What do you think of Israel-Hezbollah conflict last year?

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Londoner In Israel

Michael J - you state that 'If a governmental party kidnaps soldiers and/or launches a military attack into a foreign country that is a declaration of war', and on this rare occasion I must respectfully disagree with you.

Hezbollah was only a small piece of the government coalition, so it was incorrect to instantly treat the entire government as being complicit with what Hezbollah chose to do that day.

Diana has asked what we should have done, so I will answer her. We should have offered Fouad Siniora twenty-four hours to decide whether to dismiss Hezbollah from his government and engage in strenuous efforts to have our soldiers returned to us, or to choose to stand with Hezbollah.

If he had acceded to such a request, I believe we would have had a much better chance of getting our soldiers back than by wildly blowing up roads and bridges in the hope that it would stop them from being taken too far away.

But if he would have been unwilling or too weak to stand against Hezbollah, which is quite likely the case, then at least the world would have seen that we offered Lebanon the chance to do the right thing before we went it alone.

Some Israelis may respond that we shouldn't care what the world thinks of us, but I fundamentally disagree. It matters a great deal

Londoner In Israel

EDIT: Yes Hezbollah may be off our immediate border now, but we are still very much within range of their rockets, and they have re-armed and their level of public support has advanced. The war resulted in hundreds of dead on both sides, huge economic and political damage, and our two soldiers are still missing and probably dead. In the eyes of the world this was the first war we fought but didn't win, so our deterrence was damaged, not enhanced. So I'm sorry, but I cannot concur with you on this.

As for Fouad Siniora, I do not know what if anything he could have done, but we should have at least offered him the chance.

EDIT to LadySuri: Your answer refers to 'the full backing of Canada'. What makes you so sure that Hezbollah acted with the full backing of Lebanon?

The Seeker I

We all Understood that Israel's Army is Weaker than Spider's Web

alexandriaferrari1

Israel is never portrayed for what many psycho zionists believe....war crimes,wanton destruction of homes with occupants still inside. They violate EVERY resolution the UN passes. They have no respect for resolutions so therefore they can kill whom they wish to restore Israel to the entire middle east regions even as far as Egypt. They murder and kill many....there was a massacre in Lebanon by the Israeli's worse than this in the seventies or early eighties mass civilian casualties but you never hear the word "Israel Terrorists". They killed Prime Minister Rabin for meeting with Arafat at a peace summit. Come On. They are violent bloody killers too. They wish to genocide and are currently actively and have been trying to genocide the Palestinians since 1949...Palestine has nothing...Israel has Nukes...which crazy extremist would you be more afraid of?

ÐÅ MÅN ☺ ☻

2, fully trained and able to fight soldeirs for 1000 innocent people? doesnt sound like justice to me, and can I add another question, what was the point of dropping cluster bombs? so people can keeping dieing even after the war is over?

too bad israel still lost

who exactly are the cowards here? the ones who won, or the ones who retreated?

Tabatha, I understand you wouldnt take it, obviously if someone calls ur people cowards, ur gon be mad, i was rather basing on what actully happend than my own opinion

msafwat

Well its no secret that Israel's military interventions in all its neighbouring countries consisted at some point of time pure war crimes... It was documented even before 1948 when Jewish paramilitary Militias were targeting Arab Civilians to drive them out of the land.

Later on more war crimes were committed by Israel in 1967, 1973, 1982 and in the latest intervention last year in Lebanon.

And to all our Israeli friends who have answered this question using erroneous and skewed terms to create false impressions here are some corrections:

Lebanon and Israel are practically at war since 1948... So I don't understand how would the actions of any party (including Hezbollah) can be considered a declaration of war... Wake up, the war has never ended in the first place in order to declare a new one.

Second: enemy soldiers are not "Kidnapped" they are taken as prisoners of war (POWs), which is a legal action under international law. So what makes Israeli soldiers different from all others in order to be called "Kidnapped" or abducted" to the end of this pathetic vocabulary used to describe their situation?

