IDF having some fun

From LGF:

IDF's Mad Skillz

A small victory on the electronic front lines: IDF hacks Nasrallah’s TV channel. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

After repeated Israeli efforts to destroy Hizbullah’s al-Manar television station have failed, an IDF intelligence unit succeeded this week in hacking the station’s live broadcasts, planting Israeli PR messages in the transmissions.

The al-Manar channel regularly airs juicy propaganda against Israel, including reports of “heroic” and “successful” operations by Hizbullah fighters against IDF special forces.

However, this weekend the IDF prepared a surprise for the Lebanese and Arab viewers of the channel: The broadcast was interrupted and caricatures of Nasrallah appeared on the screen, accompanied by captions reading: “Your days are numbered” and “Nasrallah, your time is up. Soon you won’t be with us anymore.”

The tragic result of using Human Shields

Israellycool writes about the human shields used by Hezbollah, 54 of whom were killed as a result of an IAF strike (details are still emerging):

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has posted footage showing Hizbullah firing rockets from behind buildings in Qana, as well as this explanation:

This morning, July 30, 2006, the IAF attacked missile launch sites in the area of the village of Qana, an area from which hundreds of missiles were launched towards the city of Nahariya and the communities in the western Galilee.

The IDF will defend the citizens of Israel from attacks by the Hizbullah and the responsibility for any civilian casualties rests with the Hizbullah who have turned the suburbs of Lebanon into a war front by firing missiles from within civilian areas.

Residents in this region and specifically the residents of Qana were warned several days in advance to leave the village. Eighteen Israeli civilians have been killed and over 400 have been wounded by these rocket attacks which have disrupted the lives of tens of thousands of Israeli citizens.

The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians, but this is the result of Hizbullah terrorist organization's contemptible use of Lebanese civilians as human shields.

They have also posted an example of one of the leaflets dropped to the residents of Qana 5 days ago, asking them to leave the area.

"To all citizens south of the Litani River

Due to the terror activities being carried out against the State of Israel from within your villages and homes, the IDF is forced to respond immediately against these activities, even within your villages. For your safety! We call upon you to evacuate your villages and move north of the Litani River."

The Vocabulary of Untruth

Victor Davis Hanson on the new vocabulary of the 'conflict'. He's awesome. Read it all.

The Vocabulary of Untruth
Words take on new meanings as Israel struggles to survive.

...

“Disproportionate” means that the Hezbollah aggressors whose primitive rockets can’t kill very many Israeli civilians are losing, while the Israelis’ sophisticated response is deadly against the combatants themselves. See “excessive.”

Anytime you hear the adjective “excessive,” Hezbollah is losing. Anytime you don’t, it isn’t.
...

The other desideratum is the destruction of Israel itself. Iran promised to wipe Israel off the map, and then gave Hezbollah thousands of missiles to fulfill that pledge. In response, the world snored. If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the “international” community would urge “restraint” — and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, “Life goes on.”

And for them, it would very well.

'Disproportionate' in What Moral Universe?

Charles Krauthammer is simply amazing. Here is his latest article (in full, emphasis mine) about how Israel's response is anything but 'disproportionate'. (Hat tip: Israel Matzav)

'Disproportionate' in What Moral Universe?

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, July 28, 2006; Page A25

What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security?

What other country sustains 1,500 indiscriminate rocket attacks into its cities -- every one designed to kill, maim and terrorize civilians -- and is then vilified by the world when it tries to destroy the enemy's infrastructure and strongholds with precision-guided munitions that sometimes have the unintended but unavoidable consequence of collateral civilian death and suffering?

To hear the world pass judgment on the Israel-Hezbollah war as it unfolds is to live in an Orwellian moral universe. With a few significant exceptions (the leadership of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and a very few others), the world -- governments, the media, U.N. bureaucrats -- has completely lost its moral bearings.

The word that obviates all thinking and magically inverts victim into aggressor is "disproportionate," as in the universally decried "disproportionate Israeli response."

When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, it did not respond with a parallel "proportionate" attack on a Japanese naval base. It launched a four-year campaign that killed millions of Japanese, reduced Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki to cinders, and turned the Japanese home islands into rubble and ruin.

