The news is all bad, but Gracie reminds me of why I have cats. Sometimes, you just look across the room and smile.

The following text is roaming around the Internet like an Internet worm. Worth reading:

Even those who aren’t particularly sympathetic to Bibi Netanyahu [that includes this blogger, Lord knows] could get a good measure of satisfaction from his interview with the British Television this morning.

I guess it can be attributed to his days studying history at Harvard.

The interviewer asked him: “How come so many more Lebanese have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?” (A nasty question if there ever was one!)

Natanyahu: “Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?”

Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) “Why not?”

Netanyahu: “Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the war was caused by Germany’s aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children’s hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?”

The above quotation requires no comments. I would add, though, that the number of Lebanese civilians killed, exactly as the number of Palestinians killed, is highly questionable. After all, every Arab killed by IDF, no matter what he was doing at the time he was killed and how much arms and ammunition he was carrying, automatically becomes a “civilian” in MSM reports…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Update: Thanks to David, a blogger from London, here is a recording of another interview Bibi has done with BBC earlier. It appears that he already used the same theme, which does not made it less valid, of course.

You see, if the ground war had been undertaken a month ago, Hezbullah terrorists wouldn’t be crawling back into their ratholes for the next wave. The IDF can handle the job. It just wasn’t given to them in full.

“The brigade executed an action that they’d been training for a long time: the ability to pass over the ‘combat strip’ and move a large number of forces into the enemy’s tactical homefront, who would work their way from the north to the south,” he explained. “In practice, we executed a deceptive maneuver in order to lure the terrorists to a natural preserve and, simultaneously, we airlifted a battalion into the enemy homefront.”

Hundreds of additional soldiers, including Virov himself, walked for 12 hours, circumventing Beit Lif, in order to join the airlifted forces, resulting in almost a thousand soldiers positioned north of the enemy force.

“We found ourselves in the Hizbullah homefront, in launching areas…We fought for more than three days. We fought through thickets, destroyed launchers and trucks carrying arms, fired at gunmen and killed dozens of terrorists,” Virov recounts.

“At a certain point, we say a 24-head rocket launcher 500 meters from us…driving as if they thought no one could see them. We destroyed the launcher, along with the rocket. The two terrorists inside were killed,” he continued.

The brigade commander explained the logistical difficulty of the operation: “There was no access route and the soldiers were hauling 35-40 kg of equipment, each. Provisions were air dropped and we would send groups of soldiers, with bags, into enemy territory to get water and a little food. The enemy knew that we were there, but didn’t realize the extent of the force or weaponry that we had.”

I have already mentioned the accumulated concerns regarding the Lebanese “as we go” modifications of the letter and the spirit of the UNSC resolution 1701. It looks like Hezbollah is having the upper hand in everything related to the implementation of the resolution. Egged on by their Syrian and Iranian paymasters, Hezbollah is refusing to disarm and to leave the south Lebanon area that is supposed to be controlled by the UNIFIL and the Lebanese army.

Lebanese bloggers express the same concern, especially in view of the provocative speech by baby Assad, who directly threatens the weak government of Lebanon lest they try to harm a hair on the Hezbollah’s hairy body.

DEBKAfile produced the most pessimistic outlook so far, in the two articles.

The Hizballah are moving back into their still undamaged bunkers and fortified civilian dwellings opposite the Israeli border. Therefore, while thousands of displaced people in Israel and Lebanon head back to their ravaged homes, DEBKAfile’s military sources report trepidation about the durability of the ceasefire which Israel declared Monday morning. Everyone is talking about the inevitability of a second round.

Lebanese government concession allows Hizballah to stay armed in the south,provided weapons are hidden. This under-the-table deal violates two clauses of 1701 which require Hizballah to be removed and disarmed. DEBKAfile adds: Hizballah also agrees to let the Lebanese army and UN force be deployed in the south as “our guests.”

It shouldn’t take a genius to see that Hezbollah is doing whatever they want, UN or no UN. Of course, nobody expects the largely ineffectual bureaucracy to really weigh in at a situation like this. At least, they are making all the right noises, according to the interview Haaretz had with the head of UNIFIL.

In an interview with Haaretz, Major General Alain Pellegrini urged the Lebanese authorities to take responsibility for the disarmament of Hezbollah in the area close to the Lebanon-Israel border, saying that the responsibility for such a move lies primarily with them. When asked his soldiers would engage an armed Hezbollah activist, Pellegrini said that it was hard for him to answer.

Ah well, we could have provided the answer for Pellegrini, couldn’t we?

Even knowing that the dire predictions of DEBKA should be taken with a grain of salt, the situation looks grim enough to warrant a more muscular response from all the parties involved. Unless somebody wants to see a bloody sequel to the last month and a half.

In the light of the above, the seeming complacency of the Israeli government and military is totally incomprehensible. Halutz, our CoS, has already set the timeline for IDF withdrawal from south Lebanon - about 10 days from now. The Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, is discussing with Koffi Annan the ways to return the kidnapped soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser (remember, the ones whose abduction triggered the whole war). Olmert is busy with victory speeches for external consumption and preparations for the internecine battles.

Does somebody mind the shop?

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

If you haven’t been to Justify This!, you’re missing a lot of truly frightening information.

It is 1938 all over again. Particularly here, here, and here.