Why are Islams freedom fighters firing at there brothers and sisters!?!

[abdmez]

They are killing Arabs in Israel, they are even aiming at Arab towns!

Is this how they treat there brothers and sisters in Israel?????

I guess so...

Hezbollah must stop firing at Arab and Jewish civilian targets to be recongnized as anything but a bunch of thugs who wish to see children die! What have the Arabs in Israel ever done to you Hezbollah!?!

Hezbollah = Cowards.

[guyabano]

totally agree !

[lavikor201]

Great post! It shows both side of the conflict.

[Fishman]

They are killing Arabs in Israel, they are even aiming at Arab towns!

Is this how they treat there brothers and sisters in Israel?????

I guess so...

Hezbollah must stop firing at Arab and Jewish civilian targets to be recongnized as anything but a bunch of thugs who wish to see children die! What have the Arabs in Israel ever done to you Hezbollah!?!

Hezbollah = Cowards.

We are in the end times. All of the Mujahideen are corrupt, along with the important leaders, some of the people, and the world's morals.

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

They are killing Arabs in Israel, they are even aiming at Arab towns!

Are they even aiming at anything? Those are crude rockets, not precision guided missiles.

But of course civilian deaths on all sides are to be condemned.

[HeiGou]

Are they even aiming at anything? Those are crude rockets, not precision guided missiles.

But of course civilian deaths on all sides are to be condemned.

Especially those that are intended and desired. As opposed to those that are unintentional.

If they are not aiming at anything, should they be firing them at all?

[IbnAbdulHakim]

ive never seen hezbullah, has anyone ever seen them?

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

Especially those that are intended and desired. As opposed to those that are unintentional.

If they are not aiming at anything, should they be firing them at all?

Well it does some interesting that the proportion of combatants to civilians that they have killed with their crude weaponry is actually significantly greater than Israel, despite the latter's precision guided missiles. Will they continue firing? They don't seem to have any other useful method of fighting.

[adi8putra]

Morality is not on our side

By Ze'ev Maoz

There's practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.

This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.

Let's start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign state, and occupied its capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation, we dropped several tons of bombs from the air, ground and sea, while wounding and killing thousands of civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate. The majority of these civilians had nothing to do with the PLO, which provided the official pretext for the war.

In Operations Accountability and Grapes of Wrath, we caused the mass flight of about 500,000 refugees from southern Lebanon on each occasion. There are no exact data on the number of casualties in these operations, but one can recall that in Operation Grapes of Wrath, we bombed a shelter in the village of Kafr Kana which killed 103 civilians. The bombing may have been accidental, but that did not make the operation any more moral.

On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as "negotiating chips." That which is permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah crossed a border that is recognized by the international community. That is true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israel Air Force has conducted photo-surveillance sorties on a daily basis in Lebanese airspace. While these flights caused no casualties, border violations are border violations. Here too, morality is not on our side.

So much for the history of morality. Now, let's consider current affairs. What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into civilian population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing population centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has fired thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that Hezbollah men are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25 Israeli civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date. The number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who have nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.

Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.

There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a competition as to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the world that it is more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of information is selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base our information (or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption that the international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise that we are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in terms of our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the bitter truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no advantage, and we have no special status.

The writer is a professor of political science at Tel Aviv university.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742257.html

[Sis786]

If they are not aiming at anything, should they be firing them at all?

Now thats a comment that should be sent on a postcard to Israel!

[HeiGou]

Well it does some interesting that the proportion of combatants to civilians that they have killed with their crude weaponry is actually significantly greater than Israel, despite the latter's precision guided missiles. Will they continue firing? They don't seem to have any other useful method of fighting.

It does but you have to ask what is the proportion of civilians killed to the amount of explosives dropped. Of course there is a problem here: 1. the Israeli Army does not hide and it fights in the open and 2. how do you know who is a civilian or not in Lebanon? Hezbollah dresses like civilians and hides among them. If a Hezbollah man dies in civilian clothes who is to say whether he was a fighter or not?

The question remains: is there a moral justification for firing missiles that can only kill civilians? Hezbollah thinks so. May I ask if you think this is Islamic?

[lavikor201]

By: Joseph Farah Arab-American from Lebonon

hope Pat Buchanan and Kofi Annan are feeling good about themselves today.

They agree with each other on what needs to be done to resolve the Middle East conflict.

What do these two men have in common that brings them together in this unusual way?

For whatever reasons, they fail to grasp the root cause of the Arab-Israeli struggle – that Hezbollah, Hamas and much of the Arab and Muslim world want more than anything else in the world to destroy the Jewish state.

It's that simple. Just as there can be no compromise between the United States and Osama bin Laden because al-Qaida seeks the destruction of America, there can be no diplomatic resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict as long as the goal of one side remains the annihilation of the other.

But Buchanan and Annan, two guys who seldom agree, don't get it.

Buchanan calls Israel's measured, restrained act of self-defense a "rampage against a defenseless Lebanon." He claims Israel's action in Lebanon was a "pre-planned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer."

He asks: "Where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?"

