More Violence in the Middle East
This is a very tough subject to write about since the Israeli conflict with their neighbors often raises strong opinions.
Back in my college days, I was an adamant supporter of every decision made by the Israeli government for and against their neighbors, even though Israel often takes a hard line. However, after having a long discussion about this with my cousin that lives in Jerusalem when I met up with him a couple years ago, I learned that many people in Israel, including my cousin to some extent, do not agree with the aggressive tactics used by their own government. It leaves me quite torn about where to stand regarding the recent escalation in the region.
Instead of summarizing the recent escalation (for those of you that don’t read the news), you can go to CNN to read about recent events.
It’s tough for a country to exist when all of its neighbors want to see the nation destroyed. The sad part is that Israel poses no real threat to their neighbors if Israel was not under the constant threat of being attacked. The problem is that the governments of the Palestinian Authority, Iran, and Syria are so corrupt and incompetent that they need to divert attention towards an enemy to distract their citizens from their ineptness. If they ever succeeded in driving Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, they would all be much worse off because they would no longer have an enemy from which to distract their people. Maybe ‘Eurasia’ will start becoming a threat in this region if Israel was ever destroyed, but that’s not likely.
The question of the day is how should Israel respond to the constant attacks from terrorist groups in their region that are state supported? Thankfully, Israel’s army is far superior to every neighboring army (at least until Iran gets a nuclear bomb). Israel also knows that Syria and Iran are more involved with recent attacks than the Palestinians and Lebanon, but attacking either of those countries will start an all out war, whereas Israel seems more interested in just sending a message to those two countries.
I’m not sure if I agree with Israel’s decision to bomb Southern Lebanon after the recent kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. I am ok with Israel going back in to Lebanon and re-establishing the ten mile buffer zone to minimize the risk of Hezbollah rocket attacks, but I think they are sending the wrong message by bombing suburban Beirut when Lebanon is not the real enemy here. I am not against Israel starting a war in the region by any means. I just want to see them kick the shit out of Syria, since Syria is one of the biggest two state supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas. I’d also like to see them bomb Iran and destroy any site currently being used to build nuclear bombs, but that’s a much tougher enemy to fight/target to locate (and the biggest threat to Israel in the region).
I am certain that some sort of war will break out soon since tensions are too high and no party is willing to negotiate. I have 100% confidence that Israel will “win” this war, but nothing will be resolved and all parties will be worse off as a result. It’s truly a shame that the people of the Arab world have focused their hatred against Israel instead of their own corrupt leaders.
I have an aunt and uncle currently live near Haifa, which was recently attacked by Hezbollah rockets. I’m hoping that all is well there, but I have e-mailed my best wishes and am looking forward to an update in the near future.
Back in my college days, I was an adamant supporter of every decision made by the Israeli government for and against their neighbors, even though Israel often takes a hard line. However, after having a long discussion about this with my cousin that lives in Jerusalem when I met up with him a couple years ago, I learned that many people in Israel, including my cousin to some extent, do not agree with the aggressive tactics used by their own government. It leaves me quite torn about where to stand regarding the recent escalation in the region.
Instead of summarizing the recent escalation (for those of you that don’t read the news), you can go to CNN to read about recent events.
It’s tough for a country to exist when all of its neighbors want to see the nation destroyed. The sad part is that Israel poses no real threat to their neighbors if Israel was not under the constant threat of being attacked. The problem is that the governments of the Palestinian Authority, Iran, and Syria are so corrupt and incompetent that they need to divert attention towards an enemy to distract their citizens from their ineptness. If they ever succeeded in driving Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, they would all be much worse off because they would no longer have an enemy from which to distract their people. Maybe ‘Eurasia’ will start becoming a threat in this region if Israel was ever destroyed, but that’s not likely.
The question of the day is how should Israel respond to the constant attacks from terrorist groups in their region that are state supported? Thankfully, Israel’s army is far superior to every neighboring army (at least until Iran gets a nuclear bomb). Israel also knows that Syria and Iran are more involved with recent attacks than the Palestinians and Lebanon, but attacking either of those countries will start an all out war, whereas Israel seems more interested in just sending a message to those two countries.
I’m not sure if I agree with Israel’s decision to bomb Southern Lebanon after the recent kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. I am ok with Israel going back in to Lebanon and re-establishing the ten mile buffer zone to minimize the risk of Hezbollah rocket attacks, but I think they are sending the wrong message by bombing suburban Beirut when Lebanon is not the real enemy here. I am not against Israel starting a war in the region by any means. I just want to see them kick the shit out of Syria, since Syria is one of the biggest two state supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas. I’d also like to see them bomb Iran and destroy any site currently being used to build nuclear bombs, but that’s a much tougher enemy to fight/target to locate (and the biggest threat to Israel in the region).
I am certain that some sort of war will break out soon since tensions are too high and no party is willing to negotiate. I have 100% confidence that Israel will “win” this war, but nothing will be resolved and all parties will be worse off as a result. It’s truly a shame that the people of the Arab world have focused their hatred against Israel instead of their own corrupt leaders.
I have an aunt and uncle currently live near Haifa, which was recently attacked by Hezbollah rockets. I’m hoping that all is well there, but I have e-mailed my best wishes and am looking forward to an update in the near future.
posted by GaryGinew at 10:34 PM
4 Comments:
if you're interested, shadoweyes has some interesting commentary on why he doesn't think "bombing the shit out of Syria" is that fabulous of an idea, why the IDF reacts the way it does, and why negotiation isn't really an option for these people.
for the record, his views and opinions do not necessarily reflect my own. But I found this to be interesting.
Thanks Mouse - that was a very good post by shadoweyes. It probably does not make sense to attack Syria given the huge can of worms that move would open up (war with Syria AND Iran). However, it makes more sense than attacking Beirut.
Like I said, I am torn regarding what to think of the situation.
I'm more concerned with it opening up a war on the entire Islamic world, as he suggested, which - as I understand - includes much more than Syria and Iran. The implications could be disastrous.
And, while it's unfortunate that Beirut happens to be in Southern Lebanon, doesn't it seem somewhat sensible that that would be the first area that Israel would think to attack? straight from CNN:
"Hezbollah fighters operate with almost total autonomy in southern Lebanon, and the government has no control over their actions, according to The Associated Press. But Lebanon has long resisted international pressure to disarm the group."
I don't know what to think of the whole situation either. On a more selfish note, I'm scared to think of what could happen with the US's previous record of supporting Israel's military actions, and the ginormous mess that this could all turn into.
can't we all just get along?
btw... in my last comment... I wasn't suggesting you were wrong, I really was asking whether it makes sense for Israel to be bombing southern Lebanon. Because I know very little about the whole conflict, besides what I've been reading on CNN and a couple of blogs. This is really funny because I was just commenting on our blog that I don't usually get into political conversations with people because I like staying objective about things and there's so much bias in the media.
coworker offers his insight by saying: "if the Green party decided to bomb Mexico, would it make sense for them to bomb, say, Vermont because of that? No. because the Green party is spread out all throughout the country."
but, if you have no other central location to attack, and say the Green party's headquarters or major operations were centered in Vermont, it would make a little bit of sense to me that - having no other "place" to attack - they would choose Vermont. And that would be sad. because it's the home of Ben and Jerry's.
something about this whole situation scares me more than usual. it's unsettling.
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