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While the Israeli PR spin machine goes into overdrive to make us believe that Israel's vast destruction of Gaza is in self-defense, this analysis is typical of the thinking of Israel's elites. Note the cold reference to terrorizing the population as a political tool! The problem is that a regional superpower like Israel has infinitely more terror capacity than any terrorist organization.
Israel, meanwhile, can pressure Hamas and Egypt by terrorizing the population. In Operation Accountability in 1993, the IDF rained 24,000 shells on southern Lebanon, driving 300,000 civilians toward Beirut. The chief of staff during that operation was Ehud Barak.