Friedman describes an attack by the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah on the small Israeli army unit, Outpost Pumpkin, in the South Lebanon security zone on October 29, 1994.

However, the incident was heavily covered in the media because of a short, blurry video with a soundtrack of gunfire and martial music, shot by Hezbollah fighters.

The video appears to show Hezbollah jihadis capturing an Israeli military position and planting a flag to symbolize victory.

Hezbollah claimed to have captured the outpost and "purified it of Zionists", and the video ignited debate in Israel over the preparedness of the military and the costs of maintaining the buffer zone in Lebanon.

[5] The book also examines the reaction that the conflicts provoked in Israel, which sparked backlash to the maintenance of troops in the buffer zone along the Lebanese border.