Did Israel Win?

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. Jeffrey Goldberg and the Powerline guys don't agree on many things, yet they've joined in linking to the Jackson Diehl column at the Washington Post, Israel's Gaza vindication.

The point, however, is that Israel has bought itself a stretch of relative peace
with Hamas, just as its costly 2006 invasion of Lebanon has produced three years
of quiet on that front. From the Israeli perspective, a respite from conflict is
the most that can be expected from either group -- or from their mutual sponsor,
Iran.

Actually, as I've described in the past, the reprieve may prove to be more than merely a lull in violence. Israel's various anti-missile systems are all approaching the point of operative depolyment. Should they succeed at the task they were designed for, Hezbullah and Hamas may have whiled away their chances to inflict serious harm. I'm not saying they won't devise new ways - of course they will. They're miserable at giving their people better lives, but they'll always figure out innovative ways to hit Israel. Still, each week of calm is a week closer until those systems are deployed.

It's nice the Israeli perspective is gaining traction at the Washington Post.