Excellent article.
And of course, it comes from a foreign source.
This is what I think of when I imagine a simple factual article. This discusses the run up to the Lebaneese conflict, going back to 2000. This (as anyone familiar with the politics of this region) is NOT a response to just the kidnapping of 2 Israili troops.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1839244,00.html
This is what I think of when I imagine a simple factual article. This discusses the run up to the Lebaneese conflict, going back to 2000. This (as anyone familiar with the politics of this region) is NOT a response to just the kidnapping of 2 Israili troops.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1839244,00.html
posted by Voodoo at 3:45 PM
4 Comments:
This is an excerpt from an e-mail from a friend of mine who is there. In Israel. If you want the truth, this may be closer than you will get from a news source. Granted, he does have his own POV, as he is Jewish, and that may put a slant on it. But I wanted this POV to be represented.
Israel is portrayed as the aggressor for trying to root out 13,000 rockets aimed at its border, by a group who makes it very well known that it's only goal is the complete and utter eradication of Israel? It's like Mike Tyson pulling his arm back and saying, "I'm gonna kill you!" and kicking him in the balls, and bystanders crying "hey that's not fair!"
But that's okay -- the UN will come to the rescue and put an end to this senseless cycle of violence. Like they were supposed to for the last six years? Why are they all of a sudden so interested now? But wait-- they did, to be fair have observers in Lebanon, and they were excellent at that. So excellent, they even have a *tape* from the abduction of 3 or 4 soldiers by Hizbollah (from Israel), from 2000. The UN angrily denied the existence of the tape for almost a full year.
Everyone is entitleed to their opinion... and I appreciate that the above poster is clear that this if from and Israeli.
I found information about the mentioned tape. It's below.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/kidnap.html
I see both sides to this item. If the UN believed Israel would have reacted the way they did in the recent conflict, then the UN acted in the interest of innocent Lebaneese. However, Israel had the right to know anything that pertained to the recovery of their citizens. Tough judgement call. One I'm glad I didn't have to make.
He's not an Israeli. He's an American. Born and raised. And usually tends to be rather liberal in his views, just FYI.
But while he has been in Israel for about six years, he has seen and been around things that I couldn't begin to imagine. He had a coffee shop that he went to every morning. One morning, he went as usual, drank his coffee, walked out the door, and it was blown up by a suicide bomber about one minute later.
He tells me about the Israeli army, blanketing their next target with leaflets, essentially, so that the innocent civilians can clear out before the army attacks. This gives Hizbollah the opportunity to set ambushes, attackes, whatever they choose. But Israel's interest is not in harming the Lebanese citizens. Israel's interest is in defending itself against a terrorist group bent on wiping Israel off the map.
A couple more excerpts from my friend:
"And yes, the situation in Lebanon has turned to shit, and it's terrible and awful to see.
. . . the UN force which has been there since 2000 has done nothing but watch . . . Hizbollah in its attacks. Soldiers (in Israel) were attacked by Hizbollah, and the UN filmed it (like a snuff film). The UN angrily denied the existence of the tape for almost a full YEAR before saying, "oops. we do have that. sorry!". So you can see why Israel puts so little faith in the UN.
From 1948 through 1990, HALF of all UN General Assembly resolutions have been against Israel and TWO THIRDS of the Security Council resolutions. Is Israel really the biggest problem on the planet?
And the body count mounts and the utter senselessness of war is disquieting. Over what? Land? Ideology? Power? War really is hell, and a very ugly Horseman. Nobody seems to have any answers."
Amen to that. War is rarely the answer. I've never understood (as I've said before in my blog) why one sees the need to kill over much of anything.
Thank you so much for your feedback and opinions.
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