Ban Ki-Moon can’t read, can’t remember his own words

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Ban Ki-Moon is hailing the exchange of live prisoners for dead Israeli soldiers as the “completion” of part of UNSC 1701.

The secretary general conveyed his heartfelt condolences and said he is deeply satisfied that the humanitarian aspects of Security Council Resolution 1701 have finally been met.

Really? Because just a few months ago, he said that any conditions on the release of Regev and Goldwasser were “outside the scope” of 1701.

“Hezbollah continues to refuse to provide any information on the release or fate of abducted soldiers, and places conditions and demands for the release that are far outside the scope of resolution 1701,” Ban wrote in the report, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz.

The secretary-general also cites Israeli intelligence reports of Hezbollah’s rearmament drive since the end of the Second Lebanon War. The militia is said to have replenished its arsenal of rockets and missiles – including 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range projectiles – which are now deployed on both sides of the Litani River.

“The reports of Hezbollah rearming are a cause of great concern posing serious challenges to the sovereignty, stability, and independence of Lebanon and the implementation of resolution 1701,” Ban wrote in the report.

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how the world’s memory fails at every instance of Arabs and Muslims breaking UN resolutions, and yet, they hold Israel responsible for breaking resolutions that are nonbinding, or that she never broke in the first place.

The Exception Clause, in all of its wonder.

Posted in Lebanon, The Exception Clause, World | Tagged | 2 Comments

A good news post for today

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Oil is down another $4 per barrel.

And may we all say: Amen.

Fluffy kitty posts to come later today.

The news just reeks, otherwise.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Abbas sends condolences—to Hizbullah

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Mahmoud Abbas sent his condolences today to the families of the dead soldiers.

We learned, after two years of Hezbullah refusing to acknowledge proof of life, that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are dead. On this day, the president of the Palestinians, who is negotiating with Israel to create a Palestinian state, might have some words that the leader of a people tends to deliver at times like this. And indeed, Abbas has delivered greetings to those involved in the prisoner exchange.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has congratulated the family of Samir Kuntar and the four other prisoners who will be returned to Lebanon as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Hizbullah.

Okay, let’s take the mindset of someone who has no dog in this fight. Abbas was a “resistance” fighter, the Lebanese captured in the war are “resistance” fighters, and Samir Kuntar worked with one of Abbas’ old buddies, Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front, and the man responsible for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the death of Leon Klinghoffer (in a wheelchair, shot at point-blank range). So now we see why he would congratulate the Lebanese. And even Kuntar’s family. But did he extend any condolences? You know, the leader of a people tends to send condolences to the families of the bereaved when events like this occur.

He also expressed his condolences to the families of Hizbullah fighters receiving their relatives’ bodies.

Ah. To the families of the Lebanese, but not to the Goldwassers and Regevs.

And with that action, the “moderate” Palestinian president’s mindset is shown for what it is: An unrepentant, inveterate terrorist, and leader of terrorists, whose doctoral thesis was titled “”The Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement.”

These are Israel’s “partners in peace,” that Condi Rice are pushing Israel to jump ahead with in the two-state solution. And the world will continue to label him as “moderate” and make excuses for his not expressing condolences to Israel. But they will never admit that Abbas is still in the middle of a war to destroy Israel. His actions prove this, time and again.

Abbas couldn’t so much as make a polite statement regarding the loss of Regev and Goldwasser.

His silence on this topic speaks volumes.

Posted in Israel, palestinian politics, Terrorism | Tagged | 7 Comments

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev RIP

Posted on 07/16/2008 by SnoopyTheGoon

By now it is over. The coffins handed over across the border today contain the two bodies they were supposed to contain. The two grieving families will get the closure of their two year long nightmare.

The decision to go ahead with this exchange, with almost total certainty that we’ll be paying the price of releasing a baby killer for two bodies, was not an easy one. I wouldn’t wish to be one of the people on whose shoulders the decision fell. But it is over and done with.

