Wow. I'll have to admit, I certainly didn't see this one coming. But it's been a phenomenal turn for the better from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Just weeks after pledging to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and days after appearing wobbly in his resolve against Israel's enemies, Olmert has finally changed course to a far tougher direction. Enough is enough, he has declared, Israel must eliminate Hezbollah and Hamas.
Way to go Mr. Prime Minister! Israel has long desired and offered peace, but these terror groups have never accepted it and have always aimed to destroy the Jewish state. For years, Israel wishfully ignored this reality and allowed terrorism to fester. But finally the naivety is no more. As Olmert stated,
"It is of regional and international interest to control and dismantle the terror organizations and remove this threat from the Middle East. We intend to do so....We will attack every terrorist staging area, destroy every terrorist base and liquidate members of the terror groups. Israel will not agree to live in the shadow of the threat of missiles and rockets on its citizens."
Now there's a workable plan. For the first time in his tenure, I'd like to raise many cheers to Israel's Prime Minister! With this type of attitude, Israel is in great shape!
And I'm sure many Israelis also agree with Olmert's firm conclusion:
"I am more proud today than any other day in my life to be a citizen of the State of Israel. We will not surrender and we will not back down."
L'Chaim!
Gotta love that Israeli muscle!
Posted by: Mini Me | July 18, 2006 at 07:32 PM
They just need to keep it up! The key, as I see it, is for Israel to do what it needs to do and ignore international opinion.
Posted by: Solid Surfer | July 19, 2006 at 09:45 AM
Yes I agree they should ignore most international opinion. But not all. I think they should at least listen to what the US and the UK have to say.
Posted by: Mini Me | July 19, 2006 at 03:59 PM
That's true - some countries' opinions are much more valuable to Israel than others. But unfortunately even the US and UK don't always back Israel as well as they should. (I think they'll continue to do so throughout this battle, however.)
Posted by: Solid Surfer | July 19, 2006 at 10:53 PM