Israel did warn civilians to leave their homes but only after destroying all the ways out... Are you serious?

Israel militarily occupies Lebanese territories (Shebaa farm) and resistance is a liegitimate action untill those territories are free... So before asking Hezbollah to stop its attacks on Israel don't you think giving up occupation and colonization would be a good first step?

How do you expect anyone to talk peace with Israel when Israel insists on occupying Arab lands... I find a serious flow of logic here. How can we think of Israel as a peace loving country when it insists on military occupation and targetting mostly civilians while they describe Arabs as terrorists for resisting occupation using legitimate ways targeting mostly military personnel? What a biased world!!!

Michael J

Hizbullah is not just some terrorist group in Lebanon. They are a member of the government! They lead the opposition! If a governmental party kidnaps soldiers and/or launches a military attack into a foreign country that is a declaration of war my friend. Furthermore, Israel's tactics were completely justified. Israel attacked launch sites located in civilian areas. By the rules of international engagement, those who fire the rockets are responsible for those casualties. A nation has the right to take the fight to where it's attacked from, and because of Hezbollah's terrorist tactics, that means civilian casualties. "Hezbollah emplyed hospitals"? All that is a front - the terrorist aspects of Hebollah are indistinguishable from the supposed humanitarian aspects. Weapon caches have been found in hospitals for example. The infrastructure was bombed because all of it helped support Hezbullah.
How do you propose to fight an enemy who fires rockets from civilian areas? That is a member of the parliament? Simply put, this is war in modern times - there is no way to engage an enemy of this caliber without causing civilian casualties.

EDIT: Siniora has no power to evict Hezbollah. They were a democratically elected party and thus a member of parliament whether the acting prime minister approves or not. A parliamentary party launched an attack is my point, and Siniora has nothing to do with it. Furthermore, asking Siniora to pick sides wouldn't have made getting the soldiers back any easier. He has no influence over Hezbollah, and rather is just another obstacle to the latter's power. Secondly, the fighting was not only about getting the soldiers back - it was also about getting Hezbollah off the border. Bartering is all well and good, but if it doesn't get them off the border than it is only a temporary respite before something happens again. And lastly, everything in the ME is about deterrence. Israel's position is assured by showing its hostile neighbors that it has the power to do what it will. Not attacking back is interpreted as a sign of weakness, and that is an impossibility in this present climate. Showing power once means not having to use it many times, whereas showing weakness forces one to later use the power.

HopelessZ00

Whoo, what is the UN? Its the world, yes the world was against all the war crimes and always has been and forever will be, Israel used illegal cluster bombs , and phosphorus bombs, it was a mess. For what? Because Hezbollah took 2 soldiers? All of that killing? How many prisoners of war from Lebanon are in Israeli jails , for many many many years now, some have even disappeared. In the end it was a tragedy, and a shame, again the same old question, when are us humans going to get the point that war is not the answer. 60 years now. May God forgive us all. Peace!

edit at Alexandra...you would be speaking about Shatila and Sabra.....yes the most horrid thing, women and children..it was horrible!
edit : Diana, i think about all prisoners families, All! its not about tit for tat, its about human rights, for many years Hezbollah tried to speak to israel to return their prisoners, never happened. They have families with names also.

Also Diana , at that time Israel was occupying lebanon land, terrorists, many of them were soldiers defending their land. And yes some, like the one that got into Israel and killed the father and child on the beach. This was terrorism , I cannot condone that. But as I said above, WAR is not the answer and will never bring peace!

Diana: all I know is that nothing is fair in this world, and in the end there is , and never will be any excuse for what Israel did to Lebanon last summer 2006. It will forever remain a shame.
think about it plz, to retun 3 dead soldiers and one alive? Let's just agree to disagree. And may God forgive us all. Take care!
edit: at (sorry i dont know hebrew) its when people forget. That new more bad things happen.Peace!
edit at whoo: sho crap, the UN the world is crap! how many opinions of all the world are crap? but one country standing alone is not? And I know you think that way, one canadian , one chinese , one indian, and i forget the other, there were at the UN outpost when it was bombed bombed by a guided missile, meaning it was guided to hit it, ya ya , I know your opinion. i can't even say peace at the end to you, you need war forever.

mark

Some people chose not to mention that Israeli army kidnapped Lebanese people first and the Israeli army is occupying part of Lebanese land.
Yes the Israels bombings where a bit excessive to
free 2 men.Israel is occupying part of Lebanon and kidnapped Lebanese ppl and refused to free the ppl for years?