As for the question that will be debated for a long time: was the exchange worth it? – a lot of hot air and acrimony were already spent and will be spent in the future. Uncounted angles, including the future victims of the “surrender” to the blackmail, the loss of face, the new kidnappings awaiting and the damage to something called “national psyche“, whatever it means – all these and more will be thrown into the ring. Surprisingly or not, many of these angles are valid. All, or almost all of them, were part of the excruciating decision process.

There is, though, only one compelling cause. It is the cause of an IDF soldier – the grunt that goes to (and sometimes over) the border, doing his/her job as well as possible. Many of these soldiers leave their wives and children behind to do so, without fanfares and complaints. This is how it is and, unfortunately, this is how it will be for a long time in the future.

As an ex-soldier, I can safely say in the name of most of us that our unshakable belief that IDF and, indeed, the nation, will get us back from captivity, alive or dead, makes the service bearable. Without this belief IDF will not be what it is. The army that does not take care of its POWs is not worth serving in and the nation that forgets it sons is not worth fighting for.

There are a lot of things that could be said against and about the travesty of the current government, about the way the negotiations with Hezbollah were carried out, about the dirty politics and dirty politicians. One thing, however, should not be forgotten – it is not about politics, not about national pride and even not about the grieving families. It is about the soldiers.

As for Samir Kuntar, who will become a most celebrated hero in Lebanon after crushing a Jewish baby’s skull against a rock: even in the pain we all feel because of the necessity to release him, there is a silver lining. Look at the people who celebrate release of one of the most inhuman murderers and learn. Look at the sweets being handed around to the crowds in Gaza, at Lebanese president and prime minister receiving the monster, at Shiites and others lining the roads on the way to the vermin’s family house, at Palestinian president Abu Mazen congratulating the “hero’s” family. Look, learn and remember.

And how could we forget the chief sleazebag pulling the ropes from the bunker, the “mastermind” who became so adept in torturing the minds and the souls of the people he hates? A person who accumulated so much “good will” of so many Israelis should be worried about his future indeed. Where there is a will, there is a way, Nasrallah. Sleep badly.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

Posted in Israel, Terrorism | 4 Comments

Kuntar release roundup

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Soccerdad

Boker Tov Boulder lists a number of prisoner releases and some of the crimes committed by the released terrorists.

Elder of Ziyon finds that the “moderate” country of Lebanon is celebrating the release of the murderer Kuntar.

Israel Matzav looks into the malaise Israel suffers from that led to the release.

This Ongoing War contrasts Israel’s values with that of its enemies.

Daled Amos has misgivings about Misgav.

Israelly Cool presents Trivia Time. The answer, I’m sure is someone who is usually described as pro-Western or “moderate.”

Meryl wishes Israel would lavish a generous parting gift on Samir Kuntar.

Treppenwitz weighs in with Let the enemy decide the rules:

These useful idiots pleaded for the IDF to spare the poor, hapless Lebanese who were caught between Israel’s mighty army and Hezbollah’s well entrenched forces… pointing out that the Lebanese deserved mercy because they are a modern, secular people just like us.

‘Moderate’ Lebanese blogs were linked, and the grand old days when Beirut was known as the ‘Paris of the East’ were invoked repeatedly… while doctored photos of burning Beirut neighborhoods became like fixed wallpaper behind the media’s talking heads who dutifully read Hezbollah scripts about Israeli atrocities.

Ignored was the fact that these cosmopolitan Lebanese had watched approvingly for decades as Hezbollah set up rocket batteries and supporting military infrastructure in their towns and villages. Ignored was the cover and support these poor secular Lebanese willingly provided to Hezbollah for a generation.

Ha’aretz illustrates the kidnapping. The Regev and Goldwasser families put on a brave face.

Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of Ehud Goldwasser whose body was returned to Israel Wednesday morning as part of a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, said after seeing the his son’s coffin that he and his wife did not want to see their son’s body because they prefer to remember him as he was.

