"Third, in the past, whenever Israeli aggression was proceeding well, most of its Western and Arab government supporters would delay any attempts to impose a ceasefire. The opposite is true this time. The Egyptian and Turkish Presidents as well as the Qatari foreign minister are rushing to negotiate a ceasefire that will rescue Israel from its current predicament. Ever since war in 2006 during which Hizbullah rained missiles on Israel and defeated the invading IDF on the ground in South Lebanon, Israel has been desperate to get its deterrence capabilities back. In fact, if one of the goals behind the latest and largest joint military exercise with the United States, Austere Challenge 2012 was to send a message about the high “state of readiness” to Iran, then they might need a re-do! If the overwhelming Israeli military superiority that is backed by the United States is unable to stop the resistance in the 141 square miles that are Gaza, how are they to overcome Iran? In other words, Israel’s deterrence capability is perceived (by its opponents) to be falling at an accelerated rate."