UPDATED: Israel squares off against Hamas and Hezbollah
Note the releatively muted US and –so far– European condemnation of Israel’s actions against Hamas.
Now Israel is moving against Hezbollah, after Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers.
Two quick theories:
Thoery One: Iranian insanity on nukes has tried European patience. Hezbollah is a financial creature of Tehran.
Theory Two, cast as a fair question: Have the Egyptians, Fatah, Saudis, and Lebanese
governments given Israel an implicit go-ahead? The strategem: Reduce
these violent factions (Hamas and Hezbollah) and then every one will re-set the chess table.
UPDATE: See today’s post, “No targets are immune,” which expands on these thoughts.
The Israeli Response in Lebanon and Gaza… July 12, 2006 18:44 PDT; The EU Presidency calls on Hezbollah to unconditionally release the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Austin Bay wonders about the significance of the muted US and European reaction to the Israeli response. 18:14 PDT; Lebanon’s Amba…
Trackback by Pajamas Media — 7/12/2006 @ 7:59 pm
Israel: This IS War… We can say now that the Hamas/Hezbollah experiment is a dismal failure. Israel agrees…
Trackback by Macmind - Conservative Commentary and Common Sense — 7/12/2006 @ 8:39 pm
I’d say it comes out of the fact that Hamas is holding a hostage. If the US sharply criticized Israel, there would be no incentive for Hamas to come to terms. Then the US would lose all leverage. The Israelis would say, “You ask us to temper our response to give negotiations a chance, then make it clear to Hamas that the burden to concede is on Israel. All they have to do is sit back while you squeeze us.” That applies to the Europeans, too. They can hardly support negotiations while saying one party thereto must stand down. The US reaction might be different if the Israelis weren’t expecting anything of Hamas, and were simply on a punative military expedition. In that case, there would be no negotiations to screw up and the White House might be shouting at Israel to go home. One other point: there’s not much less Israel can do in Gaza, short of going home. Scrutinize the reports and you’ll see that, MSM hype aside, Israel has taken very little or no serious military action in Gaza. They’ve bombed a couple of houses, shot up a power plant, blown three inconsequential bridges and had a few firefights with handfuls of Hamas operatives. They even sat on the northern border of Gaza marking time. No wonder they’re not getting results — they’re not serious. (sorry this comment is broken up, but the entry field is misbehaving)
Comment by Lastango — 7/12/2006 @ 9:20 pm
Lefty Blogosphere Responds to Israeli Conflict… After scouring Kos and his linked sites, this was the best I could find….
Trackback by The Scratching Post — 7/12/2006 @ 10:28 pm
Roundup… A short one today.The Israeli government fears that t ……
Trackback by Chris At Home — 7/13/2006 @ 5:20 am
[…] UPDATE: See this earlier post–”re-setting the chess board.” […]
Pingback by Austin Bay Blog » Israel’s “Revised Peace In Galilee”: No targets are immune — 7/13/2006 @ 7:21 am
The dots are all connected and the axis of evil has showed it’s hand — to the point that even the EU can see them. Bush has hearded all the cats into the sunlight. Now finish them off. The Israel-Pally terror problem won’t be solved until Iran is taken out. The Mullah’s in Iran are the center of the nest.
Comment by bill — 7/13/2006 @ 7:28 am
More likely, the EU and Arab countries have figured it’s better to be quiet and not come to the defense of kidnappers. Israel has three kidnapped soldiers (one in Gaza, two in Lebanon) that they are trying to rescue. Best to keep quiet than to speak out and draw some very negative attention.
Comment by Harold C. Hutchison — 7/13/2006 @ 7:42 am
[…] Via Instapundit:WIDENING INTO WAR? More on Israel in Lebanon. Of course, it’s been war all along, really. And Egypt is blaming Syria. Austin Bay wonders if there’s a deal. And there is more on the Iran vs the UN. And more…. […]
Pingback by velvethammerblog.com Blog » The War Rages on… — 7/13/2006 @ 8:47 am
Reset the chess table like Czechoslovakia did with Sudetenland Germans with unanimous world approval after WWII. Repatriate Palestinians with 2/3 of the Palestinian Mandate… in Jordan. Does nobody realize that every nation speaking Arabic outside the Saudi penninsula is doing so because of aggressive Arab imperialism? Smash Islamism deader than Hirohitoism and there will be peace.
Comment by Aaron's cc: — 7/13/2006 @ 10:28 am
Widening Into War?: The Israeli Response in Lebanon and Gaza… July 12, 2006 22:50PDT Kesher Talk has a roundup of Arab bloggers reacting to the situation. Dutchblog Israel is among many Israeli blogs no longer counseling patience. 22:33PDT Raja@LebaneseBloggers has driven through the streets of Beirut which are n…
Trackback by Pajamas Media — 7/13/2006 @ 12:14 pm
Yaakov Amidror: Israeli government allowed Hezbo….. Major-General Yaakov Amidror provides answers why the Hezbollah is joining the PLO/Hamas in firing rockets at Jewish targets…
Trackback by Tel-Chai Nation — 7/13/2006 @ 1:38 pm
The Muslim Brotherhood And Hezbollah Detonate The Political Bomb… Today, we face the ugly reality, that the world at large has been successfully duped to believe that Israel is the aggressor and all the Islamic terrorist organizations are her victims. Now that Hamas has joined the ranks of other terrorist organizatio…
Trackback by All Things Beautiful — 7/13/2006 @ 1:41 pm
Don’t Mess With Israel… When are the Palestinians, Hezzbolah, and Hamas going to figure out that Israel is never going ot go away. They are there to stay, and have the best militarty in the Middle East. Every time the Muslims in the area…
Trackback by Stix Blog — 7/13/2006 @ 2:05 pm
Israel attacking on two fronts - Gaza and Lebanon… There has been some speculation that Iran and Syria are directly behind or guiding what is going on with Hamas in Gaza and and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This could be supported by this:…
Trackback by Center for Sanity — 7/13/2006 @ 5:15 pm
I agree with 2). Everyone figures Iran will mine the Strait of Hormuz once the US and allies take initiate military action over their nuke program. Such a move would be devastating to the gulf states’ economies. I think they need to thwart the Shi’ite machine wherever they can.
Comment by Captain Ramen — 7/14/2006 @ 2:55 pm