Background on the mediator.

Officially, Conrad’s mediation effort has been on behalf of the UN secretary general, because the return of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser is part of Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the Second Lebanon War.

Except that the return of Regev and Goldwasser according to 1701 was supposed to be unconditional. Not only has Hezbollah re-armed under the watchful eye of UN forces, the UN refuses even to insist that the terms of 1701 be obeyed in this case. Not to mention that the kidnapping itself and the presence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon violate 425.

Ron ben Yishai on the speech we won’t hear from Olmert.

Therefore, even though we recently acquired credible information that Goldwasser and Regev are no longer alive, the government decided, on my recommendation, to approve the deal and ignore the warnings issued by the Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs. Had the Second Lebanon War ended in clear victory, had the Winograd Commission not criticized my conduct, and had my public and moral status not been eroded in the wake of the Talansky affair, I may have acted differently. Yet in my current status, I had no choice.

Danny Haran’s brother feels “defeated.”

Israel gets ready to pay interest on the transaction:

The feeling is shared by many in the IDF Northern Command, where senior commanders estimate that after two years of quiet, Hizbullah may use the period immediately following the swap to strike at Israel. While the possibility of another kidnapping attack against IDF soldiers is being taken into account, there is also a fear in the IDF that Hizbullah may try to infiltrate an Israeli town along the northern border.

No wonder it’s being called Hezbollah’s ultimate victory.

Crosposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Linkfests, Terrorism | Tagged | 8 Comments

As expected: Murderers for remains

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Regev and Goldwasser are dead, and Israel has set Hamas an example to murder Gilad Shalit, because it won’t matter if he’s dead or alive—Israel will deal for his body just as much as she would deal for his living person. And the terrorists are celebrating. The democratically-elected “moderate” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated convicted child killer Samir Kuntar’s family.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday welcomed the execution of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah. Abbas congratulated the family of released Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar and sent his condolences to the Lebanese families receiving their loved ones’ bodies as part of the deal.

Hamas’ prime minister in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, congratulated Kuntar and Hizbullah for “the great victory of the resistance, which proved the rightness of our way.”

He said Hamas would not abandon the Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

[…] “Today we stress again that we won’t give up our prisoners. We won’t be able to waive these heroes without an honorable deal for our prisoners in Israel. The Israelis must pay a price. They must know that they will pay a price in return for an exchange deal. We cannot accept having these prisoners remain in jail.”

How many terrorists will be set free for Gilad Shalit? Thousands? How many will murder again?

Israel will pay a very high price for this exchange. As I said before, I’m not an Israeli. I can’t understand the pain they feel about not knowing if their sons are dead or alive. But I can predict the outcome of these actions. There will be more dead Israeli sons and daughters, and the terrorists will try, again and again, to kidnap (or kill and kidnap) more Israelis to exchange for their murderers in prison.

Ehud Olmert is presiding over one of the worst deals in Israel’s history. But Ariel Sharon did the same several years ago.

And here you see the difference between Israel, a civilized nation, and the nations of savages that surround her. Civilized human beings do not celebrate the acts of murderers.

The sorrow that swept across Israel with the images of the coffins contrasted sharply with the hero’s welcome that awaited convicted killer Samir Kantar upon his return to a homeland he left 29 years ago to set out on his deadly mission.

Hezbollah supporters set up a makeshift stage in the coastal town of Naqoura and a drum corps awaited the prisoners’ return. A giant red carpet was rolled out along a road next to the seashore.

On the platform stood a large photograph of a weeping Israeli woman. A nearby sign read, “Israel is shedding tears of pain.” Another read: “Lebanon is shedding tears of joy.”

Hundreds of Lebanese wearing yellow caps crowded in a narrow corridor between rows of banana trees and metal railings set up to along the road. An overhang shielded Shiite Muslim sheiks and other dignitaries from the midday sun.