If you are a Lebanese what will you do to free your people and to end the Israeli occupation ? Be frank.
الوعد الصادق عندما تركنا للوحش الكاسرالحمدلله كان هنال نصر من الله

LadySuri

Well let's think about this.

WWAD? If a terrorist group operating out of Canada had kidnapped American soldiers with the full backing of Canada for basically no reason, what would America do? Especially if Canada had been firing rockets into say, Chicago. Now let's say that those terrorists had set up in Canadian civilian homes--what would America do? I think we all know the answer to this question, and it goes for basically every other country in the world.

Edit: Lebanon is the host to the parasitic Hezbollah. Lebanon hasn't done anything to deter Hezbollah, to stop them, to thwart them--that alone is backing enough.

Hatikvah JPA

Excessive Force? No. Israeli soldiers didn't hide among women and children. Israeli soldiers operated from military bases and targeted legitimate areas that were used by Hizballah terrorists. Have you forgotten that Israel did everything it could to warn all civilians to leave the area at least a week before striking?

Here's an excerpt from an article by Allen Dershowitz:
It is virtually impossible to distinguish the Hezbollah dead from the truly civilian dead, just as it is virtually impossible to distinguish the Hezbollah living from the civilian living, especially in the south. The "civilian" death figures reported by Lebanese authorities include large numbers of Hezbollah fighters, collaborators, facilitators and active supporters. They also include civilians who were warned to leave, but chose to remain, sometimes with their children, to serve as human shields. The deaths of these "civilians" are the responsibility of Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, which has done very little to protect its civilians.

Lebanon has chosen sides--not all Lebanese, but the democratically chosen Lebanese government. When a nation chooses sides in a war, especially when it chooses the side of terrorism, its civilians pay a price for that choice. This has been true of every war.

We must stop viewing Lebanon as a victim and begin to see it as a collaborator with terrorism. Nor is there any excuse for this choice. Lebanon was not "driven" to support Hezbollah by Israel or the U.S., as some Lebanese leaders falsely claim. Lebanon included Hezbollah in its government, knowing that it is a terrorist organization. It abdicated the responsibility for providing social, economic and police services in the south to Hezbollah.

You can read the whole article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/lebanon-is-not-a-victim_b_26715.html
.

MikeInRI

I didn't think Israel did much wrong in the entire affair. Its to bad that Lebanon nor UNIFIL are not adhering to the UN resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War ). It seems such a stance will only lead to further conflict in the region.

Good Luck!!!

EQB

Let me tell u something when it comes to Israel all the world close their eyes. all the medias support Israel and thats why all people who can`t think and just believe what their here give Israel the right(like those who answered ur question)
Don`t talk about their crimes anymore no one hear u and its useless.

tal

The main problem with the conflic last year was the Israeli media who created news instead of reporting news. Slowly very slowly the world media are realising the amount of damage the Israeli's inflicted on the Hezbollah which has turned out to be an advantage for the Lebanese Goverment. One thing for sure Hezbollah will not try their luck again they are still licking their wounds . If there should be a next time God help the Hezbollah .

