Israel's border with Lebanon has been blissfully quiet?

Submitted by Doc Tater (United States), Feb 11, 2008 at 13:28

Jennifer,

Thank you for your response. Your contributions to the blog reveal a grasp of history that commands respect.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say Israel's northern border has been "blissfully quiet" since the 2006 action. I follow ynetnews.com for convenient updates on events in Israel, follow counterterrorismblog.org and memri.org and Adkronos International and the Jerusalem Post and BBC (a partial list, to be sure), and have been fortunate enough to correspond with an Israeli I meet here on Dan's Web site.

My understanding, from these sources and others, is that UNIFIL hasn't been doing much except standing aside when Hezbullah does something aggressive in Lebanon (UNIFIL has been useless for years and years), the Lebanese government is basically a puppet in the hands of external influences in Syria and elsewhere that advocate the destruction of Israel and use Hezbullah as an agency to accomplish that end, and the American media has stopped reporting rocket attacks on Israel that are made from Lebanon, but it hasn't been blissfully quiet.

I'd ask you to poke around for some news of Israel that comes from news sources in Israel, and from sources that function with an international editorial slant, and see what you think.

Mubarrak did see Israel respond to the Hezbullah attacks from Lebanon. He saw a divided Israeli people, with a tentative new Prime Minister who had just stepped into a huge power vacuum, launch a sputtering and equivocably committed response to Hezbullah's offensive. He saw Israel standing very, very alone.

Mubarrak saw the international community condemn Israel for defending herself, and saw little applause for Israel's military efforts from the American public. He saw American media "forget" about the fracas long before it was over.

Mubarrak saw how wide-spread anti-Semitism has become in America, and saw America elect more Democrats who would rather worry about glaciers melting in Switzerland than daily atrocities committed against Israel's citizens. He saw apathy as the primary international response to Israel's plight. He saw the "Palestinians" continue to milk the media for sympathy, and get it.

Mubarrak saw the survival of Israel weighed coldly and shrewdly against the price of oil. He saw Ahmedinejad deliver the "invitation to Islam" to American President Bush, which was a public declaration of jihad, and he failed to see that invitation declined or challenged. He saw evidence that "Jew Hatred" is alive and well in the EU.

I think you may be more optimistic than I am.

Doc

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