science

Mowing the grass

Mowing the grass is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mowing the grass rather than just read about it. In short: Mowing the grass (Hebrew: כיסוח דשא) is a metaphor used to describe periodic Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip to manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During such attacks, Israel has targeted Palestinian militants, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Key takeaways

Mowing the grass belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mowing the grass to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mowing the grass from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mowing the grass (Hebrew: כיסוח דשא) is a metaphor used to describe periodic Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip to manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During such attacks, Israel has targeted Palestinian militants, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The strategy is usually carried out by conducting short, sharp military operations to maintain a certain level of control over the area without committing to a long-term political solution, similar to how one would mow a lawn to keep it neat and tidy. The term was coined by Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shamir, two scholars associated with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, where they described how "Israel is acting in accordance with a “mowing the grass” strategy. After a period of military restraint, Israel is acting to severely punish Hamas for its aggressive behavior, and degrading its military capabilities – aiming at achieving a period of quiet." According to Adam Taylor in The Washington Post, "the phrase implies the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and their supply of crude but effective homemade weapons are like weeds that need to be cut back." Naftali Bennett referred to the idea in a speech in 2018 when he said "מי שלא מכסח את הדשא, הדשא מכסח אותו" ('He who does not mow the grass, the grass mows him').

References

Further reading Inbar, Efraim; Shamir, Eitan (2014). "'Mowing the Grass': Israel's Strategy for Protracted Intractable Conflict". Journal of Strategic Studies. 37 (1): 65–90. doi:10.1080/01402390.2013.830972. Gibilisco, Michael (July 2023). "Mowing the grass". Journal of Theoretical Politics. 35 (3): 204–231. doi:10.1177/09516298231185113. Inbar, Efraim; Shamir, Eitan (2014). Mowing the Grass in Gaza (Report). JSTOR resrep04496. Shkolnik, Michael (4 May 2017). "'Mowing the Grass' and Operation Protective Edge: Israel's strategy for protracted asymmetric conflict with Hamas". Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. 23 (2): 185–189. doi:10.1080/11926422.2016.1229684. Tweissi, Basim (2024). "How Israel Lost the 2023 Gaza Propaganda War". Al-Muntaqa. 7 (1): 127–141. JSTOR 48775010.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mowing the grass

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mowing the grass claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mowing the grass before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mowing the grass ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mowing the grass

In research: Mowing the grass appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mowing the grass in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mowing the grass is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Gaza–Israel conflict, Metaphors referring to plants, Military-related euphemisms, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mowing the grass outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mowing the grass in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mowing the grass means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mowing the grass out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mowing the grass in simple terms?

Why does Mowing the grass matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mowing the grass?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mowing the grass.