The heap paradox is well known and famous because of its relevance to human reality and everyday language.
The paradox focuses on the tension between general, vague and relatively vague concepts we use and their quantitative meaning and possible measurement.
So how many grains should be grouped together for us to describe them as a pile?
It is clear to everyone that a few grains do not become a pile, compared to a very large and visible number of grains that become a pile.
But when exactly does this transition take place?
The paradox has a wide variety of real-life applications.
Judge Noam Solberg, for example, used the paradox of the stack in his minority opinion in the High Court on the infiltrators. The majority in the Supreme Court argued that the amount the state decided to deduct from the infiltrator's salary to encourage him to leave was disproportionate, even though it would be returned to him in full upon his departure. Solberg raised the paradox The pile to ask his members when the deduction will be considered proportionate, what makes judges more knowledgeable about the issue, and who can even determine and according to what standards it is proportionate or not to the point of disqualifying elected officials.
Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan usually uses the pile-up paradox in the context of a military operation.
A military unit was tasked with setting up an ambush and stopping the convoy of enemy vehicles on some axis.
After a certain time a single vehicle arrived, but the power did not work because it was a single vehicle and not a convoy.
Five minutes later another single vehicle arrived and they did not act against it either.
Only after a few vehicles had passed did one of the soldiers notice that this was probably the convoy they had to stop...
One of the issues up for discussion now is the length of the pause that will be agreed upon.
A truce in the war, that is, a period of time in which the fighting is stopped until it resumes or some sort of settlement is reached, has been known to us since the truces of the War of Liberation.
But how long exactly is she in remission?
Of course, there is no measure for this and it depends on the context, circumstances and conditions.
It is clear to everyone that a few days or even a few weeks will be considered a remission.
However, can a break for several months be considered a truce, that is, a temporary break after which the fighting will continue?
Or maybe this is actually an actual cease-fire that is described to the public as a truce only because of the public opposition to the cease-fire until Hamas is defeated?
Additional components must be added and weighed to these questions.
For example, the reports are already showing signs of repeated attempts by Hamas to control the north of the Gaza Strip, and in addition there is heavy American pressure to reach a cease-fire and not just a truce.
The evacuation of the Golan Heights settlements during the Yom Kippur War, whose residents returned after a relatively short time, is almost completely forgotten from the collective memory, so it is clear that it was an evacuation.
But when does eviction become abandonment, a term that is currently barely mentioned?
Another challenge that is getting stronger every day is the dozens of settlements whose residents were evacuated because of the war.
We have known in the past the evacuation of settlements from civilians because of the dangers of war.
The evacuation of the Golan Heights settlements during the Yom Kippur War, whose residents returned after a relatively short time, is almost completely forgotten from the collective memory, so it is clear that it was an evacuation.
But when does eviction become abandonment, a term that is currently barely mentioned?
These days, four months have passed since the beginning of the existential war that was imposed on us.
Let's answer the question of whether it was at all right to announce very quickly an evacuation on such a scale of settlements and residents in the north.
However, after the move is made, how long exactly will we describe it as evacuation and not as abandonment?
Similar to the paradox of the pile-up, there is no clear answer to this, but the sense of distress in the public is increasing, in view of the existence of two strips of insecurity within the borders of the State of Israel.
This is a Zionist affliction.
The ever-increasing American pressures are well known, as is the reliance on them in various aspects of warfare.
However, despite the understandable need to consider them as much as possible, there are moments in a nation's life when it must say with a clear voice: That's it!
This is an existential war and it must be decided with a victory that will not be subject to interpretation like a pile, but in such a way that the entire Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, will recognize that it is a victory.
Prof. Asher Cohen is a political science expert at Bar-Ilan University
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