"The Shahid Is Not Only The Individual, But The Regime Itself." Maybe.

So writes Amnon Rubinstein in The Jerusalem Post:

This may sound like an extreme conclusion but, as Ari Bar Yossef, retired lieutenant-colonel and administrator of the Knesset's Security Committee, writes in the army journal Ma'arachot, such cases of Islamist national suicide are not uncommon. He cites three such examples of Arab-Muslim regimes irrationally sacrificing their very existence, overriding their instinct of self-preservation, to fight the perceived enemy to the bitter end.

• The first case is that of Saddam Hussein, who in 2003 could have avoided war and conquest by allowing UN inspectors to search for (the apparently non-existent) weapons of mass destruction wherever they wanted. Yet Iraq's ruler opted for war, knowing full well that he would have to face the might of the US.

• The second case is that of Yasser Arafat in 2000, who after the failure of the Camp David and Taba talks had two options: continue talking to Israel - under the leadership of Ehud Barak, this country's most moderate and flexible government ever - or resort to violence. He chose the latter, with the result that all progress toward Palestinian independence was blocked. The ensuing loss of life, on both sides, testified to Arafat's preference for suicide over compromise.

• The third case is that of the Taliban. Post-9/11, their leadership had two options: to enter into negotiations with the US, with a view to extraditing Osama bin Laden, or to risk war and destruction. The choice they made was obvious: Better to die fighting than to give up an inch.

In all three cases, the conclusion is plain: prolonged war, death, destruction and national suicide are preferable to peaceful solutions of conflicts: Dying is preferable to negotiating with infidels. The same conclusion, of course, is applicable to the Palestinians voting for Hamas and its suicidal path, and to Iran's decision to confront the Security Council in its insistence on acquiring nuclear weapons.

Maybe.

Or maybe we have 3 cases where the Muslim world underestimated whether a democracy--the US or Israel--had the stomach to react militarily to provocation. We have already seen Nasrallah admit to a similar misjudgment in its war with Israel 2 years ago.

And given examples in history such as the Iranian hostage crisis and the appeasement of Middle East dictators by the US--not to mention Israel's reluctance to do what it has to do in Gaza--such a misjudgment is understandable. And may yet be justified.

Hand in hand with their exaggerated sense of the timidity of democracies is our sense of the resoluteness of the Muslim world to sacrifice itself no matter what the cost in order to defeat the infidel. Let's not forget that some of those who scream the loudest about their willingness to die for the cause are still alive, sending others on suicide bombings while their children are safe.

And how does the average Palestinian Arab feel about all this?

Check out Israel Matzav's post: 50,000 Arabs have left Gaza since last June.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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