Disproportionate? No. When one is wantonly attacked by an aggressor, one has every right -- legal and moral -- to carry the fight until the aggressor is disarmed and so disabled that it cannot threaten one's security again. That's what it took with Japan.

Britain was never invaded by Germany in World War II. Did it respond to the Blitz and V-1 and V-2 rockets with "proportionate" aerial bombardment of Germany? Of course not. Churchill orchestrated the greatest air campaign and land invasion in history, which flattened and utterly destroyed Germany, killing untold innocent German women and children in the process.

The perversity of today's international outcry lies in the fact that there is indeed a disproportion in this war, a radical moral asymmetry between Hezbollah and Israel: Hezbollah is deliberately trying to create civilian casualties on both sides while Israel is deliberately trying to minimize civilian casualties, also on both sides.

In perhaps the most blatant terror campaign from the air since the London Blitz, Hezbollah is raining rockets on Israeli cities and villages. These rockets are packed with ball bearings that can penetrate automobiles and shred human flesh. They are meant to kill and maim. And they do.

But it is a dual campaign. Israeli innocents must die in order for Israel to be terrorized. But Lebanese innocents must also die in order for Israel to be demonized, which is why Hezbollah hides its fighters, its rockets, its launchers, its entire infrastructure among civilians. Creating human shields is a war crime. It is also a Hezbollah specialty.

On Wednesday CNN cameras showed destruction in Tyre. What does Israel have against Tyre and its inhabitants? Nothing. But the long-range Hezbollah rockets that have been raining terror on Haifa are based in Tyre. What is Israel to do? Leave untouched the launch sites that are deliberately placed in built-up areas?

Had Israel wanted to destroy Lebanese civilian infrastructure, it would have turned out the lights in Beirut in the first hour of the war, destroying the billion-dollar power grid and setting back Lebanon 20 years. It did not do that. Instead it attacked dual-use infrastructure -- bridges, roads, airport runways -- and blockaded Lebanon's ports to prevent the reinforcement and resupply of Hezbollah. Ten thousand Katyusha rockets are enough. Israel was not going to allow Hezbollah 10,000 more.

Israel's response to Hezbollah has been to use the most precise weaponry and targeting it can. It has no interest, no desire to kill Lebanese civilians. Does anyone imagine that it could not have leveled south Lebanon, to say nothing of Beirut? Instead, in the bitter fight against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, it has repeatedly dropped leaflets, issued warnings, sent messages by radio and even phone text to Lebanese villagers to evacuate so that they would not be harmed.

Israel knows that these leaflets and warnings give the Hezbollah fighters time to escape and regroup. The advance notification as to where the next attack is coming has allowed Hezbollah to set up elaborate ambushes. The result? Unexpectedly high Israeli infantry casualties. Moral scrupulousness paid in blood. Israeli soldiers die so that Lebanese civilians will not, and who does the international community condemn for disregarding civilian life?

IDF Successes - Keep it up!

An Israeli soldier waves a tattered Hezbollah flag as he returns from fighting around the southern Lebanese village of Marun Al-Ras... (Photo AFP/Yoav Lemmer) (Hat tip Israellycool)

May God keep our soldiers safe and help them continue to succeed.

A miracle find in Ireland

Hold on to your socks, here's an amazing, timely discovery of a thousand-year-old Tehillim (Psalms) book last week in Ireland. It's in Latin, and it is stuck open to Psalm 83. So? What's the big deal? Here is Psalm 83:

1. A psalm, a song of Asaph.

2. O God, have no silence, do not be silent and do not be still, O God.

3. For behold, Your enemies stir, and those who hate You raise their heads.

4. Against Your people they plot cunningly, and they take counsel against Your protected ones.

5. They said, "Come, let us destroy them from [being] a nation, and the name of Israel will no longer be remembered."

6. For they have taken counsel with one accord; against You they form a pact.

7. The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites.

8. Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

9. Also Assyria joined them; they were the arm of the children of Lot forever.

10. Do to them as [to] Midian; as [to] Sisera, as [to] Jabin in the brook Kishon.

11. They were destroyed in En-Dor; they were [as] dung on the ground.

12. Make them, their nobles, as Oreb and as Zeeb, and as Zebah and as Zalmuna all their princes,

13. Who said, "Let us inherit for ourselves the dwellings of God."

14. My God, make them like thistles, like stubble before the wind.

15. As a fire that burns in a forest and as a flame that burns mountains.

16. So will You pursue them with Your tempest, and with Your whirlwind You will terrify them.

17. Fill their faces with shame, and they will seek Your countenance, O Lord.

18. Let them be ashamed and terrified forever; let them be disgraced and perish.

19. Let them know that You-Your name alone is the Lord, Most High over all the earth.

May Hashem help us through these tough, trying, and momentous times. (Hat tip: LGF)

When History bites back.

