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tired of the israeli pundits

August 11, 2006 at · Filed under middle east, politics

the "war" (it is definitely a war for lebanon, i still claim it is a military operation for israel) has now been going for a month. 

at this stage there is a consensus that israel did not deliver a knock-out punch to the hezbollah (hard to make a counter argument when ~ 200 rockets are hitting northern israel daily), and therefore hezbollah is essentially winning (i have a major problem with that argument, but i'll deal with it in a separate post).

the israeli press is full of opinion columns. more than the usual dose.

those who are on the right (and center) don't want a cease fire, because that would mean that the sacred "israeli deterrence" is lost, and that doom's day is around the corner.

those who are on the left support a cease fire, and spend most of their time explaining how the army consists of incompetent, trigger happy, generals who are guided by an inexperienced, hot-headed government.

in general the israeli press is obsessed with the inability of the army to destroy hezbollah. it seems to me that there is a complete loss of perspective. 

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itai said,

August 11, 2006 @

I agree with these pundits:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749293.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749484.html
And I have to admit I was wrong about Israe’s late ground offensive. I thought it was planned but the way Olmert hesitates is very bad. Also the damage to Israel’s image in the Arab world, a fifth of its population being shelled for a month by a 4,000 people militia is irreparable.

avneron said,

August 11, 2006 @

i disagree with both.. re olmert must go: olmert may deserve to go regardless. for being a follower rather than a leader. and by proving lack of judgment, and poor handling of the military and diplomatic fronts. what is he talking about when he says "humiliating defeat"?. the guy is crrrrazzzzzzzy. re israel must win: these realpolitik, neo-conservative writers are obviously sharing bush's view of the world. their analysis is flawed in my opinion. according to their logic the US would have severed its ties with israel shortly after the end of the cold war. israel's is not the USs little helper in fighting arabs/soviets, and not a test-lab for weapons. re israel's image in the arab world: i think this all "deterrence" thing is mostly hot-air. israel's major issue is the iranian quest for a nuclear bomb, and its alliance with syria and the hezbollah. israel should work on disrupting this trio and focus the international community on solving the iranian situation.

itai said,

August 11, 2006 @

“humiliating defeat” may be an irrelevant term to describe the war’s outcome, it is however a military failure (I’m writing this assuming the U.N. is going to announce a cease fire in a couple of hours). When 4,000 militants manage to shell million Israelis and fend of the IDF for a month it’s a defeat. Kissinger said that when a superpower goes to battle against a guerilla organization anything less then a decisive victory is defeat for the superpower and anything more then its complete demise is a victory for the organization. Hezbollah didn’t just manage to survive the conflict, they came to the negotiating table with achievments and placed demands based upon them. Israel had to capitulate and seems to be accepting certain humilating terms of the agreement like the Shabba farms issue. For the first time in history Israel actually loses territory in war and not to a regular army but to a terrorist organization. This is the way the Arabs understand it and they are right. This will have ominous effects on the conflict with Hamas, on Lebanon’s future, on Israel’s strategic position in the region, on the army’s self confidence and on its detterence. I’m afraid we’re heading into much more troubles in the future, not to mention that Olmert better forget about the realignment plan. No way the Israeli public will go through with it now, in the next round 6,000,000 Israelis are going to stay in shelters while the other million fight.

tsella said,

August 11, 2006 @

i don’t follow the news much, neither on tv or paper. my biggest quarrel with the pundits, and the reason for not following the news is that i object to the criticism that is being brought forth at a time of war, where, in my perspective, we should stand united. but here, in typical israeli mannerism, everybody has an opinion – every goddamn mothballed general is called in to share his “wisdom”. stfu!

tramadol said,

February 3, 2007 @

tramadol…

news…

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