By Gilad Atzmon

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman announced yesterday that he was resigning as defense minister and called for the government to be dismantled and new elections held.

Liberman said his decision followed Tuesday’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Liberman’s action was essentially an open admission that Hamas had won the latest round of violence. “What happened yesterday, the ceasefire, together with the deal with Hamas, is a capitulation to terror. There is no other way of explaining it,” Liberman told reporters on Wednesday.

Liberman has harsh words for the IDF as well. “What we are doing right now is buying quiet for a heavy price with no long-term plan to reduce violence toward us...To put it lightly, our response was drastically lacking to the 500 rockets fired at us.”

But, in truth, the Israeli military doesn’t have a military solution to Israel’s security problems. The IDF cannot win a war with either Hamas or Hezbollah. This may explain PM Netanyahu’s frequent confrontations with Syria and Iran: winning battles against sovereign entities may simply be more achievable for Israel and its Lobby than quelling unruly freedom fighters.

When it comes to Hamas and Gaza, Israel’s elected government comes short of setting military objectives. In this light, the IDF and the Israeli government are left with one option only: capitulation.