...or does Israel need some PR help...quickly.


OK gang repeat after me... "Israel is right. Hezbollah, Hamas and everyone else opposed to Israel's survival is wrong."

Now, don't you feel better.

There is no gray here. (or grey for the Brits among you.) If an organization or government attacks your country with the stated purpose of sweeping you into the Mediterranean,
you get to fight back. Nowhere in the texts by VonKlauwitz or General Giap does it stipulate that you must count the number of enemy combatants and structure your response accordingly. Just because Hezbollah attacks in small units and retreats into the civilian population is no reason to soften your response. If you don't make them sorry, they will do it again. Use any schoolyard confrontation for reference.

The attitude of Western Europe is infuriating. As discussed yesterday, most countries in Europe have substantial Muslim populations and no one wants more unrest in Paris but come on; right is right. France has used the Foreign Legion (yes, they're still around) in Africa on several occasions and they apologized to no one. If virtually all of the UN member nations acknowledge Israel's right to exist, then why should any country support organizations that hold a contrary position?

Hezbollah is a surrogate for Iran. No surprise there. France and Germany are in business (and in bed) with Iran. They want quiet commerce. A few kidnapped Israeli soldiers seems, to them, a poor excuse to disturb the peace. Easy for them to say. Should Poland decide that it's payback time for 1940 and cross their western border, Germany would be rearmed in a cocaine heartbeat and they wouldn't be asking UN approval to do it.

No one, including Israel, wants civilian casualties. They create photo ops for Al Jezzera and make recruiting for Al Qaeda that much easier. (Is Arab television showing the same women over and over in front of different bombed buildings?) It is , however necessary to remember that these "innocent civilians" are the ones dancing in the street at the announcement of a Hezbollah victory. There are over a thousand rockets in Southern Lebanon (less the few hundred that found their way into Northern Israel recently). If they are not in an easily identified armory, then they must be hidden among the civilian population. Those would be the aforementioned "innocent civilians".

There is one interesting irony in all this.
Israel responded quickly to the attack on it's border but:

- committed too few troops
- underestimated the civilian resistance
- quickly got bogged down in a nasty street fight that is unsuitable for a convention fighting force

Any of this sound familiar? Israeli generals were seen carrying copies of, "Don Rumsfeld's Guide to Warfare, 2003-2006 and beyond". They would be better off with copies of, "The Pet Goat".
At least Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resisted the temptation to stand in front of a banner in Hebrew reading "Mission Accomplished". George W Bush, oblivious to the facts (again) declared Israel the victor. Must have been a TKO. "Ehud, you're doin' a hell of a job".

The central issue for Americans (aside from the upcoming season of American Idol) is why the population of Southern Lebanon continues to support Hezbollah when it's their cities that are being turned into overflow parking lots for Bethlehem. No one could seriously believe that Hezbollah can defeat and occupy Israel. There may be something to Muslim Brotherhood but can this really be about Palestine and the Palestinians? Israel came into existence before most Lebanonese were born. Enough Already! Israel is a fact...like France; you may not like it, but there it is. Done. No one in Northern Mexico is gathering an army to retake Texas (although I'm still up for returning Crawford).

It becomes necessary to quote James Carville. "It's the economy, stupid!" Poor people need someone to blame for their situation and, throughout history, no group has worn that mantel more often than the Jews. They made a great target back when they were just a suspicious group of non-Christians that prayed on Saturday. Now that they are a political and military force, they are irresistible.

The difference today is that the Jews no longer roll over and play dead. It seems that they learned a little something from their most recent persecution (that would be 1936-45). No more of that "turning the other cheek", stuff (that's New Testament anyway). From now on it's strictly Exodus 21 "an eye for an eye". The only thing they need now is a better play book.

Where is Moshe Dayan when you need him?