A prominent Israeli leftist who formerly advocated surrendering land to Israel’s enemies has seen the error of his ways as a result of the aggression pouring out of Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Playwright Yehoshua Sobol said in a recent radio interview:

“I was wrong when I thought that withdrawing to border lines would bring peace.”

Friday he went even further, slamming those handfuls of Israelis who are demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities against Hizb’allah:

“Anyone who supports an immediate cease-fire is essentially supporting Hizb’allah and it is beyond me how anyone from the Left can come out supporting such a group.”

It is a shame that it takes such tragic circumstances to get these people to wake up, but at least they do wake up. Too bad Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who continues to push his “realignment” agenda, cannot be made to open his eyes.

How could Israel with its precision weapons accidentally hit a UN post while fighting the Hiz’allah? This is how:

That is a UN observer post on the Israeli-Lebanese border, with UN and Hizb’allah flags flying side-by-side from its walls. When UN posts ARE Hizb’allah positions, no one should be surprised when UN personnel are killed in Israel’s offensive against the terrorists.

So I guess Kofi Annan was right, Israel did purposely target the position. But the blood of the four international troops killed are on his hands alone since, to use Annan’s words, the UN “apparently deliberately” facilitated the terrorist enemies of Israel.

And the UN has the audacity to demand an apology from Israel.

Ha’aretz military correspondent Ze’ev Schiff rightly points out that Israel has no choice but to win its fight with Hizb’allah, and must resist international pressure for a ceasefire that would result in any alternative outcome.

Hizb’allah at this point is simply fighting to survive. If it can come out of this mini war with even some of its fighting capability intact, it will be seen as having won a great victory by confronting Israel and then outlasting the Jewish state’s response.

This, Schiff warns, will create “strategic parity between Israel and Hizb’allah.”

In its early days, Israel paid dearly in four full-scale wars to establish a deterrence that has for decades held its foes in the wider Muslim world at bay. But if it now fails to actually defeat Hizb’allah, the perception of Israeli strength will be shattered, and other more powerful enemies will be greatly tempted to implement their “final solution” to the “Zionist problem.”

Kofi Annan and his buddies are trying really hard to keep news of Israel’s accidental killing of four UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on the front pages. But the truth is, the UN itself is to blame for the deaths of those four international troops.

Israeli bombs may have (unintentionally) taken their lives, but if UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force In Lebanon) had done the job it was given 28 years ago, Israel wouldn’t have to be dropping bombs at all today. Continue reading »

Washington has been firm in its support of Israel’s war against Hizb’allah, but has also pressed Israel hard to take great care to not harm or topple Lebanon’s current government.

The Bush administration argues that a lot of effort went into ejecting Syria from Lebanon and getting this democratically-elected government in place.

That may be so, but if the government of Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora is unable or unwilling to govern in an effective manner that safeguards the well-being of both Lebanon’s and Israel’s citizens, then why in the world should Israel care about preserving it? Continue reading »

Israel appears to have accidentally killed four UN observers in southern Lebanon, and has promised to thoroughly investigate the incident to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

(My money is on a Hizb’allah cell having used the UN base as cover for attacks on the Israelis, prompting IDF return fire close enough to the position that any slight deviation would harm the foreigners.)

Immediately following the incident, UN chief Kofi Annan admitted to reporters that he was still “trying to get all the details,” but did not let that stop him from accusing Israel of “apparently deliberately targeting” the position. As if Israel doesn’t have enough problems with the international community that it would purposely kill UN troops.

If you play with fire, you are going to get burned:

Hizb’allah expected business as usual, got war

Most supporters of Israel readily recognize the underlying anti-Israel bias that taints the reporting of the mainstream international media (MSM). Forcing the MSM to acknowledge this phenomenon in an effort to change it, however, is a different story. Journalists from every other part of the world will vehemently deny practicing any bias or subjective reporting against Israel.

Not so in the Arab world. Continue reading »

There is much talk lately of what is the “root cause” of the current fighting in Gaza and southern Lebanon, with much of the world pointing an accusatory finger at Hamas and Hizb’allah.

Former IDF chief Moshe Ya’alon took that one step further by pointing out that the Hamas and Hizb’allah aggression and provocations originated from areas Israel had completely vacated, disproving the long-held belief that “Israeli occupation” is the “root cause” of the wider Middle East conflict. Continue reading »

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Beri Monday demonstrated precisely why Israel’s offensive against Hizb’allah must continue unabated for the time being. Continue reading »