on the 19th day of the conflict an israeli air strike on the village of Qana killed 54 60 people, among them 37 children. in 1996 an israeli bombing killed 100 civilians in Qana, which caused israel to stop its "Grapes of Wrath " operation against the hezbollah.

in israel's defense:

• israel has warned Qana residents days ago to leave the village
• hezbollah is firing rockets at israel from within the village
• while it is not clear that this is true in this case, israel usually targets a specific building when there is hezbollah militants in the building

but. and there is a big but. there are 37 dead children.

this is not an easy moral debate. in a war when an enemy is using civilian population as a shield, the other army can either engage in face-2-face, door-2-door infantry battles, or can bomb from a distance, avoiding casualties but causing collateral damage. the immorality of one side (firing and hiding among civilian population) generates immoral results by the action of the other side (killing of civilians).

i believe that israel is doing a justifiable thing when it is bombing a building where there is clear hezollah activity. the hezbollah cowardliness is as much (or even more) to blame. this is on the macro, strategic level. but in a day when israel kills 37 children, every israeli should feel blame. every israeli should seriously question whether israel is doing the right thing, are the generals going to far? maybe much of this is about pride? what is the long term solution, and do the current actions bring israel any closer to this solution? 

i think this a good day to stop shooting. maybe the two sides will understand they let this madness go to far.