Good news on the technical front - Typepad recovered part of my erased post, and I reconstructed the remainder and posted it all a few moments ago. (I also set it to display the date it was written, July 12.)
Unfortunately, though, that's been only a small personal ray of light in what has become a very difficult day for Israel and the entire free world. Hezbollah rockets have struck Haifa, Tzfat, and many smaller towns and kibbutzes in northern Israel. Several soldiers and two civilians have been killed, with hundreds more wounded. Furthermore, Iran and Syria have all but admitted their roles in sponsoring the terrorists.
Israel has thankfully responded with more force, but I'm still concerned that it's not nearly enough. Recent events (and those not-so-recent) have clearly proved that appeasing terrorism never works and instead only further encourages the perpetrators. But instead of unleashing the full might of the IDF, Israel still seems so concerned with international opinion that it practically fights with one hand tied behind its back.
To this, I say screw the EU, the Arab nations, and the UN. (Pardon my choice of verb, but it's necessary.) They always condemn Israel regardless of circumstances, and Israel should just flat-out ignore them and concentrate on the task at hand.
Israel didn't want this war, but Iran, Syria, and their terrorist proxies have handed it over. These enemies cannot be appeased, only defeated, and Israel must be willing to act on this notion. Failure is not an option.
For more on how we can all help, two excellent resources are the Simon Wiesenthal Center on the political side, and Rabbi Lazer Brody from a more spiritual perspective. (Rabbi Brody, a former IDF commando who lives in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, has also been providing regular Israel news updates; here is his frontpage link.)
Unfortunately, to rid southern Lebanon of the thousands of missles stockpiled there in homes, schools amd mosques, will necessate either:
1) bombing the country into submission;
2) performing house to house and cave to cave searches; or,
3) settling for a prisoner swap instead of a capitulation by Hezbollah on this issue.
Posted by: verdant | July 17, 2006 at 08:34 PM
Hi Verdant,
Those are serious concerns, but I actually don't think Israel will have to face any of them. Rather, I see Israel increasing its tactical bombing and ground force intrusions to the point where Hezbollah gets scared and runs away. A similar thing happened to the Jordanian army in 1967 when Israel captured Judea and Samaria, and I think Hezbollah will prove to be the same type of paper tiger (as most terrorists are).
Posted by: Solid Surfer | July 17, 2006 at 11:19 PM