Here is a great post by JoshuaPundit, When History bites back. It is so good, I will repost it in its entirety here. (Hat tip: Israel Matzav)

Once, there was a small nation created by international consensus from the ashes of a world war. It included two main nationalities and it was the only free nation in the region, surrounded by larger neighbors who resented it and coveted its land, which they felt rightfully belonged to them. In spite of that, it was a prosperous and free republic, and its citizens enjoyed one of the highest living standards in that part of the world.

As a result of the hostile attitude of its neighbor countries, this tiny country had developed a well trained and superbly equipped military, with advanced weapons and its own arms industry. It was also allied with the Western democracies both by its values and by strategic and practical necessity.

One of this small country`s warlike neighbors had a number of its former natives in a part of the tiny nation and began orchestrating riots and other terrorist activity among them in an effort to subvert and conquer their neighbor. When the government of the small country attempted to restore order, the larger nation accused it of violating its former nationals' human rights and committing an "occupation."

A propaganda campaign was begun, claiming that the small country had committed "war crimes" and violated international law. Huge, violent demonstrations were organized by leaders of the larger nation to agitate for the "independence" of their former countrymen.

The larger nation claimed that it could not control the popular anger in the "street" and that it would be forced to go to war and plunge the region into chaos. The case was frequently made that the small country was "racist" and should never have been created at all.


A quartet of nations, including the Western democracies the small nation was allied with, came together to find a solution and a peace plan was created -- without the input or agreement of anyone from the small country.

The peace plan involved a trade of land for peace, with the former nationals of the larger nation to have an independent state on a large part of the small country`s land.

No one in the Quartet would have considered repatriating the natives of the larger nation back to their original home country, or giving them some of the larger nation`s territory to live on.

When the leaders and diplomats of the small nation protested at this one-sided settlement, they were bullied into acceptance with threats of withdrawal of all aid and military assistance by the very western allies they had counted on for support in preserving their freedom. Instead, they were offered guarantees for the security of their remaining territory.

They were likewise abandoned by the international body that had brought them into existence in the first place. They reluctantly accepted the Quartet`s diktat, counting on the guarantees they were given for their security and territorial integrity. Certain politicians in the small country were even happy at the settlement, since the "occupation" was ended and peace preserved. And the international community congratulated them on making sacrifices and bold moves for peace.

After Munich, Czechoslovakia was forced to withdraw to indefensible borders, leaving a large part of its superb defenses and arms works in the hands of "Slovakia," a German satellite.

Less than a year later Slovakia became Germany`s bridge for invasion, and the tiny country was crushed between Hitler`s Germany and Pilsudski`s Poland. The international community did nothing to honor its guarantees, nothing whatever...and alone, without a single voice being raised in protest, the Czechs were crushed.

When the Western democracies threw Czechoslovakia to the wolves they eliminated Hitler`s worry about a strong adversary on his eastern border, paved the way for the Comintern Pact with Russia and virtually guaranteed World War Two. Had the West stood by Czechoslovakia, Hitler would never have dared to move.

Those who favor bullying Israel into a so-called peace settlement would do well to remember the last time the West betrayed a strong ally to preserve "peace in our time." They might want to consider what a victory of this kind for the forces of Islamic fascism might mean to the West and preserving its freedom.

And the Israelis would do well to remember that all the security guarantees in the world are no substitute for defensible borders and a strong military. And that `security' is not something that can be left to others.

History bites back, especially to those who forget its lessons.

Booyah!

Via Ynet:

Top Hizbullah official: Group didn't expect Israel to react so strongly

A senior Hizbullah official has said the group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to the capture of two Israeli soldiers. (AP)

Which reminds me of a recent Cox & Forkum cartoon:

Update: From Jpost:

A senior Hizbullah official said Tuesday the guerrillas did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of the two IDF soldiers last month.