Let me answer that question – as a Christian of both Lebanese and Syrian heritage: We are with Israel! We are in favor of destroying Hezbollah once and for all. If anything, we are wondering what took so long. We are hoping and praying that Israel does not abort this campaign against the evil terrorists allied with al-Qaida and sponsored by the mullahs of Iran.

We are sick and tired of seeing groups like Hezbollah hide behind the skirts of innocent Christians, occupying their towns and daring Israel to come after them. We are sick and tired of the wholesale persecution of Christian believers in Lebanon – a jihadist religious cleansing that has sent millions of Lebanese Christians into a worldwide diaspora.

Is Pat Buchanan kidding? Where are the Christians? Where has Pat Buchanan been as Christians have been slaughtered by the likes of Hezbollah and treated like dhimmi by his friends in Hamas and the Palestinian Authority?

And where has Buchanan's new buddy Kofi Annan been for the last 20 years? He, too, has been blaming Israel first for having the audacity to exercise self-preservation and self-defense against ruthless enemies sworn to one goal – the Jewish state's destruction.

Both Annan and Buchanan offer up a passing condemnation of Hezbollah's "provocative attack."

But from there they launch into their predictable tirades against Israel for doing what every nation-state has the right to do – defend itself from attack.

Annan threatens to pull out his United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon if Israel does not declare a unilateral and immediate cease-fire.

Can I ask an obvious question? What good have the U.N. peacekeepers done? Have they kept the peace? Have they prevented Hezbollah terrorists from raining thousands of rockets down on the civilian population of northern Israel? Have they prevented the transport of arms to the Lebanese-Israeli border?

If anything, the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is proof-positive that the U.N. is completely ineffective, complete irrelevant – and so are the diplomatic "solutions" endlessly offered up by its busybody leaders.

Annan says Israel's response is "disproportionate."

I assume, by that, he means Israel should only give back what it has received. In other words, Israel should not utilize its strength – its modern military machine. Presumably it should use only the weapons employed against it – like katyusha and Qassam rockets.

It's insanity. By the same logic, should the U.S. use only box-cutters against al-Qaida?

The object of any military campaign should be to destroy the enemy, to prevail over them, to win victory.

That's the strategy I'm hoping Israel adopts in this war with Hezbollah and Hamas.

-Worldnetdaily

[Fishman]

OFF TOPIC: Lavikor, since you are from Haifa, I was wondering whether you experienced the rocket attacks?

[lavikor201]

I live in the southern part of the city, so right now even though we are on alert, we are not as threatened as the people who live in northern haifa.

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

It does but you have to ask what is the proportion of civilians killed to the amount of explosives dropped.

On which side? The Hezbollah rockets or the Israeli bombs? And why does it matter?

Of course there is a problem here: 1. the Israeli Army does not hide and it fights in the open

What are you referring to as a 'problem' ? Yes the Israeli army is in the open. Your point?

2. how do you know who is a civilian or not in Lebanon?

The vast majority of those killed were women and children (just look at Qana). I think it is safe to say that they are civilians. The number of Hezbollah fighters dead has only been 43.

Hezbollah dresses like civilians and hides among them.

Guerrila warfare is preferable to them over being massacred.

The question remains: is there a moral justification for firing missiles that can only kill civilians?

I am interested in your wording. It is a question of probability not possibility. The rockets 'can' kill soldiers just as they 'can' kill civilians. Hezbollah's rockets that landed in an open field were apparently intended to hit a military base. 51 Israelis have died, 18 of them civilians. 750 lebanese have died, the vast majority of them civilians (according to all major news groups). You decide which is more morally defensible.

May I ask if you think this is Islamic?

It is not Islamic to kill civilians whether they are Jewish or Muslim.

Regards

[lavikor201]

The vast majority of those killed were women and children (just look at Qana). I think it is safe to say that they are civilians. The number of Hezbollah fighters dead has only been 43.

Do you honestly believe that number. Many Hezbollah are civilians... and are not very innocent.

It is not Islamic to kill civilians whether they are Jewish or Muslim.

Than Hezbollah is not very 'islamic' firing thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Haifa and Northern Israel.

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

Do you honestly believe that number. Many Hezbollah are civilians... and are not very innocent.

I accept that the number could be slightly higher but I find any number above 100 to be nonsensical. Hezbollah would have to make up at least 10% of the entire Lebanese population before such a proportion becomes convincing.

Than Hezbollah is not very 'islamic' firing thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Haifa and Northern Israel.

True. Their actions are not very Islamic. But what are their other options for fighting back? Israelis ask the question in defense of their tactics.

[Hijrah]

We are in the end times. All of the Mujahideen are corrupt, along with the important leaders, some of the people, and the world's morals.

yes the "mujahideen"

[lavikor201]

True. Their actions are not very Islamic. But what are their other options for fighting back? Israelis ask the question in defense of their tactics.

Why don't they fire rockets at people in Lebonon like soldiers. Ones attacking them. They are firing 99% of there rockets in Israeli territory at innocent civilians. Some even Muslims!

But then again, they knew what would happen when they started this whole conflict. Did they think Israel was just going to sit there and take it?

[Fishman]

yes the "mujahideen"

Sorry for the spelling mistake, it's not my fault that I don't know much Arabic.