The state of Israel awoke this morning to the realization that their world has suddenly become a lot more dangerous.
And that's saying something. Given that their country is surrounded by enemies that wish to annihilate them, it is hard to imagine how their precarious situation could have gotten any worse. But the sad fact is that the forces representing anti-modernism, anti-Semitism, and genocide are in the ascendancy today over those who represent freedom, tolerance, and civilization.
Welcome to the new Middle East, a place where purposefully ordering the launching of thousands upon thousands of lethal rockets into towns and villages with the sole and exclusive goal of killing as many civilians as possible makes one a hero to the overwhelming majority of its people rather than a monster to be stoned in the street on sight. It is also a tactic that has been green lighted by the United Nations in that they have given these gleeful, murderous, rocketeers the opportunity to start their bombardment all over again just as soon as the international community loses interest and moves on to the next outrage that the world body also will be unable to do anything to stop.
A true United Nations, one that would live up to one tenth of the noble sentiments contained in its charter, would have voted to join with Israel to destroy Hizbullah. In fact, their actions have now enabled the terrorists to look forward to round two in their genocidal war against the Jews.
For make no mistake, this "cease fire" is nothing of the sort. It is a pause in Hizbullah's undeclared war on the Jewish state that has been going on since Israel voluntarily left southern Lebanon in 2000. The aggression from Hizbullah didn't start with their incursion into Israel's territory on July 12. It has been going on for more than two years with nary a peep from this same international community that now seeks to dictate to Israel how it should best defend itself. Where was the outrage when Hizbullah carried out unprovoked attacks on Israeli Defense Force (IDF) outposts? Where were the tears from these slobbering humanitarians when Hizbullah infiltrated suicide bombers across the border in order to kill Israeli children?
To those who truly wish for a just and peaceful international order, that kind of world just became much more remote with the shameful capitulation to the tactics of terror that the United States, the United Nations, and the rest of the international community agreed to in this cease fire resolution. It will come back to haunt all who worked for expediency over substance, all the while pretending that a "solution" to Hizbullah's murderous designs on the Jewish state could be "negotiated" - as if the terrorists cared one whit about anything except their own survival as well as the killing of more Jews which is now guaranteed thanks to both the incompetence of Israeli leadership and the world's timidity in the face of outright savagery.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Les Slater
The diplomatic 'solution' is a reflection of the situation on the ground. Israel miscalculated and were not only met with stiff resistance, but found themselves further isolated. The resistance has been strengthened.
Don't blame France. The U.S. goes along with this too.
2 - Clavos
The U.S. goes along with this too.
True, unfortunately.
3 - Rick Moran
The US delayed as long as practicable. They probably could have gotten much more favorable terms for Israel last weekend. But the French carried out something of a betrayal by almost completely abandoning what they had agreed to last weekend and substituted what the Arab FM's wanted.
We could have vetoed but that would have immensely complicated the Iran matter coming before the Council later this month.
In the end, we had little choice thanks to Olmer's timidity.
4 - Clavos
So, as you say, we have a pause.
Given the incredible amounts of weaponry poised on both sides of the "pause," and all of the eggs now in the UN basket, the future looks worse than ever.
One wonders why Israel agreed to the cease-fire.
5 - Rohan Venkat
Yes, absolutely, Hezbollah should be destroyed. But, the problem in the way Israel is doing it is, and this is always the problem, that countless innocent civilians are also dying in southern Lebanon.
6 - Walrus
Rohan, what do you propose Israel do instead? They essentially have the choice of letting themselves be complacent targets or going in and getting Hezbollah, which automatically means civilians will die. If you know of any effective way of stopping Hezbollah without killing civilians, please tell us.
Rick, unfortunately we are also seeing a rise of very revolting anti-muslimism (? no word for that yet, that I know of). If you need to see it to believe it, take a look at the commenters on any number of right-wing blogs. An incredible number of people seem to incapable of understanding the concept of individual guilt and they blame all Muslims everywhere in the most bigoted language you can imagine. It is stomach-churning.
