Enough is enough. There are updates all over the blogosphere about what's going on in Israel (better updates in the blogosphere than the news, which says something), so you can look around to find them. Meanwhile, I'm just going to quote David: [emphasis mine]
Amen.Lastly, after watching today's events unfold exactly as many of Israel's conservatives said they would... I feel compelled to respond to a question put to me by one of the more smug commenters a few days ago. He was responding to my statement that unilateral withdrawal under fire sends a message to Israel's enemies that terror is working and pushes the Arab electorate into the arms of those who advocate armed struggle over diplomatic solutions.
This smug young attorney said: "The "weakness in retreat" theory was also used to argue against leaving South Lebanon. Would you rather we stayed there? "
As much as I would love to simply answer yes and leave it at that... nothing is ever quite that simple here in the middle east.
Instead I'd like to temper my answer by saying that I don't think we should have stayed in Southern Lebanon forever. But, as much as it pains me to be proven right (again)... I feel that a unilateral withdrawal under fire does seem to have sent our enemies the worst possible message.
I think the time has come to make sure we send them the right one.
If that means turning the famed cedars of Lebanon into matchwood... so be it.
If that means setting Lebanon's electrical grid and physical infrastructure back to 1986... so be it.
If that means effecting regime change in Syria via f-16... so be it.
If that means destroying entire Iranian cities to force them to stop producing nuclear weapons they have promised to use to destroy us... so be it.*
If that means targeting terrorists who deliberately choose to operate out of Gaza apartment buildings... so be it.
If that means that the life of every Arab in the region is made so miserable that human rights organizations around the world scream in unison for Israel to stop... so be it.* They certainly don't scream when Israelis are killed, mained or kidnapped... so as far as I'm concerned, they can take their thinly veiled Jew hatred and throw a nice party over at the U.N.
It has finally come to the point where Israel has to make the stark choice of who will get to enjoy peace... our citizens or theirs.
I choose ours.
* I'd probably temper those two a bit. A very, very small bit.
Read this essay from Time magazine. Charles Krauthaumer deserves kudos - it is right on point.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1209965,00.html
Wow, I couldn't have said it better myself. Excellent response. What we did in 2000 was bad, and now we're paying the price? And, of course Olmert wants us to pay an even bigger and deadlier price by withdrawing from most of Judead and Samaria. His brain must of fried under his big comb-over...
ReplyDelete-OC
Amen. It's time to stop being sissies and placaters and start covering ourselves.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, its not that simple. There is no answer. Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, or any Muslim will never recognize Israel's right to exist. What can we do? Blow them all up?
ReplyDeleteYes McFly, it's that simple. We kill all of them. After all, it's not like they're people.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, when the antions of the world condem us for what we did, we go after them too.
Howe dare anyone judge us, we are the Chosen Ones!
Seriously Ezzie, Temper-smemper. I'm not saying we need to hold hands and sing "We are the world" with everyone, but for the love of chocolate chip cookies, this dude's not talking about self-defence or even vengence, he's talking world domination coupled with a scorched earth policy.
Frankly, that's disgusting.
Seriously, TL, that's not at all what it says, or what I'm advocating. But I'm certainly sick of "restraint" and all that crap, which accomplished absolutely NOTHING but encourage terror.
ReplyDeleteMcFly - No. I don't care if they "recognize" our right to exist or not, honestly. The objective here is to place them into a situation where they are forced to stop attacks, once and for all. I'm sure in the past, people said much the same about Egypt and Jordan. Once they were roundly whooped, that stopped.
Ah crap. I think WW3 is starting in earnest. But, never leave a soldier behind.
ReplyDeleteGo get them.
Shat.
Thanks CE. Some common sense from the left.
ReplyDeleteAnon - Yes, a few people linked to that article (it's actually from a week or so ago), including me. Thanks.
OC - Yeppers.
Scraps - Amen.
'Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, or any Muslim will never recognize Israel's right to exist. '
ReplyDeleteNot true. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Mauretania have full normal relations with Israel; all except Egypt are over 99% Muslim (and Egypt is majority Muslim).