Soccer Dad

Haveil havalim daily edition 07/25/2006

In depth: I was going to write about this even before the airstrike that killed the UN Observers yesterday. Of course news reports are going to quote Kofi Annan who will be understandably upset and since it was his men who were killed.

But when dealing with Hezbollah, Annan should have no credibility. Six years ago, three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah with the connivance of UNIFIL troops. Later it was discovered that there was a videotape that may have helped Israel locate its missing soldiers. The UN refused to let Israel see the tape until after they had an opportunity to conceal the identities of the members of Hezbollah on the tape. In other words Annan's UN chose to protect terrorists over defending the soldiers of a member state.

So when Annan demands an investigation into yesterday's incident; remember this is not a disinterested individual, but someone who has actively worked against Israel.

Daled Amos and the Volokh Conspiracy.David Kopel have more.

AbbaGav observes that even when the UNIFIL troops haven't been betraying Israel, they haven't been particularly effective. It's something to keep in mind when Annan or some other world class diplomat intones about the need for an international peacekeeping force. If the current one had done its job, Israel' wouldn't have invaded Lebanon.

Roger L. Simon wonders if Israel's refusal to accept UN troops on its border signals the end of any pretense of UN or Annan usefulness.

Regular stuff:
Israel's enemies
Daniel Pipes credits Tony Snow with a nice catch.

Secular Blasphemy blogs about the goals of Iran and Hezbollah.

Critical Mastiff wonders if the Arab world is starting to regret championing the Palestinians, as it now seems that they are strengthening Iran.

Are an anti-Zionist or an antisemite? or both?

Disagree with the protestors even in America, at your own risk.

Death and life in a time of war
Benjy Hillman, z'tl. Hero of Israel

Just three weeks ago, 600 of us celebrated as Benjy and his long-time girlfriend, Ayala Burger, finally got married after going together for many years. The pure joy of the two families who had become good friends over the long on-off courtship, was palpable. Ayala, accompanied by her happy parents and radiant in her beautiful wedding dress, walked down the path toward Benjy, who waited for her under the chupa with his trademark shy smile.

Today, in the military cemetery of his home town of Raanana, Ayala walked toward Benjy again.

(via Greetings from French Hill)

Rabbi Emmanuel Feldman tells of the sensitivity that some Israeli children have for their counterparts up north.

Tune in to Pillage Idiot.

Finally the incongruity of an origami get together in the middle of a war zone is hard to imagine.

Richard Cohen. Again.

Israel Matzav finds an improvement in Richared Cohen's latest.

Boker Tov Boulder also gives Cohen some credit this week.

Judeosphere isn't so forgiving as it appears that Cohen's "mistake virus" is spreading.

Pay attention to the ruins

The Washington Post reported

Hezbollah officials escorted journalists around their southern Beirut stronghold to show the damage to what they said were civilian residences.

The hazard with these escorted tours is

A CNN reporter is taken to an area of Beirut and told that the rubble of buildings is a result of Israeli air strikes on civilian targets. The reporter repeats the allegation as fact. He has no way of knowing what was in the buildings, whether it was a rocket workshop, a hiding place for katyushas, the home of a Hizballah leader, or a command center.

To be fair the Washington Post's reporters made it clear that the claim was the claim of Hezbollah. Still they offered no alternative possibility.

Biur Chametz appears again to do some myth busting of his own.

And Elder of Ziyon notes dishonesty on the part of AFP.

Strategy

Another hibernating blogger has stuck his head out. Out of step jew describes what Israel's military strategy is in Lebanon. (No it's not only bombing civilians and buildings.)

Bill Roggio at the Counterrorism blog goes into a bit more detail.

Assignment Desk: I had a single taker for yesterday's assignment. Cozy Corner who disposes of the "both sides are upset we must be balanced" excuse nicely

Now, we have a balanced article - if journalism were about finding common ground, and advocating that both sides have an equivalent viewpoint. And Ishmael comes along, and says, "What? You left out the part where Yitzhak's children shoot little puppies? How dare you!" And Yitzhak comes along and says, "What? How could you not point out that our killing of Ishmael's uncle last week was because he had a missile launcher pointed at us!" And HFMSMR says, "I must be unbiased, because both of them are upset!"

Today's assignment critique/defend/compare/contrast:
1) Cameron Brown

In short, by unifying the ranks and eliminating self-doubt, withdrawing to recognized borders has in many ways actually bolstered Israel's core security.

Indeed, if the history of warfare over the past two centuries has taught us anything, it is that a people's ability to win in wartime is not due primarily to technological prowess, but stems first and foremost from the shared belief that one's cause is just and that there is no choice but to stand and fight.

And it is such a belief which animates Israelis right now. It is why people here will withstand all the missiles and rocket fire, why men will leave their families behind without hesitation as they are called up to the reserves to fight.

All this is not to suggest that the opponents of these withdrawals were entirely mistaken either. As many claimed at the time of the Gaza withdrawal, if one listens to what is being said in the Arab and Muslim world, it is undeniable that the lesson drawn from Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon has been that violence against Israel may yet prove effective.

2) Daniel Pipes

By 1993, this record of success imbued Israelis with a sense of overconfidence. They concluded they had won, and ignored the inconvenient fact that Palestinian Arabs and other enemies had not given up their goal of eliminating Israel. Two emotions long held in check, fatigue and hubris, came flooding out. Deciding that they had had enough of war and could end the war on their own terms, Israelis experimented with such exotica as "the peace process" and "disengagement." They permitted their enemies to create a quasi-governmental structure (the "Palestinian Authority") and to amass hoards of armaments (Hezbollah's nearly 12,000 Katyusha rockets in southern Lebanon, according to the Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat). They shamelessly traded captured terrorists for hostages.

In this mishmash of appeasement and retreat, Israel's enemies rapidly lost their fears and came to see Israel as a paper tiger. Or, in the pungent phrasing of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in 2000: "Israel, which has both nuclear power and the strongest air force in the region, is weaker than a spider's web." As I wrote in 2000, "their earlier fear of Israel has been replaced with a disdain that borders on contempt." As Israelis ignored the effect of their actions on enemies, they perversely seemed to confirm this disdain. As a result, Palestinian Arabs and others rediscovered their earlier enthusiasm to eliminate Israel.

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Posted by SoccerDad at July 26, 2006 2:31 AM | TrackBack