Biden's words to Israel were wise

President Joe Biden was speaking from experience when he sympathised with Israel's feeling of rage at the atrocities and massacres caused by Hamas nearly a week ago but then urged them not to let that rage consume them. He was thinking of 9/11. He is right. Every military decision taken by Israel's government in seeking revenge on Hamas has to be tempered by a full awareness of what can be achieved by a ground-force invasion. Rage will not help to achieve results, it will only lead to higher casualties and possibly failure. Israel has every right to punish Hamas for what happened last week but the Tel Aviv government should beware of four-star generals who promise to obliterate Hamas. One retired four-star general, American, not Israeli, has warned of the consequences of a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza. General David Petraeus who commanded US and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan learned first hand how difficult it is to fight a counter-insurgency war. He warned that Hamas would resort to suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices and all the paraphernalia of a homegrown terrorist organisation which knows its urban territory, above and below ground, better than any foreign forces ranged against them. This is what the Israeli military will face if they invade Gaza. After the atrocities, there was so much rage in Israel that an invasion must have seemed like the only solution. But a rushed operation could be fatal. Biden's wise words should be taken into account.