It sure takes a lot to get Israel's Prime Minister really angry.
And that, my dear friends, has been the crux of Benjamin Netanyahu's strategic problem ever since taking over as the leader of the Middle East's only democracy.
To put it bluntly, Bibi simply does not know how to get militarily angry.
Avigdor Lieberman does. So does Naftali Bennett, among other two-fisted Israeli politicians.
Unlike Netanyahu, who seems to have one eye on the EU and the other on the UN, the Leiberman-Bennett camp believe in a take-off on the Teddy Roosevelt "Speak softly and carry a big stick" military modus operandi.
What the Lieberman-Bennett strategy comes to simply can be called "Whack hard and then speak softly while the enemy is bleeding; hopefully to death."
During the second week of this latest Hamas War, Netanyahu appeared ready to let the Gaza terrorists have it with all guns blazing. "We're taking off the gloves," the Prime Minister threatened.
And to a certain extent he did. The IDF invaded Gaza and delivered a number of telling blows to Hamas. Tunnels were painstakingly detected and destroyed. Terrorists were killed and the enemy appeared backed into a corner.
But, when the first dust of a truce was declared, Bibi seemed to be wearing kid gloves rather than the necessary mailed fists.
Hamas may have hit the canvas but it bounced back with a venom. Rockets continue to pulverize the South but now salvos are coming in from Lebanon and Syria.
Israel should now raze Gaza, section by section, until -- as the Foreign Minister declares, "The white flag of surrender is raised by Hamas."
Until the enemy is forced by devastation to give up, the IDF must stop with the Mister Clean approach because that only encourages the terrorists.
Bibi has meant well, to be sure, but his strategy of gloves and mittens off just don't cut it with the bloodthirsty foe.
Mailed fists must be applied whether the EU or UN likes it or not.
And, hopefully, Hamas will not like it enough to end its murderous anti-Israel policies.
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