Even Hamas's vapid victory slogans were accompanied by promises of rebuilding - something that hasn't happened yet. The Palestinian public is beginning to notice their elected representatives' total failure. But listening to Khamenei you'd almost think the Iranian leadership hierarchy and their Hamas proxies think they won:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, likened the victory of the Palestinian resistance movement against Israel in the 22-day war to a "miracle". "What really happened in Gaza was truly like a miracle," the Leader noted in a meeting with visiting Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdallah. "The Gaza events were in fact at the hands of God which came true through the faith and firm determination and the jihad of resistance forces and the Gaza people," the Leader noted. The Supreme Leader again congratulated Palestinians on their victory over the Zionist regime's army and praised the resistance movement's leaders for their "decisive and united" position. "Truly, the people of Gaza took a good test and the officials and managers also emerged successful in this test for their good performance and decisive and united position."

That's an echo of the eye roll-inducing nonsense that Hamas's leaders spouted at the end of Cast Lead, when they crawled out from beneath the hospitals and schools where they'd been hiding. And it's definitely what they've been telling their children. But they know that they got systematically dismantled, right? On account of how they got systematically dismantled?

The videos of masked Hamas "fighters" in elaborate jihad-chic costumes, brandishing guns and jumping through hoops of fire, were cheap posturing. Hamas doesn't have a cadre of battle-hardened fighters; one Israeli soldier aptly described those who did pop up in Gaza as "villagers with guns." If the "siege" of Gaza is significantly eased or lifted (which I still think is unlikely), it won't be because Palestinian "resistance" forced Israel's hand. It will be because Palestinian suffering has weighed on the conscience of others. That's a very old story, and there's nothing new or "heroic" about it. Those who've promised to liberate Jerusalem and Palestine by arms are (again) begging the world for sacks of flour.

The Israelis certainly aren't fooled:

Michael Totten writes that the difference between how Israel conducted the wars with Hizbollah and Hamas is reflected in the attitude in Israel during the aftermath of the 2 wars as well... "I didn't meet a single Israeli who thinks Hamas defeated the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza... I wouldn't characterize the mood in Israel as optimistic. That would be a mistake. Few people I know in any Middle Eastern country feel optimistic about the future of their country or the region in general. But confidence in the Israeli government and military has been restored."... The fact that trust and confidence has been restored in the IDF is of course crucial to the country.

And on the ground, Hamas seems to know what actually happened:

Hamas has launched a probe which is expected to be extremely critical of the failures of its military wing during the recent Gaza offensive, the respected Jane's Defence Weekly magazine said Monday. Citing an unnamed top Hamas military commander, Jane's said a full report due soon would be critical of almost every decision taken by battlefield commanders during the 22-day assault, which ended last week. The source quoted by Jane's added that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and his followers had effectively pushed for a conflict that it was not ready for.

But if they've actually bought into their own slogans - "losing" really means "winning" and "defeat" means "victory" - that's not brave resistance in the face of overwhelming odds. That's a denial of reality that runs so deep that it has to be treated as clinical psychosis. Among other things, that would make it difficult to "reason" with these cretins because they don't live in the same "reality" the rest of us do.

References and previously after the jump...