Israel's short-term victory a long-term disaster?

In response to an i24 News analysis by Yossi Melman headlined "Israel's victorious withdrawal from Gaza," a commentor by the name of Wim Vincken brought up so many valid points for consideration, that we are re-posting his remarks here.

He took issue with the conclusion of the article, saying it looks like an Israeli defeat to him.

He pointed out that there are still plenty of rockets (apparently several thousand) and a few tunnels left intact, with Hamas operatives safe and sound in their underground bunkers.

Politically Israel will be hit by a big storm, "because they are going to start investigating if Israel performed war-crimes. And you know what? With so many civilians dead and the way they died, they might even have a point. Who, in his right mind, allows [bombing] an area with so many civilians, and allows the international press to monitor every aspect? 

"Getting new friends like Egypt is nice, but they lost many current friends."
 
Vincken goes on to take issue with the IDF strategy of destroying property and killing civilians on a relatively large scale. 

"If this is the end of the incursion, just like Lebanon II, this is the biggest defeat," he writes. "In Lebanon II, the political echelon was running the military campaign. It looks like this conflict suffered the same.

"Expectations have not been met. The world and the population in Israel expected to end the rockets fired to Israel. They 'suddenly' discovered the tunnels (which they knew existed) and claim to have them destroyed. Which is obviously not the case.

"Also prepare for the fallout after the conflict. If anyone wants to go on vacation in Europe, Far East, Africa, Australia, and South America (almost the whole world), they might get arrested because of suspicion of war crimes, especially the soldiers. The active hate against Israelis all over the world is slowly reaching its boiling point, meaning Israelis might not be safe anywhere, with a large risk of Israel being declared a pariah-state. If this happens, Israel won't be able to buy a single bullet.

"Then there's the political fallout. Investigations will start in Israel about the conduct of several parties involved here. This current administration will not survive that fallout." 
 
Vincken concludes that Israel neglected the PR battle which will result in "chaos and upheaval in Israel and worldwide."

I find his predictions quite ominous because essentially he is saying the campaign will be the start of a major disaster for the Jewish people worldwide for years to come. And notice when the war came to an end: on Tisha B'Av.