Mahmoud Komati, the deputy chief of the Hizbullah politburo, also said that his group will not lay down arms.

"The truth is - let me say this clearly - we didn't even expect (this) response.... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati.

He said Hizbullah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel.

Things that make you go hmmm....

Here's an interesting comment by Jim in Virginia in an LGF discussion on IDF's advancement on Hezbollah:

#71

Jim in Virginia 7/25/2006 09:44AM PDT

comment over at Adventures of Chester

Hezballah is using up the ordinance that Iran expected to use to deter and punish Israel if it attacked its nuke facilities.

There is speculation that Iran planned Hizbollah's attack knowing the Israelis would respond and hoping to divert attention from their nuclear plans. Maybe it's tinfoil hat time- but what if the IDF and the US are playing along to take attention from our preparations for an attack on Iran?
Neutering Hizbollah and Hamas means one (or two) fewer fronts to worry about should we move on the mullahs.
I'm not sure US foreign policy is that devious but OTOH I would never play poker with GWB.

Michael Yon - 'Jihad'

From Michael Yon's latest dispatch: Jihad.

Last week, about 200 people were killed and 700 wounded by simultaneous terrorist bombings in Mumbai. India is the most unlikely democracy in the world, with its amalgam of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and others. During each of my long excursions there, I was amazed at how the peace holds together. But it does, mostly, and India, despite many obstacles, continues to develop its place in the global new world. Yet our Indian friends have long suffered at the hands of militant Islam, demonstrating this week again the often overlooked fact that nobody suffers worse at the hands of militant Muslims than other Muslims.

India is overwhelmingly Hindu, though about 150 million Muslims live there, which equals nearly the entire population of Pakistan. Most of these Indian Muslims are peaceful, yet clusters of militants in Pakistan, Kashmir and India keep picking, picking, picking. The subcontinent is one of the most dangerous places on Earth for festering wounds because India and Pakistan both possess nuclear weapons. We don’t have to worry about India, but only a weak thread keeps those weapons out of dangerous hands in Pakistan. One thing is certain: Jews in Israel are not to blame for the murderous rage of militant Muslims in India, and India is at this hour blaming Pakistan.

The Russians regularly bleed at the hands of Islamic militants. Terrorists invaded a school in Beslan, holding more than a thousand students, teachers and staff hostage. When the shooting and explosions ended, more than 350 were dead and more than 700 wounded; most of the victims were children. The terrorists may have been addicted to heroin or morphine; the Russians say drugs were found in their blood. That many terrorists are heavy drug users, particularly as they approach the date with their own planned death, is not widely known, but our troops in Iraq have found drug use to be part of the fact pattern of homicide bomb attacks. Whether any narcotic substance was used to grease the slope to slaughtering children, the Jews in Israel had no connection to these attacks.

Even China has a cluster of militant Muslims who have left bomb craters for footprints. The Euro-rhetoric that claims our foreign policy is to blame for the rise in terrorism cannot account for the problems in China.

Thailand, in the southern region, finds peaceful Buddhists suffering from the bombs of militant Islam.

The Jews in Israel cannot be blamed for the bombing in Bali, Indonesia that killed about 200 tourists, including my friend Beata Pawlak, in one attack.

Over in the Philippines: much trouble, more bombs, and corpses and crime scenes smeared with the bloody rhetoric of militant Islam. The Jews in Israel or our support for them did not cause any of this.

Bold leap to Canada, one of the most peaceful and tolerant nations, but hardly a second home for the world Jews; attacks were narrowly averted recently. Down to New York, which might qualify for that homeland claim, buildings collapse. Pennsylvania, people crater into the earth. Washington D.C., hijacked bodies slam into the Pentagon. Bin Laden has been on the record saying he murders because infidels occupy holy land. Al-Qaeda mentions Israel as an afterthought, when reaction to their attacks in the world seems for a brief moment almost unified and resolved. But television cameras captured the footage of militant Palestinian Muslims cheering the news of the attacks and chanting victoriously in the streets.

Across the Atlantic, our friends in Europe are frequent victims. In the south: BOOM! Madrid, another metro hit, like in India. London: BOOM! Metro and bus attacks: similar to India, similar to Israel, similar to France.

