Ok, I'll agree: Israel needs to distinguish between weakness and complicity
The government of Lebanon is not a supporter of Hezbollah, and its use of the country as a base for terrorist attacks on Israel is due, not to the government's complicity, but to its weakness.
We are right to support Israel's ongoing attempt to defend itself against the Iranian-founded terrorist organization, and to degrade Hezbollah's military capacity. But as David Ignatius writes, we also need to support the Lebanese government- and to exert all of our influence to prevent Israel's war on Hezbollah from affecting the Lebanese people more than it needs to.
You can't destroy bases and rocket launching sites by missile or by air without collateral damage. But Israel needs to hold itself responsible for unnecessary damage- and we need to hold it responsible, too.
I continue to maintain that Israel is reacting in the only possible way to the continued provocation. No government can stand idly by while a neighboring country- however benign its putative government- is used as a base from which its citizens can be kidnapped and murdered. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon, in order to assert control where the Lebanese government cannot, will be easier and less costly because of the bombings and rocket attacks. But they cannot go on indefinitely- or without reasonable restraint.
Israel can't allow Lebanon to be used as a base from which Israeli children can continue to be killed by the barrage of terrorist rockets from north of the border. But neither can it, in all humanity, be unmindful of the fact that children are dying on the other side of the border, too.
We are right to support Israel's ongoing attempt to defend itself against the Iranian-founded terrorist organization, and to degrade Hezbollah's military capacity. But as David Ignatius writes, we also need to support the Lebanese government- and to exert all of our influence to prevent Israel's war on Hezbollah from affecting the Lebanese people more than it needs to.
You can't destroy bases and rocket launching sites by missile or by air without collateral damage. But Israel needs to hold itself responsible for unnecessary damage- and we need to hold it responsible, too.
I continue to maintain that Israel is reacting in the only possible way to the continued provocation. No government can stand idly by while a neighboring country- however benign its putative government- is used as a base from which its citizens can be kidnapped and murdered. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon, in order to assert control where the Lebanese government cannot, will be easier and less costly because of the bombings and rocket attacks. But they cannot go on indefinitely- or without reasonable restraint.
Israel can't allow Lebanon to be used as a base from which Israeli children can continue to be killed by the barrage of terrorist rockets from north of the border. But neither can it, in all humanity, be unmindful of the fact that children are dying on the other side of the border, too.
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