An official ceremony was to follow at Beirut Airport with Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker in attendance. Nasrallah was to address what is expected to be a huge celebration at the group’s stronghold south of Beirut.

Then again, in civilized nations, some assholes try to equivocate a murderer’s past and make him look like something of a “freedom fighter” instead of the brute that murdered a child and her father.

I am running out of any words that don’t include terms that I would probably be pilloried for at a later date.

But I can tell you quite plainly that right now my rage is Hulk-level. I wish nothing but ill for Kuntar and the bastards that sent him to Israel to hurt innocents. I leave you with this quote from the murderer’s mother, who will be able to hold her son again—something that the Regevs and Goldwassers will never do:

Mrs. Kuntar turns defensive when asked about the child. “Certainly, it bothers me,” she said in the 2006 interview. “She wasn’t guilty of anything.”

Neither were the rest of his victims. Neither were Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. You cannot say the same for Kuntar.

Posted in Israel | 2 Comments

“horribly wrong”

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Soccerdad

From the NYT:

Hero’s Welcome Expected in Lebanon for Captive of Israel
Perhaps Israel’s most reviled prisoner, Samir Kuntar, will return to a hero’s welcome when he crosses into Lebanon this week, 29 years after he left its shores in a rubber dinghy to kidnap Israelis from the coastal town of Nahariya.

That raid went horribly wrong, leaving five people dead, a community terrorized and a nation traumatized. Two Israeli children and their father were among those killed.

The Times then goes on to humanize Samir Kuntar pleading that he had a hard childhood. It also gives a rather abbreviated summary of the trial, quoting a doctor who testified that Einat was be

Point 1: Headline should read: Hero’s Welcome expected in Lebanon for Mass Murderer.
(See Elder of Ziyon)
Point 2: “Horribly wrong?” When armed terrorists infiltrate a country and attempt to take hostages it’s not surprising that people – often innocents – will die. The deaths of Danny Haran, his daughters and policeman Eliayhu Shachar were not unforeseen consequences of Samir Kuntar and his confederates. It’s not like he was driving to his prom, took his eyes off the road and plowed into a crowd of pedestrians. That would be something gone horribly wrong. The gang of terrorists entered Israel intent on committing acts of violence. They succeeded in committing violence, even if they had other plans in mind.

The Times goes on to recount the unfortunate circumstances of Mr. Kuntar’s youth and then provides a skewed summary of Kuntar’s trial designed to raise doubts about his role in the murders of Danny and Einat Haran. (A more complete account of the trial is available at Israel’s MFA website. h/t Backspin.)

It doesn’t just take 30 years of hindsight to humanize a murderer Honest Reporting notes that news organizations were doing it immediately after the bulldozer attack in Israel two weeks ago.

There was no excuse for the story in the Times. The reporter consciously made every effort to minimize Samir Kuntar’s guilt and raises no serious questions about societies that lionize such monsters. It’s not like Kuntar is remorseful.

Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, whom Israel has agreed to free as part of a possible prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah, has vowed to continue engaging in terror after his release.

(h/t Solomonia)

Something did go horribly wrong. When a newspaper loses all its moral bearings and effectively defends the indefensible it loses its moral authority.

Kuntar deserves no sympathy, just some lead.
UPDATE: Jeffrey Goldberg via memeorandum:

If the raiders had succeeded in kidnapping Israeli civilians without murdering children, in other words, would it have gone just fine, by Craig Smith’s standards?

Alternatively James Taranto asks:

What does the Times think would have happened if the “raid” had gone right?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged | 2 Comments

One small request for the prisoner transfer

Posted on 07/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

I have one tiny request of just one of the IDF soldiers that will be escorting Samir Kuntar to the prisoner exchange.

