Mowing the grass

This article is about the Israeli military tactic. For the activity from which it gets its name, see Lawn mower.

Mowing the grass (Hebrew: כיסוח דשא) is a term coined by Professor Efraim Inbar and Dr. Eitan Shami to describe 'a patient military strategy of attrition with limited goals: to diminish their opponents’ capacity to harm Israel, and to accomplish temporary deterrence – both of which are achieved through occasional large-scale operations, as seen with the three Gaza Wars and the Second Lebanon War (and epitomised by the "Dahiya doctrine"). Over time, it is hoped that the repeated achievement of these limited goals will drain the motivation of enemy fighters to harm Israel, and eventually cause the movement to fizzle out into obscurity. These are usually carried out by conducting short, sharp military operations to maintain a certain level of control over the area without committing to a long-term political solution, similar to how one would mow a lawn to keep it neat and tidy.

Naftali Bennett referred to the idea in a speech in 2018 when he said "מי שלא מכסח את הדשא, הדשא מכסח אותו ('He who does not mow the grass, the grass mows him')."

External links

• Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shami: Mowing the Grass in Gaza. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 255, July 20, 2014.