Nasrallah , the head of the Hezbollah promised to surprise Israel and indeed he presented it with some painful surprises. These surprises provide the Arabs with a reason to celebrate as victors. There are other surprises that most media will ignore but will register in the awareness of the intelligence organizations especially those of the Arabs and Iran.

Israel was considered as having a powerful military that can fight for a week or two and deliver a fatal blow to its rivals. Israel was not considered a nation that can stand a long war.

The war in Lebanon showed the IDF fighting for weeks at a very high intensity 24 hours seven days a week. The IDF suffered painful loses and its soldiers did not lose their desire to fight and win. The Israeli public suffered casualties and had to live in shelters for weeks and did not give up. The ability of Israel to stand the pressures of combat must have surprised Nasrallah and his operators in Teheran must have been surprised by the reserve soldiers respond to the call and their determination to rid Israel of the cancerous organization.

There is one thing Israel’s enemies were not surprised about. They knew that the Israeli government did not have the backbone to rise to the occasion and invest all that it takes to win decisively. They understood that the understanding of the international community to Israel’s needs had a short fuse and could reverse at any moment. The Israeli government allowed the opportunity to fizzle away and with it evaporated its deterrence factor.

The future will show that Olmert’s shortcomings will cost Israel dearly in the next round..