The deal will take place as follows:

  • Kuntar and the four other prisoners were transferred from jail to a military facility near Rosh Hanikra on Tuesday night.
  • Simultaneously, 23 trucks carrying 199 bodies of Hizbullah fighters began making their way to the Rosh Hanikra area.
  • Regev and Goldwasser are expected to arrive at the exchange point in Rosh Hanikra at 9 am.
  • The two soldiers will then be identified in a process which may take several hours.
  • At the end of the identification process, Major-Generals Gadi Shamni and Elazar Stern will arrive at the homes of the captives’ families and will inform them of their loved ones fate.
  • The families will make their way to the Shraga Camp in the Nahariya area, where they will meet the two soldiers. (If the troops are returned dead, their funerals are likely to be held on Thursday.)
  • Upon the completion of the investigation, the five prisoners and 199 bodies will be transferred to Lebanon.

My request? Kindly give him back with a few ounces of lead inside his head.

I think it would send the perfect message back to Hezbullah and Hamas.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tony’s tolerance of terror has limits

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Soccerdad

The other day the Palestinians condemned two men to death for supposedly “collaborating” with Israel to target terrorists. These men weren’t convicted by Hamas, but by the “moderate” Fatah faction that is in charge of Jenin.

Reacting to this story, Elder of Ziyon observed:

It’s been about three years since a death penalty has been carried out
in the PA, and most of them have been for “collaboration with the enemy” (the list is here.)

In other words, the internationally recognized government of the PA, who is supposedly Israel’s peace partner, actively supports and defends known terrorists (“resistance fighters”) , and rather than punishing the actual terrorists, it punishes those who try to stop them.

To put it bluntly, the PA is the enemy and there is no distinction between the Palestinian Authority and the terrorists whom it actively supports and defends.

So if Israel needs to act against terror threats, who can it depend on? Apparently only itself.

Israeli troops arrested seven Hamas figures Tuesday, including two municipal council members, in a widening crackdown on the Islamic militant group in Nablus, residents said.

The Israeli military confirmed that it arrested seven Palestinians in the city but did not elaborate.

And apparently Tony Blair depends on Israeli security too.

Israel’s Shin Beth domestic intelligence agency warned Blair shortly before his arrival at the Gaza border that a “terror organisation” was planning to attack his motorcade, an agency official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But the Islamist movement Hamas, which had welcomed the visit, said it had made the appropriate security preparations and accused Israel of pressuring Blair into cancelling the trip.

(h/t LGF)

(The headline of this “news” item gives credence to the Hamas claim by enclosing “threat” in scare quotes.)

Tony Blair (the guy pictured doing the Macarena) is someone who has regularly asked Israel to relax its security measures. It absolutely defies belief that he’d heed a warning that he didn’t think was serious. I have no doubt he is concerned about his own welfare; his concern for Israelis is somewhat less certain.

Still Hamas’s claim that Israel was somehow conniving to keep Blair from seeing the utter devastation visited upon Gaza by the Israeli blockade has some credibility with a particular gullible segment of the population: supposedly skeptical reporters.

Plus, we’re talking about Tony Blair here, who even braved untamed Iraq, presumably he doesn’t scare easily..

Noah Pollak comments:

Don’t you see? The Israelis, hoping to cover up their crimes, invented a “security threat” — they lied, in other words — to prevent Blair from going to Gaza and drawing attention to the “catastrophe” for which Israel is responsible. McGirk’s evidence of this? Literally none.

No evidence, but McGirk was parroting the words of Hamas.

“The Israeli occupation exerted great pressure to prevent Tony Blair from visiting the Gaza Strip because they did not want him to see the size of the disaster caused by the unjust blockade,” Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said.

(McGirk’s credibility takes another hit for writing:

Abbas is already playing second banana to Hamas in Gaza and is sulking over the fact that Hamas in large part has managed to keep up its end of the bargain and stop militants from lobbing rockets into southern Israel –upping their credibility among Palestinians and Arab states.