7 - Dave Nalle
Odd, Walrus. I visit all sorts of blogs on the left and the right, and while I find lots of virulent anti-semitism on the left leaning blogs I've encountered virtually no general 'anti-muslimism' on the more right wing blogs. There's a lot of criticism of terrorism and of Islam's more militant inclinations, but those are reasonable reactions - nothing any rational person could call racist. The worst things I've seen said about Muslims as a group have been on sites run by Muslims living in the Middle East.
Dave
8 - Walrus
Sorry, Dave, didn't think to make a bibliography. No, I'm not trying to be cute here. I'd point you in the right direction if I could remember where they were. I'll try to keep an eye out and get back to you. And please note that the comments were generally where the problems were, not in the initial postings. Comment sections seem to encourage lunatic fringes, like talk shows...
9 - Bliffle
I'm surprised that anti-muslim sentiment is so subdued.
10 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Walrus,
When you live in someone's gunsight, it pays to distinguish the enemy in his variations.
Islam per se is not bad and need not be an enemy at all, but the Wahhabi who have hijacked Islam are evil. Their basic prescription is "my way or the grave". They have spread like so many species of insects, using the oil money of the Saudi monarchy as the headwind to allow them to spread and infest the Moslem world with their hatred.
Too many people who should know better dismiss this as all idiocy, and forget that their own world-view is not the only world-view. If it were just contributors to an on-line magazine, that would not be serious. But when intelligence officers insist on stamping their materialistic "let's make a deal" world view on everything in sight, this is a problem, a serious problem that endangers all of us.
11 - Bush
what anonsense,the savages israelies are commiting war crimes against lebonanses and palestinians,and here the racist pro-zionism article is talking about myths,i dont know where do they get there informations from
12 - we must remove the savage zionism entity
its american war,the israelies are just tools as usual,fuctional entity for west interests
13 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
@ comment #11: "Bush," you write like a Frenchman. Unfortuntately, you are reading the truth. Sorry if it displeases you.
@ comment #12: Unfortunately the State of Israel is nothing more than an American stalking horse these days. We die fighting American wars and get puled back by the balls when we are close to any kind of victory.
14 - Clavos
#s 11 and 12 were written by the same person.
15 - Walrus
Ruvy, I quite agree with you. My problem is when people don't distinguish the variations.
I mean, if we were having a massive problem with IRA terrorists, it would be quite wrong to develop a hatred of Catholics in general, or fair-skinned freckled ones. Wahhabis have proven their virulence; but that's no reason to hate every Muslim. At that point we are buying into the terrorist mentality - that the mere fact you belong to a particular group makes you worthy of hatred and worse. I refuse to lower myself to their level.
16 - Dave Nalle
#s 11 and 12 were written by the same person.
And it's hard to tell which is worse, his use of English or his ability to form coherent thoughts.
Dave
17 - Someone that can count
Ah can you analyze some simple arithmetic for me:
Number of Lebanese killed 1,000 (mostly civilians)
Number of Israelis killed 100 (mostly soldiers)
-Perhaps you need to redefine what terrorism means, because according to your definition killing innocent civilians is not terrorism.
18 - Dave Nalle
Killing innocent civilians on purpose is terrorism, regardless of the number.
Killing innocent civilians unintentionally while trying to achieve some other objective is not terrorism regardless of the number.
It's really kind of simple.
Bombing a bus and killing one person = terrorism.
Crashing a bus by accident and killing 100 = accident.
Did that clarify it for you at all?
Dave
19 - troll
so...intentionally blowing up a bus full of innocent civilians in order to get one very bad guy on board would be...
unfortunate - ?
troll
20 - durian
in the eyes of the rest of the world,the terrorist is the israelis.their lack of concern of lebanese civilians is unbelievable.they bombed hospital,ambulances,U.N.post,civilian apartments.if that is not a terrorist mentality,then they are gods.
