A bully is a bully

Submitted by Les Lieberman (United States), Jul 20, 2006 at 15:28

The current escalating situation in the Middle East could have been avoided.

When I was a child, I learned that you never back away from a fight. The schoolyard bully will torment and pick at you until either you run or learn to avoid him.

So it is with Israel vs. its tormenters. As long as Israel tried to placate the bully, tried to avoid confrontation, tried to compromise with the bully, the bully was empowered to continue to gnaw at Israel's bones. It is only when you stand up to a bully that the bully fades.

As long as a bully believes he has power over a "weaker" victim, victimization continues. Reason doesn't work. Compromise doesn't work. Innate goodness doesn't work.

I regret the loss of life in Israel as I regret the loss of life in the areas under Hezbollah and Hamas authority, but the reality is, if you do not take the fight to the bully, the bully encroaches more and more on you. Yes, international politics is certainly much more complicated than a schoolyard bully can be, but the result is the same. If through inaction you allow the bully to advance, he advances. If you allow him to adventure, he adventures. If you beat him down, he goes away!

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