– emphasis mine – Hamas has control of Gaza, other than this week’s ostentatious arrest of three Fatah affiliated rocket launchers, Hamas has taken no action to prevent attacks on southern Israel. Like Sunday.

Palestinians on Sunday fired two mortar shells into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said, in another violation of the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in the coastal territory.

The shells, which Israel Radio said landed near the security fence, caused neither casualties nor damage. There was no word if Israel would retaliate for the mortar strike.

h/t Rubicon3)

Of course if Gaza’s so badly off how can they afford to maintain horses for racing? What catastrophe is there for Tony Blair to see?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Tagged , | Comments Off on Tony’s tolerance of terror has limits

Pat Buchanan, neo-Nazi

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Yes, he’s totally out of the closet. Now he’s accusing American Jews of being “Fifth columnists.” Gee, it’s like he’s not even trying to pretend he’s not an anti-Semite anymore. Because what’s the downside? When has anyone ever lost a job for making anti-Semitic remarks?

A Democratic House that came to power denouncing the rush to war on Iraq is about to vote to demand that Bush commit an act of war against Iran.

The front men for 362 are liberal Gary Ackerman of New York and conservative Mike Pence of Indiana. But the juice behind them is that of the Israeli lobby AIPAC, which is marching in step with Israel.

Last week, Mossad’s chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case for war on Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick Cheney and maybe Bush. Next week, it is the head of Israel’s armed forces.

Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into war with Iran. Bush should rebuff them, and the American people should tell their congressmen: You vote for 362, we don’t vote for you.

Yeah, like it’s not in America’s interest to stop Iran from gaining hegemony over the Middle East. Or from getting nuclear weapons. Note how Buchanan disingenuously quotes the NIE report on Iran’s nuclear ambitions:

Though the ex-head of Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, says Iran may be one year away from a bomb — and will use it on Israel — according to the latest U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Everyone but Buchanan is backing away from that misstatement of what the NIE really said. It said that Iran could easily start the weapons program right back up. But it’s also true that you can create a nuclear weapon without working on a nuclear weapons program. The missiles are there, the technology to wed the bomb to the missile is there, and the technological know-how is there. And if it isn’t, well, there’s North Korea and the A.Q. Khan black market. Just ask Syria, Iran’s proxy, about how easy it is to build a nuke.

I think it’s time for the Yourish.com mantra: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already. And Pat—please, lead the queue.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Iran, Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tech request

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Thunderbird seems to have deleted my inbox. I’m following the intstructions from Mozilla, and, well, they’re not working. I only seem to have the emails sent after 9:00 this morning.

Any tips on how to rebuild my inbox? I’ve been regularly deleting and compacting and transferring, but of course, it had a huge number of messages. I’m a packrat, and email makes me an e-packrat.

It errored out before deleting all my messages, so I’m wondering where they’re hiding. I also seem to have duplicate folders, one dated january 2006 and one dated today, so I don’t think that fits under their duplicate-folder error. I tried rebuilding the index. No luck. I tried deleting inbox.msf. No luck.

The files are there. Inbox has 79 megs in it. But inbox.msf is 2k. Something’s wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

Posted in Computers | 9 Comments

Strengthening Hezbollah

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Soccerdad

Last month Nicholas Noe argued in the NYT:

Unfortunately, even though the Bush administration has provided more than $300 million in tactical aid to Lebanon since the Syrian withdrawal of 2005, it still apparently refuses to provide the kind of strategic weapons — guided rockets, tanks, modern artillery and intelligence-gathering equipment — that are desperately needed in this task. During her visit to Beirut this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice didn’t even mention the issue.

The reason for this, American and Lebanese officials say privately, is a longstanding prohibition against supplying Lebanese forces with advanced equipment that could be used against Israel.

This “red line” remains even though Hezbollah has far more dangerous weaponry, and despite Washington’s commitment to build up the authority of the state. It is a testament to how short-sighted and contradictory the American approach to Lebanon has been.

