>You can dismiss this site as biased if you wish, but http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf23.html#c brings up some very valid points:
>
>Israel's standing army is smaller than those of Egypt, Iran and Syria. Even with its reserves, Israel is outmanned by each of the first three....During the 1990's, the Arab states and Iran imported more than $180 billion worth of the most sophisticated weapons and military infrastructure available from both the Western and Eastern blocs. They continue to spend approximately $30 billion annually on their armed forces...While Israel spends approximately $9 billion on defense, Saudi Arabia alone spends more than $20 billion.

Bringing Iran and Saudi into the picture is misleading since Iran has no ability to wage war off its soil. It barely held ground against Iraq... having to use underage conscripts. As well Saudi Arabia has gone the Jordanian route of peacebroker. Plus neither have been major combantants in the ongoing Arab Israeli conflict.

>What happened in 1967 is not a guarantee for future IDF performance.

True.

> Indeed, a lot of questions are being asked in Israel regarding how things went in the recent Lebanese shoot-em-up.

Miltarily Israel was powerful and skilled, but it is difficult to fight an assymetric war. The Israeli defence forces were able to perform akin to the US forces with smart weapons. Something I don't think the Brits or the French can do yet.