Germany and France have been hit again and again. Paris may not have been burning but most of France recently cowered in the face of the flames of militant Muslim youth.

Danish people, who pride themselves on tolerance, were burned out of embassy because a cartoonist depicted Mohammed in ways intended to be comical, if cynical. The results were bloody. American flags were burned over Danish cartoons, and many people could not help mentioning “foreign policy” and Israel to excuse barbaric behavior, though the cause of the riots and deaths was militant reaction to a cartoon from Europe.

In peaceful Holland, a Dutch filmmaker dared raise a questioning hand, with the following result:

On the morning of Nov. 2 in a busy street in east Amsterdam, a 26-year-old Dutch Moroccan named Mohammed Bouyeri pulled out a gun and shot controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was riding a bike to his office. Van Gogh hit the ground and stumbled across the street to a nearby building. He didn’t make it. As the Moroccan strode toward him, van Gogh shouted, “We can still talk about it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it.” But the Moroccan didn’t stop. He shot him again, slit van Gogh’s throat and stuck a letter to his chest with a knife. He was slaughtered like an animal, witnesses said. “Cut like a tire,” said one. Van Gogh, the Dutch master’s great-grand-nephew, was 47 years old.

[Salon.com—The silencing of Theo van Gogh]

Unfortunately, Mr. van Gogh did not grasp the nature of this philosophy: “We can still talk about it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it.” Only bad math would attribute US foreign policy toward Israel into van Gogh’s murder.

East, over to Iran, is an insane President who states that the Holocaust never occurred. He would like to make a Holocaust today by destroying Israel, and his scientists and engineers are working on the nuclear bombs to do it. At the current rate, this is scheduled to be the first national-suicide attack, where an entire nation straps a nuclear weapon(s) onto its body and then slams into Israel. If this day comes to pass, countries like Syria and Iran will suddenly cease to exist.

Consider now the question of Israel. Islamic terrorists often cite US support for Israel as the cause of their anger. They are lying. They don’t care about the Palestinians. The Palestinians are pawns and excuses. Saddam Hussein “cared” about Palestinians, and he focused his charity by giving bonuses to the families of homicide bombers. His sponsorship of terrorism welled up from ancient land disputes between Arabs and Jews. But he used Palestinian pawns to attack Jews in a desperate ploy to curry favor with Hamas leaders, lest they begin to concern themselves with all their Shia brethren piled into mass graves in the Iraq desert.

The enemy next door

While it is no secret that many American Muslims are sympathetic towards the plight of terrorist organizations, it is very disconcerting that they are allowed to raise funds and support Hezbollah unfettered. Counterterrorism.org has a post on the Dearborn, MI concentration of the fund-raising, and Michelle Malkin has more. (by the way, Dearborn is a 15 minute drive from my house.)

...there is convincing evidence that a Hezbollah-linked charity, with direct ties to the group’s spiritual leader in Lebanon, is currently operating in Dearborn, Michigan.
...
Despite Al-Mabarrat-USA’s direct link to a Fadlallah-controlled organization, to date, the U.S. branch continues to operate unfettered. In fact, the organization appears to have gained a level of credibility in the U.S. as the Detroit Free Press reported earlier this month that “many Muslims in the region have donated to Al-Mabarrat.”

MM:

Debbie Schlussel has done deep digging on Hezbollah front charity Al Mabarrat Association and its Dearborn, Michigan affiliate, Al Mabarat Charitable Organization.

Her question: "Why do the FBI, ICE, and the Justice Department continue to allow an obvious Hezbollah charity to continue to operate on our shores?"

Poignant moment in Haifa

Shaul Feldman plays piano in his home in Haifa after it was hit by a missile. (photo: Jpost)

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"
- Mel Gibson, Braveheart

Live from an Israeli bunker

A 17-year-old Haifa resident has recently taken up blogging as his way of doing on-site reporting of the war as well as his take on the whole war. Eugene's english is great, and his news is better than a news agency's. I highly recommend you check out his main page: Live from an Israeli bunker, but here is his latest post: Let loose the dogs of war.

Pajamas Media interviewed him, and you can hear it here.

