The Chairman is awake.

I told him I was happy he woke up.

But, as world opinion awakens from its holiday slumber, it is likely to turn against Israel.

Similarly, governments don't enact intelligent environmental and labor laws just because politicians wake up one day.

After all, companies didn't stop polluting groundwater as a matter of course, or employing 10 year olds as a matter of course, just because executives woke up one day and decided it was the right thing to do.

But this time the soldiers have remained in their barracks, for the simple reason that an awakened populace, an active civil society, and a free and vibrant media would not tolerate another venture into politics by the army.

After all, companies didn't stop polluting groundwater as a matter of course, or employing 10 year olds as a matter of course, just because executives woke up one day and decided it was the right thing to do.