Taking a break

I am off to Russia to visit with the Subbotnik Jews of the former Soviet Union (you can find out more about this intriguing community here), so I won't be posting for the next few days. Please check back on Friday, September 1, when I hope to start re-posting. Thanks.

What about Israel's Missing Soldiers?

It has been 10 days now since the UN-mandated cease-fire went into effect in Lebanon, and a key provision of the arrangement remains unfulfilled.

With the media turning its attention elsewhere, the plight of the three Israeli soldiers being held by Hizbullah and Hamas has largely fallen off the radar screen.

That, of course, is both outrageous and completely unacceptable.

It was, after all, the abduction of the soldiers – Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – by Islamist terrorists which sparked the conflict in the first place. And UN Security Council resolution 1701, which brought about the cease-fire, requires the soldiers' speedy return.

More importantly, however, is the human dimension. For the Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev families, the war has not yet ended so long as their loved ones remain in captivity. The uncertainty and doubt they are living with each day can not and should not be allowed to continue.

It is therefore essential that we raise a hue and a cry and demand that pressure be brought to bear on the Lebanese government and the Palestinian Authority to ensure the safe return of Israel's missing servicemen.

With the US and various European nations planning to send millions of dollars to Lebanon to help rebuild the country's infrastructure, there is certainly room to link those funds with the full implementation of the resolution. This lever should be applied forthwith, so that the ongoing nightmare surrounding the fate of the missing soldiers can finally be brought to an end.

Raising the Flag of Surrender

Just days after Syria's President spoke openly of "liberating" the Golan Heights by force, a prominent Israeli government minister has now signaled a willingness to surrender to Damascus' demands.

In a thinly-veiled trial balloon aimed at testing public opinion, Israel's Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said today that he believes that in exchange for peace with Syria, the Jewish state can abandon the Golan.

That's right – Dichter is ready to hand over the commanding heights of the Golan to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the same guy who helped to arm, train and finance Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon.

Why the sudden talk of forging a deal with Syria? The government would have us believe that Israel needs to pry Syria away from its alliance with Iran in order to weaken the Axis of Terror in the region.

That would make sense, except for one small, pesky detail: Syria has no desire, interest or intention of weakening its bond with Teheran.

In fact, the real reason behind the talk of peace with Syria is far more simple: with calls mounting for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the failed military operation in Lebanon, the Government is desperate to change the subject. It needs to create the impression that it is on the verge of a historic breakthrough, because that is the only way of staving off demands for its resignation.

And so, it is cynically trying to turn the same Mr. Assad who was behind Hizbullah's attacks on Israelis last week into a potential peace partner this week.

Is this good for the country? Of course not. After the government's Lebanon fiasco left Israel looking weak to its neighbors, they have now compounded the problem by signaling a readiness to retreat in the face of Assad's threats.

What Dichter and others like him have yet to learn is that in the Middle East, raising the flag of surrender only invites further aggression and bloodshed.

The Real Lack of Intelligence

With the indecisive conclusion to the fighting in Lebanon, the finger-pointing is now well under way, as Israel's political echelons try to duck responsibility for their abject failure to win the war.

Some have sought to suggest that the reason Israel did not succeed in eviscerating Hizbullah was a lack of intelligence, in effect trying to shift the blame away from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz and on to the army and the security forces instead.

But as a retired senior US military official has pointed out, the blame for the Lebanon debacle rests squarely Israel's political leadership.

Read this excerpt from today's Washington Times:

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said Mossad knew details three years ago about Hezbollah's Katyusha and other rockets.
    "They knew what they had," he said.
    He said Israel's war plan was undermined by political leaders, not by a lack of intelligence.
    "Israel's plan was that if they were fired upon, they would respond with a [leadership] decapitation program and massive air and ground campaigns into Lebanon," Gen. McInerney said.
    However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not order the decapitation plan and was slow to carry out the ground campaign.
    "It was not the intelligence," he said. "There's no question they did not take the heart out of Hezbollah."

So, did the military campaign in Lebanon fail to achieve its objectives? Absolutely.

And who is it that "owns" that failure? Israel's weak-kneed political leadership.

No matter how hard they might try to pin the blame on others, Olmert and Peretz have demonstrated through their inaction where the real lack of intelligence can truly be found.

Guess Who's Already Violating the Cease-fire?

Yesterday's UN-mandated cease-fire had barely gone into effect when Hizbullah terrorists already began to violate it.

While the media has been playing up the "relative calm" of the situation, Hizbullah has made it abundantly clear that it has little intention of abiding by the terms of the cessation of hostilities.

Their actions speak for themselves:

* At 11:30am on Monday, three and a half hours after the cease-fire went into effect, a Hizbullah gunman opened fire on Israeli troops in the Lebanese village of Hadata.

* At 1:00 pm on Monday, a group of Hizbullah gunmen accosted Israeli soldiers in the village of Randouria, resulting in an exchange of fire.

* Earlier today, Hizbullah fired a series of mortar shells at Israeli positions in southern Lebanon.

In addition, Hizbullah thug-in-chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah declared yesterday that his organization will not disarm, despite being required to do so by the UN resolution.

In effect, Hizbullah is once again probing to see how much they can get away with, and whether the international community has the resolve to call them to account for their actions.

Unfortunately, if past experience is any indication, they don't have very much to fear.

Stay tuned – things are likely to get a lot hotter in the days to come.