israel was shocked on October 7th in the most tragic of all circumstances. Even if much of the fault lies with many of the leaders of the military and intelligence, Netanyahu still is the commander in chief of the Military, and therefore bears ultimate responsibility for what transpired. 

Nevertheless, there has never been a war that one country fought on seven fronts simultaneously as effectively as Israel had to after October 7^th. The conventional wisdom was that Israel would do everything it could to contain it’s battles with Hamas to the southern front. It did not want to have to split it’s Army into two – south and north. This was especially the case as the Hezbollah to Israel’s North posed a massive threat with more than 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel.

In the end, Israel had to face attacks from Hamas in the South, Hezbollah in the North, Syria on its northeast border, Iraq to the east, Yemen to its southeast, and of course – Iran. Israel, due to much of the Army and Intelligence, effectively repelled the attacks from Iran and dismantled most of Iran’s missile defenses in a follow-up attack. This crippling combo will probably be studied for decades.

But the beeper operation in Lebanon against the Hezbollah, an operation that has been in the works for around a decade, is the jewel in the crown of Israel’s recent clandestine operations. In one fell swoop, Israel decapitated nearly the entire Hezbollah leadership. This placed Hassan Nasrallah in an impossibly secluded position without any support from his senior leadership. Then Israel simply needed to decide if it would be best to rid the world of this terrorist or wait a bit. Once the die was cast, and Nasrallah as eliminated, the entire northern border of Israel was changed. Israel took over another critical part of the Hermon mountain range, but it dominates much of Lebanon and Syria, thereby greatly enhancing Israel’s control over its enemies. 

One day, i believe everyone will see that this was one of Israel’s most successful wars in its history of fending off its enemies despite October 7th.