Lunch at my club yesterday with David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts. If you don’t know them click the links to Wikipedia.
There were seventy-five of us and I doubted I would get a question in so had a word with General Petraeus before lunch. I also knew he had to leave promptly after lunch to go to the airport; he has been here for about ten days promoting the book. He was easily recognised by his blazer, with Legion of Honour pin, and dark trousers – WASP uniform. As he didn’t mention my Brigade tie I didn’t comment on his French decoration. I asked him to imagine he is the General commanding Hamas; what would he consider a win? He said that Hamas strategy is to be brutal enough to provoke such intense retaliation that Israel loses some international support. (One might say that the IRA adopted similar tactics to show the UK government and British army as reacting disproportionately.) I was pleased to chew the fat with the General until Andrew Roberts arrived to sit him down to sign seventy-five copies of the book. A copy was included in the price of lunch.
As this was the last performance of the Petraeus/Roberts double act they were perhaps a little demob happy exchanging quips at each other’s expense. Indeed as soon as David Petraeus left we were asked to forget something he had said and in any case it isn’t true – of course it is, as even I know.
I was fortunate in one of my neighbours at lunch. He is half Israeli and served in the army, mostly in Lebanon, as a doctor and then served as a territorial with Israeli forces. He filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge of the many wars in Israel since 1948. We were surprised the Israeli forces were caught with their pants down this time. The General shared our surprise.
After lunch I had a word with the club secretary. As ladies are now allowed to come to the club as guests I proposed it would be but a small step for dogs to be admitted; indeed it was curious they had not been let in before the ladies. Of course, not being members, they would be excluded from the Morning Room. Oh, I forgot to mention when we arrived at my nephew and niece’s house on Friday, I took Bertie for a run in the dog-proof garden. The first thing Bertie did was to sail over the ha-ha into an interesting field to my nephew’s consternation. To be fair, he couldn’t get back and had to wait for a gate to be opened and they have dachshunds with legs too short to jump the ha-ha.
Interesting about the strategies used… my daughter has been living and working in Israel for some years, firstly in Tel Aviv University and more recently for the U.N. She loves the climate and the way of life but obviously not the sporadic violence. As we hadn’t seen her since before Covid, we were planning a trip this autumn… but now this apocalyptic horror. Yes, many a night we have been on the phone to her during previous conflicts, as she has huddled in the corner of shelters to the sound of missiles but this one is different. She’s on a waiting list to get out presently. Because of my background she can hold both a U.K. and Irish passport which can be advantageous in many ways… depending on what situation you find yourself in. We pray for her safety.