Netanyahu and Clausewitz
Alon Pinkas invokes Clausewitz to ask whether Israel had a strategy or clear objective in attacking Gaza, as the outcome — strengthening and legitimizing Hamas and weakening the Palestinian Authority — seems detrimental to Israel’s interests.
Carl von Clausewitz's famous aphorism that "War is the continuation of policy by other means" is a valid and appropriate, if grossly over-used, quote to begin any analysis of any war or limited military operation.
In the case of "Operation Pillar of Defense" in Gaza, there is another, perhaps more relevant, quote from Clausewitz's On War:
If war is part of policy, policy will determine its character. As policy becomes more ambitious and vigorous, so will war, and this may reach the point where war attains its absolute form. ... Policy is the guiding intelligence and war only the instrument, not vice versa.
Apparently either Clauswitz hadn't heard of Israel and Gaza (which may be forgiven) or Israeli decision-makers haven't read Clausewitz (which is harder to forgive), and it seems that the "vice versa" Clausewitz cautioned against prevailed in Israeli decision-making.
