Terrorism is a good strategy in some situations, such as getting rid of foreign occupiers. I suppose it could work whenever the objective is clear and the enemy is capable of making the change desired. In those cases, terrorism is a rational, albeit horrible, strategy.
But how could terrorism wipe out Israel?
The citizens of Israel don’t consider themselves visitors. They can’t “go home.” So how can terrorism ever succeed in that particular case?
Imagine a worst case scenario where terror weapons become so effective that Hamas and Hezbollah can literally make Israel uninhabitable. The residents of Israel pack up and become refugees. The Palestinians go skipping into Israel and settle into their new homes that were, in some cases, their old homes. What happens next?
If you guessed radical ex-Israelis would start using terrorism on the residents of New Palestine, you would be right. It’s a certainty, especially if the tools of terrorism are so good that they are capable of depopulating a country. It wouldn’t require many angry ex-Israelis to once again depopulate the entire country through terror.
Surely any form of terror that is effective enough to cause all Jews to leave Israel would be good enough to cause any future residents to move too. You have to wonder if Hamas has thought it through.
I think Israel’s best strategy would be to label their current conflict a “War on Stupid.” It wouldn’t be a racist thing, because it only applies to the people who think Israel can be wiped out by terror and replaced by Palestinians who would live in peace. By any objective measure, that’s stupid.
Sometimes labels change reality because they change how we think of things. Imagine if the captured terrorists in Israeli prisons were forced to wear dunce caps and write essays on their theory of how terrorism could “wipe out Israel.” After they write the essay, assuming they directly answer the assignment question, they are released without serving any further time. Israel could publish the essays so everyone can get a good chuckle out of them. I think it would make terrorism less glamorous.