David Schenker disputes Noe’s claims and adds:

In the coming weeks, Washington may choose to modify its aid package to the LAF. If this occurs, it will be because of Hezbollah’s recent political and military gains, not Israeli complaints. By blaming Israel for a weak LAF, Noe is essentially repeating Hezbollah’s justification for retaining its army and arsenal.

It is in Washington’s long-term interest to see the LAF develop into a strong national institution. But it’s important to understand that the strength of this institution does not primarily rely on its capabilities, but rather on its will to take on difficult missions on orders from the democratically-elected government of Lebanon. No amount of U.S. military assistance will change this current dynamic.

Israel Matzav mentioned this dispute and adds:

Schenker apparently ignores the deep connections between the LAF and Hezbullah. The LAF will never be a national force until it is willing to challenge Hezbullah. Not only is that not happening (and I don’t expect it to happen), but with a two-thirds Shiite composition, the LAF is assisting Hezbullah in its arms buildup by allowing Hezbullah to set up positions inside Shiite villages in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL cannot go without LAF escort, and then warning the terrorists when UNIFIL is coming to inspect. But then that continues a tradition of LAF collusion with Hezbullah that went on throughout the war two summers ago and even before it.

via memeorandum

On another front Justus Reid Weiner and Diane Morrison argue that Israel’s imminent trade of prisoners for corpses with Hezbollah strengthens Hezbollah politically.

The extra-legal behavior of the proxy organizations has two implications for the law applying to prisoners taken in Arab-Israeli conflicts. On the one hand, the organizations themselves illegally defy the laws of war by depriving Israeli POWs of their protected rights such as the right to contact Red Cross representatives and communicate with their families. On the other hand, the organizations’ fighters are unlawful combatants who are not entitled to the protected status of POWs, and are subject to prosecution as war criminals. Indeed, these organizations fall under the definition of terrorist groups under such instruments as the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, and Israel – like other states – is legally obliged to take a variety of steps to foil the terrorists’ activities and bring them to justice.

By exchanging prisoners with the proxy organizations as if they were law-abiding states, Israel can be seen as upgrading the status of the organizations’ unlawful combatants from terrorists and war criminals, giving them the same rights as lawful soldiers, without demanding from them the reciprocal obligations. At the same time, Israel downgrades the rights of its own captured soldiers by overlooking the organizations’ systematic depravation of POW rights for Israeli soldiers under the Geneva Conventions. The damage this does to both international law and the international criminal justice system is considerable.

Given that Hezbollah is a proxy army of Iran (and Syria) and that Iran is the major threat to the region, one would hope that the world appreciated the danger of strengthening Hezbollah militarily or politically. Given that Israel is the primary target of Hezbollah, one would assume that Israel would be most aware of the peril.

And yet it is others who are arguing the best way to fight Hezbollah, while Israel unilaterally entered into a deal with it. It makes no sense.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Posted in Israel | Comments Off on Strengthening Hezbollah

Gaza more dangerous than Iraq to Tony Blair

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Tony Blair called off his trip to Gaza, citing specific security threats. Of course Hamas denies they were threatening Tony Blair, but it’s significant to note that he was visiting Gaza, but refusing to meet with Hamas officials. Hm. Wonder who made the threats, and why? (I wonder how many prisoners they’d get for the release of a former British PM?)

Mideast envoy Tony Blair on Tuesday called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Hamas-ruled Gaza, citing a ”specific security threat.”

Blair’s visit Tuesday was to have included a tour of a Gaza waste water project and meetings with traders and UN officials, but not with leaders of Hamas, which seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.

Still, Hamas had made security arrangements for Blair, setting up checkpoints in areas he was expected to tour, banning cars from using roads, and lining streets with black-clad policemen carrying AK-47s.

And wouldn’t that have made a pretty picture. Oh, and here’s your “objective” AP analysis:

Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas’ stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair’s expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.

