And Meridor, who often plays the role of prime minister in IDF war games, said that in this instance he favored restraint. I am not against restraint. That would just trigger more violence. Restraint never aided deterrence. Restraint may be good for other things, like reconciliation, and making peace.
Restraint produces an image of niceness, while deterrence is based on the image of toughness.
I am not saying that we should not use restraint in order to make peace. I understand our dilemma in trying to offer the Palestinians peaceful coexistence. But we pay for it in loss of deterrence. Inbar says issuing ultimatums and then not following through has done serious harm to Israel's deterrent power. We are constantly discussing our deterrent power.