The Daily Grind - ISRAEL @ WAR EDITION - 21st of Tammuz / 17th of July

As everyone is well aware by now, Israel is at war - on two fronts. Jameel at The Muqata has been doing an excellent job of providing up-to-the-minute coverage, and David from Treppinwitz has a great list of ways we all can be helping out, regardless of where one happens to be, as does Elder of Zion.

That being said, there have been a number of exceptional articles of late that highlight important (and perhaps overlooked) issues that supporters of the Jewish People and State should be considering during these difficult days.

On to the articles.

1) Column One: Israel's premeditated market failure - Caroline Glick - Jerusalem Post

This article was written on May 31st, 2006 (Hat Tip: IMRA)

On Monday, Ha'aretz reported darkly, "Iran has transferred to Lebanon rockets that reach Beersheba..."The first time that a shipment of Iranian Zelzal rockets to Hizbullah was reported was in early 2003. Just as this week it took the media one day to forget about this Zelzal shipment, in 2003, the reports received almost no attention. At the time the Israeli media and the government were busy convincing the Israeli public to support the road map which was then being written by Yossi Beilin and Tony Blair...

But the Israel media - which was the engine behind the Barak government's decision to retreat from south Lebanon six years ago - have no interest in informing the public of the magnitude of its error...

If the media had any interest in serving their primary function of informing the Israeli public about its current situation, they could ask why Israel is sitting back and allowing Hizbullah to acquire the means to attack all of Israel's major cities. If we know that the missiles were delivered, why didn't we blow them up at the airport or in their silos?

Excellent question, to which, Labor MK, Matan Vilani provides the answer, found in the next article...

2) MK Matan Vilnai: Israel could not deal with rockets until hit by them - Aaron Lerner - IMRA

Labor MK Matan Vilnai explained in a live interview on Channel Two Television this afternoon that Israel knew about the dangers of the rockets held by Hezbollah for years but was unable to act against them until they were used against Israel.

The program anchor did not ask Vilnai if this means that Israel will only be able to act against Iran after a successful nuclear attack on the Jewish State.

3) We need a Nasrallah - Aluf Benn - Ha'aretz

(This article was written just a few days prior to Hebollah's attack on Israel's northern border).

It is enough to see what is happening in Lebanon. The moment Hezbollah took control over the south of the country and armed itself with thousands of Katyushas and other rockets, a stable balance of deterrence was created on both sides of the border. The withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from Lebanon in 2000 was made possible not only because of the daring of then prime minister Ehud Barak, but also thanks to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who conducts a policy of "one law and one weapon" on the other side.

Nasrallah hates Israel and Zionism no less than do the Hamas leaders, Shalit's kidnappers and the Qassam squads. But as opposed to them - he has authority and responsibility, and therefore his behavior is rational and reasonably predictable. Under the present conditions, that's the best possible situation. Hezbollah is doing a better job of maintaining quiet in the Galilee than did the pro-Israeli South Lebanese Army.

Ha'aretz is "on the money" once again, just as they were when they supported the Oslo Accords, the "Disengagement", giving the "Palestinians" guns...

4) Israel - Out of Control? - Joseph Farah - World Net Daily

If you rely on the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Associated Press for your news, it would be easy to get the impression that Israel is out of control – wantonly killing Lebanese and Palestinian civilians and provoking a larger conflict in the Middle East...

Of course, if striking directly at the terrorists who launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians in the previous three days and who struck inside Israel's border, kidnapping two soldiers, means assaulting Beirut, I guess that would be accurate...

How should a civilized nation respond to terrorist attacks within its borders? How did the U.S. respond after Sept. 11, 2001? Should civilized nations respond with force only equal to that which was used by its enemies? Or is it legitimate and proper for civilized countries to respond with overwhelming force – to discourage future attacks, wipe out those responsible and deter future attacks?

Well worth reading the entire article.

5) We deserve the Qassams and the Katyushas - Nadav Shragai - Ha'aretz

The hundreds of Qassams and Katyushas that have landed in the south and north are a natural response coming from those who, over the years, have grown used to believing that Israel regards the thousands of mortars and Qassams on the inhabitants of Gush Katif as nothing more than rain.

The kidnapping of the soldiers was practically obligatory from someone who understands that "deterrence," a much-favored term used by many Israelis, was a kind of self-delusion, largely virtual, and that Israeli prisoners, for those who swore they would "not get down on the knees," are worth a few hundred terrorists.

Hezbollah and its Palestinian pupils internalized this and made note of it. After the wars against terror, like the one going on now, come the retreats, and then more wars, which lead to more retreats. Terror sows and then reaps. Fact: The blood of the dead and wounded had yet to dry and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was already making clear that... he will undertake another unilateral move - The "convergence" (plan)...

The truth? We earned it honestly as a nation of gullible fools, who over and over followed the illusions of quiet, peace and demography sold buy its leaders. We deserve it. However, the influence of the recent events has moved something, maybe temporarily, but something has moved. Suddenly, there's not enough room on board for all those who are disengagement opponents...

"We told you so" should be shouted out bitterly now, not to win medals but to prevent Olmert and his government from dragging us into another adventure with a foregone conclusion. The law of disengagement, as Uri Elitzur recently wrote, may say its goal is to lead to a better security reality, but reality is the devil's work; it behaves according to common sense and not the Knesset's decisions.

G-d, please save us from the madness and folly of our leaders - the Jewish People and State deserve better. Our eyes are turned to you.

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