Hezbollah's surprising abilities and equipment

I personally am surprised by how much Hezbollah is hurting the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), and how hard it is for Israel to stop them from shooting high-explosive rockets into Israel's heartland. The military blogs and specialists are also surprised at their capabilities. Here is a two-part post from the Counterterrorism Blog on Hezbollah and their well-trained and well-equipped fighting force - Worst Case Scenario: Part I, Part II.

Lebanese Flight vs. Jewish Flight

While the Lebanese flee their country, 250 Jews from North America have just moved to Israel (Aliyah). It is a beautiful sign of the Jewish faith, hope, and love for the land. May God help us all move there soon.


A new oleh (immigrant) thanking God for bringing him to this day (shehechiyanu).

Rally for Israel Pictures- Southfield (Detroit), Michigan.

I just got back from the rally for Israel in Southfield, Detroit. It was very pleasant, peaceful, and had only a few counter-protesters (they were just kids!) with their Hezbollah flags and swastikas. How sweet. (no pictures of them, sorry! I was too busy steering my family clear).

Here are some pictures of the rally.

The power of video

Here's a video compilation of Israel taking out Hezbolla and Hamas targets recently.



Here's a video of Israel taking out a missile launcher in Gaza (not so recently).

The power of pictures

The Free Republic has some amazing, sad, and moving photos of the war in Israel.

Where to Donate for Israel

Magen David Adom
Friends of the IDF
Yad Sarah
Zaka
State of Israel Bonds
One Family Fund

There are many, many more.

One Nation, With One Heart

Poll: 81 percent back fighting in north

They can not break the Jewish people when we stand together and are united - K'ish echad, b'lev echad - like one person with one heart. That poll is just one of many showing the political and emotional solidarity among Jews across Israel, as well as across the entire world.

In the tefillin, we write the Shema, showing our faith in God as the one, true God. In God's tefillin he has the verse, "Me k'amcha Yisrael, goi echad ba'aretz" - "Who is like you, Israel - a singular nation, in the land". When we Jews stand together, we can not be broken.

Stand with Israel Rally in NYC

Atlas Shrugs has a roundup with lots of great pictures describing the successful and moving rally for Israel in NYC.

Wisdom gained from experience

Big Pharaoh's dad, a former Egyptian general, weighs in:

My dad was a general in the Egyptian army. His comments are always so informative especially if they were related to a war that broke out. He had this to say about Lebanon:

This idiot Nasrallah. He is so funny. He keeps on issuing threats, he has no idea what he is talking about. What Israel is doing to him now is just gentle padding on the shoulders. Abou Shakha dah didn't see what we saw. Israel fought on 3 fronts in 1967 and it was hell. I was there, I saw it all. He has no tanks, no boats, he has nothing except a few toys he got from Iran and it seems abu shakha dah don't know that Israel confronted 3 of the most powerful armies in the region at the same time. If Israel wanted to brutally crush him it can do so in 1 hour.

*Abu Shakha dah literally means "this guy with the piss". We use this slang term to refer to a grown up whose capabilities is of a baby who wets himself.

(hat tip: Israellycool)

United... against Israel

Mere Rhetoric writes on the desperate search for those in the Arab world who don't want to destroy Israel. A few have been found, but the mainstream Arab world remains united... against Israel.

We're almost beginning to suspect that all of the bad arguments against Israeli self-defense are being driven not by clear-headed analysis, but rather as a desperate search for... reasons Israel's shouldn't defend itself.

Israel's Existence at Stake

Charles Krauthammer on the true reasons for the war in Israel. It's not about occupation, or about oppression. It's about the existence of Israel.

But you don't have to be a historian to understand the intention of Israel's enemies. You only have to read today's newspapers.

Exhibit A: Gaza. Just last September, Israel evacuated Gaza completely. It declared the border between Israel and Gaza an international frontier, renouncing any claim to the territory. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory in history. Yet the Gazans continued the war. They turned Gaza into a base for launching rocket attacks against Israel and for digging tunnels under the border to conduct attacks like the one that killed two Israeli soldiers on June 25 and yielded a wounded hostage brought back to Gaza. Israeli tanks have now had to return to Gaza to try to rescue the hostage and suppress the rocket fire.