Got that? Hamas’ forbidding wedding parties from singing Fatah songs, blowing up video stores and forcing more Islamist behavior has “pacified” Gaza. Throwing Fatah members off buildings is “stern rule.” Way to go, our old pal Ibrahim Barazk.

Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman denied there were any security threats against Blair. “Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here,” he said.

Yes, the suffering. Hamas members have fuel for their vehicles. The average Gazan does not. Hamas members have the latest weapons and ammunition. The average Gazan has whatever Hamas lets trickle down after it’s delivered, if Hamas stops shooting mortars at the crossings long enough to let supply trucks through. Hamas fakes power blackouts and the press goes along with it, holding candlelight vigils in broad daylight behind curtained windows as AP photographers snap pictures—and the AP runs sympathetic stories that echo this one. Whitewashing the terrorists: that’s the AP’s job, apparently.

One last thought: If Hamas rule has “pacified” Gaza so well, why can’t they protect Tony Blair against terrorist threats? He can visit Iraq at the height of the insurgency, but he can’t manage to get enough protection to visit Gaza?

Blair visited Iraq six times. He’s never been to Gaza. That fact speaks volumes.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Gaza, Hamas, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Will the barn door be closed in time?

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Soccerdad

John Bolton on Iran:

Between Iran and its long-sought objective, however, a shadow may fall: targeted military action, either Israeli or American. Yes, Iran cannot deliver a nuclear weapon on target today, and perhaps not for several years. Estimates vary widely, and no one knows for sure when it will have a deliverable weapon except the mullahs, and they’re not telling. But that is not the key date. Rather, the crucial turning point is when Iran masters all the capabilities to weaponize without further external possibility of stopping it. Then the decision to weaponize, and its timing, is Tehran’s alone. We do not know if Iran is at this point, or very near to it. All we do know is that, after five years of failed diplomacy by the EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany), Iran is simply five years closer to nuclear weapons.

Reliapundit thinks that possible consequences of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities are overblown.

Were there any bad results when Israel destroyed Osirak – Saddam’s nuke plant?

* Nope. Privately, everyone else in the region was grateful.

Were there any bad results after Israel destroyed Syria’s nuke plant?

* Nope. Privately, everyone else in the region was grateful.

It will be the same after Israel destroys Iran’s nuke assets.

And as Bolton points out: if Israel acts the United States will be blamed anyway, so the U.S. should support Israel’s efforts.

via memeorandum

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Posted in Iran, Israel | Tagged | Comments Off on Will the barn door be closed in time?

Tig in action

Posted on 07/15/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Two pictures of Tig during playtime this evening. The first, he’s waiting for me to throw a paper ball. Through trial and error, I’ve discovered that store receipts make the best rolled-up paper balls. They’re free, they’re the best type of paper to roll, and you never run out of them. And yes, his tail is nearly as long as he is.

Tig playing

I was also using the laser pointer tonight. I tried to make Tig dizzy. I failed. But boy, did he run around in a lot of circles on my bed.

Here’s a picture that shows his ruff coming in. He is going to look very regal when he gets his full coat, I think. Between that ruff and tail is going to be one very large Tig. Bigger than Tig the Second, I’m pretty sure. I don’t remember that Tig being this big at such a young age. Tig3 is nearly half Gracie’s size already, and he hasn’t hit the five-month mark yet. (Almost.)

Tig's teenage ruff

What really amuses me about the ruff is how much it reminds me of those scruffy patches you see on teenaged boys before their beards grow in. The ruff is all around Tig’s neck, but it’s short yet.

I can’t go to bed at night without at least some playtime. Tig expects it, and if he doesn’t get it, he attacks my feet. Or just runs around the room getting into mischief. He’s been banished two or three times in the last week.

Tomorrow, I get my new matress, a queen. Even more room to play. More pictures will come, I’m sure.

Posted in Cats | Tagged | 2 Comments