21 - Nancy
I'm with Bliffle #9: I should think there'd be a lot more anti-muslim sentiment surfacing in the Western countries, especially after this latest attempted terror attack involving the airlines. I was expecting at the least the native Brit rowdy elements to be out firing up mosques & roughing up muslims, especially Pakis. Usually the Brit hooligan can't wait for an excuse to go out & punch someone silly between soccer matches. Ditto for here in the states. The only incident I've heard of so far has been a guy who took up a [peaceful] protest outside the election offices of a muslim candidate for office here in MD.
I wish I knew how to figure out what goes on in the heads of muslims. I don't understand why they can't seem to understand that the actions of the extremists label them all. I don't understand why they can't seem to understand that they themselves are responsible for a good deal of their own misery & bad rep by the sheer stupidity of their actions, either by attacking others, or by shielding & supporting the attackers. They can't seem to understand why "the world" hates them & why they're regarded with suspicion & increasing discrimination - yet it ain't fundamentalist buddhists out there bombing innocent civilians, or plotting to blow up airliners. What part of it don't they connect? Are they so stupid? Surely not.
If fundamentalist christians were out there bombing & carrying out terrorist attacks, you bet your bootie I'd turn in any christian I heard of even entertaining notions of participating, simply because public safety & law & order far outweigh any other consideration. Even the Unibomber's own family, as soon as they suspected he was the subject, turned him in without hesitation or delay, as they should have. Apparently not so with muslims. Having read the Qu'ran, I suspect the religion itself is what creates such blind barbarism; it's a very barbaric book.
22 - Bliffle
I think part of the problem with muslims is that they are over-protected and spoiled as children (well, the boys, anyhow). I heard a muslim 30 year old whining about how his granfather lost his miserable little house in 1948 when the UN established Israel. If that's the worst thing that happed to you, and almost 60 years ago, you really have led a sheltered life. You oughta try going thru a California divorce! Or butting heads with a major US corporation in court over a broken contract. Or losing a child in an auto accident. Or to suicide. Or having an ex-wife disappear a couple children for years. Or being slandered by a viscious gossip. Or having a business go broke because of an employees embezzlement. Or...
All these things and more have happened to friends and relatives of mine. And maybe you and yours too. They don't collapse and become suicide bombers. They weep, and when the weeping is over they start out again, wiser and more careful. They struggle back. In the USA, for a man, that is what being a man means: redemption and recovery. Not swaggering, not spoiled-rotten petulance, not bullying the weak, but mastering yourself and improving yourself. Isn't that, after all, what 'jihad' was supposed to mean?
23 - Someone that can count
This comment Nancy’s generalizations:
I must ask, do you typically generalize and group individual human beings as one monolithic entity that thinks the same way about differing issues? 1/5 of all humans on this planet are Muslims…so what your telling me is your brilliant brain has probed all of their thoughts and determined that they support terrorism. I have known over 20 Muslims over my lifetime and know for a certainty that neither of them supports what the fanatics are doing. How do I know this? I asked them. So let me ask you…How many Muslims have you talked to to arrive at your brilliant conclusion?
24 - Someone that can count
response to Dave # 18
So you strongly feel that the United States is a terrorist country?
-Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed intentionally & with the foreknowledge that their will be thousands of civilian deaths.
-Many villages in Vietnam were napalmed or bombed in their entirety
-With the help of the British entire German cities (like Dresden) were firebombed…killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.
-Any bombings from the air of cities or targets within cities, “kills innocent civilians on PURPOSE”. The Israeli’s knew full-well the estimate of civilian casualties that they would cause before attacking Lebanon, so the killed innocent civilians on purpose to try to achieve their military objective.
-So do you care to change your definition or maybe your preconceptions? I suspect not.
25 - Martin Lav
"anti-Semitism raising its ugly head not just in the Middle East but in Europe and America as well."
This card is always played and yet it's about occupation of land and always will be.