Exhibit B: South Lebanon. Two weeks later, on July 12, the Lebanese terror organization, Hezbollah, which has representation in the Lebanese parliament and in the Cabinet, launched an attack into Israel that killed eight soldiers and wounded two, who were brought back to Lebanon as hostages.

What's the grievance here? Israel withdrew from Lebanon completely in 2000. It was so scrupulous in making sure that not one square inch of Lebanon was left inadvertently occupied that it asked the U.N. to verify the exact frontier defining Lebanon's southern border and retreated behind it. This "blue line'' was approved by the Security Council, which declared that Israel had fully complied with resolutions demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon.

Grievance satisfied. Yet what happens? Hezbollah has done to South Lebanon exactly what Hamas has done to Gaza: turn it into a military base and terrorist operations center from which to continue the war against Israel. South Lebanon bristles with Hezbollah's ten-thousand Katyusha rockets that put northern Israel under the gun. Fired in the first hours of fighting, just 85 of these killed two Israelis and wounded over 100 in Israel's northern towns.

Over the last six years, Hezbollah has launched periodic raids and rocket attacks into Israel. Israeli retaliation has led to the cessation of these provocations -- until the next time convenient for Hezbollah. Wednesday was such a time. One terror base located in fully unoccupied Arab territory (South Lebanon) attacks Israel in support of another terror base in another fully unoccupied Arab territory (Gaza).

Why? Because occupation was a mere excuse to persuade gullible and historically ignorant Westerners to support the Arab cause against Israel. The issue is, and has always been, Israel's existence. That is what is at stake.

WAR - Haifa hit with rockets

Mere Rhetoric is blogging that Haifa was hit with a rocket. His sources are CNN and Israeli news stources.

his updates:

UPDATE: The mayor of Haifa is now on the news, saying that he saw a missile hit the city with his own eyes.

UPDATE 2: Missile attack on Haifa is now 100% confirmed.

My UPDATE:
Haaretz reports:

Two Hezbollah rockets slammed into the northern port city of Haifa on Thursday evening. The rockets hit the Stella Maris area near French Carmel. There were no reported casualties.

UPDATE 2:
Haaretz flash news:
20:47 Israeli diplomat: Rocket strike on Haifa a `major, major escalation` (Reuters)
20:46 IDF orders all residents of Haifa and the north into bomb shelters (Ch. 10)
20:45 Israeli diplomat in U.S.: Iran, Syria `playing with fire,` will face consequences (Reuters)

Israelis say Hezbollah trying to send kidnapped soldiers to Iran

from Foxnews:

Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday that Lebanese guerillas holding the two soldiers captive are trying to transfer them to Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev did not disclose the source of his information.

2 Israeli civilians dead, over 90 wounded.

Here are just a few of many links.

Jpost

LGF

Pajamas Media

Act of War

Hizbollah has attacked Israeli soldiers on Israeli soil, killing three and kidnapping two. This is nothing short of an Act of War. If these bastards want it, then let's give it to them.

Kidnappings in general by these barbaric animals are unthinkable and horrific. Let's hope and pray that the army can get to the soldiers in time and rescue them alive and well.

From LGF: Lots of information on the attack at Mere Rhetoric and Israel Matzav.

Update: 7 additional soldiers killed in the north.

Why you should fly on private jets:

From LGF:

It's September 10th Again

How unserious have we become about stopping terrorists from attacking airplanes? HPD, airport security at odds over incident. (Hat tip: National Terror Alert.

The report states that a man with a Middle Eastern name and a ticket for a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta shook his head when screeners asked if he had a laptop computer in his baggage, but an X-ray machine operator detected a laptop.

A search of the man’s baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man’s shoes and determined that the “entire soles of both shoes were gutted out.”

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying “the shoes had been tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the explosive itself,” the report says.

The officer retorted, “I thought y’all were trained in this stuff,” TSA officials reported.

Michelle Malkin and Allahpundit have more.

A belated happy birthday, Mr. President

Yesterday was George W. Bush's 60th birthday. Happy birthday! You've done some amazing things throughout your tenure as President, and the Anchoress has quite a roundup of some of them. Thank you.

Non-negotiable

From Cox & Forkum:

Starbucks Anonymous

My name is Yishai and I am addicted to Starbucks.