“Let the IDF Win” is a slogan that was invented during the second intifada and reappears with almost every Israeli military confrontation in the region. It was born out of frustration, mainly by the right-wing public in Israel. The feeling was that Israel Defense Forces could succeed to fight effectively against the Palestinians, destroy the terror infrastructure and eliminate the suicide-terror phenomenon that caused so many victims — if not for the political echelon that restrained it.
IDF commanders argued that the slogan adversely affected military morale and belittled their abilities as commanders. Yom Tov Samia, head of the Southern Command during the second intifada, argued at the time (December 2000) in an interview with Israeli TV Channel One, “It’s stupid to say such a thing. I am the commander of the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip and head of the Southern Command and I tell the entire Israeli people the following: I adopt all the steps and actions that I deem necessary.”