Janice

Israel took action to bring down an evil regime and to free its soldiers that were kidnapped by Hexboolah. In my opinion that tells me that Israel cares about all of its people and soldiers and wants to keep Israel a safe place. When Israel went after Hexboolah to stop them from killing Israelis and to return the soldiers, Israel send fliers in Arabic to warn the Lebanese people so they could evacuate and not be harmed. This is very noble and humanitarian of Israel because they wanted to spare innocent Lebanese's lives; unlike Hexboolah who purposely endangered Lebanese lives. Hexboolah is to blame in that they had camped out near civilian homes and Israel was merely targeting the source of the rockets. Tell me why did Hexboolah hide behind civilians? The Lebanese army has no backbone otherwise they would not have allowed Hexboolah to run the country.

diana

when you ATTACK US and KIDNAP OUR soldiers don't expect nothing less!!!!!! I think we had to finish what we started and bring our soldiers home then, cause now we need to give your precious Hezbollah their terrorists back for our soldiers!
and for your information every time our army was suppose to bomb a building they threw notes in Arabic to give the civilians a chance to leave!!
it is inevitable that at war innocent people get hurt... but it wasn't intentional!
it was a direct attack + a kidnap! do you really think we had to restrain ourselves?

Hopeless:
" Because Hezbollah took 2 soldiers? "
yes!!!! because Hezbollah took 2 soldiers!!!
Israel never leaves its men behind!! NEVER!
maybe to you they are only 2 soldiers well not to us, and not for their families!
they do it so that they could have their terrorists back... do you support that too?

Hopeless:
wake up! Hezbollah is a terrorists organization!!!!
but "lucky them".... they are going to get their prisoners with blood on their hands back... well it's on the news!
happy??
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/913661.html

edit: I don't think war is the answer either! but you know what... what do you think Israel should have done?
everybody here are experts... well... lets hear you!

Whoo!

I thought it was fair. This people must be stopped and instead of just keep on repeating it, Israel actually did something about it... until the stupid U.N. came in between.

EDIT- It's unbelievable what war has come to. It a war. I know many of these people were possibly innocent, helpless people, but if you have cowardly terroists hiding among them then what are you to do??

Hopeless- The UN is crap.
Hopeless- In a sense that they got their noses in where they did not belong, then yes, in that sense the UN is crap. They should have stepped aside and let Israel finish them off. Hezbollah could have been throughly extinct had they not stepped in.

Tabatha- I agree completely w/ you there. And I really didn't mean that other answer disrespectfully.

The Seeker- Have you been living under a rock?? The IDF is most definetly the most pwerful army in the world.

paperback writer

Israel has been begging Lebanon for YEARS to stop terrorists like Hezbollah from using the country as a launching pad for attacks on Israel.

What would the world prefer Israel to do when her young soldiers are snatched - just shrug her shoulders and say to their families, 'Sorry folks, we would try and go in after them but hey, the rest of the world won't like it and some innocent Lebanese may die, so we're going to leave your sons to be tortured and killed by Hezbollah?'

Get real.

If Hezbollah don't care enough about the Lebanese to not hide among innocent civilians, why on earth should Israel???

Israel warned civilians, ahead of time, to vacate buildings that were at risk; she warned them in Arabic. What other country would do the same?

I regret the loss of any innocent life but Israel, like any other country under attack, is entitled to defend herself and to try and reclaim young soldiers who have been snatched.

Would you say that when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falklands that this was a war crime?

And that was over a stupid bit of land that the UK never even paid any attention to!

As Diana says: Israel doesn't leave her people in the clutches of terrorists. The world should support her in her effort at fighting terrorism, not condemn her.

MSAFWAT -

Good to see you here again; I always enjoy reading your answers even though I don't agree with them!

I just want to correct one of your statements: iti is simply not true that 'militia' in Israel pre 1948 were trying to drive Arabs out. That did not happen. If anything it was the opposite. The very rationale for the formation of groups like the Haganah was that some Arabs were launching attacks on Jewish settlements. The Jews repeatedly offered the hand of peace to the Arabs living in Palestine; indeed, Ben Gurion publicly pleaded with them to stay.

68 per cent of Arabs in Palestine left without ever even seeing an Israeli.

DA MAN - I appreciate that of course you are going to be critical of Israel. But one thing you can never say about Israelis is that they are 'cowards'. That is simply untrue.

z k

It wasn't excessive enough.
If I were a prime minister I would keep on bombing until they give my my soldiers back.

Tabatha, great answer.

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