Has Israel learned its lesson?

Boston Globe ^ | January 1, 2009 | Jeff Jacoby

[GQuagmire]

ISRAEL'S 2006 war against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist army based in Lebanon, was a disaster - an ill-planned operation that did more damage to Israel's military reputation than to Hezbollah's resolve and influence. Now, as it fights Hamas in Gaza, Israel seems determined not to repeat the mistakes of two years ago

[GQuagmire]

The lone voice in the liberal wilderness at the Boston Fishwrap.

Click on reader comments. Some real beauties there

[Soothesayer]

Its no surprise that those who love death respect Hamas.

[Sudetenland]

Yeah well the Left is full of anti-semitism and self-hating Jews.

What is truly despicable is the attempt by them to draw a moral equivalency between inadvertent civilian casualties resulting from Israel's attacks on military Hamas target (intentionally located in densely populated civilian areas) and the intentional direct targeting of civilians by Hamas terrorists. We saw the same being done during the Iraq war by Liberal America-haters (pardon the redundancy).

[John Leland 1789]

Go Israel before Obama tries to do something to interfere.

[do the dhue]

Ever hear of a Israelphobe?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2157200/posts?page=1

[pabianice]

[GQuagmire]

Recent report says the Globe is worth 20 million after NYT paid $1.1 billion in the 90’s. Whoops!

[Oatka]

But it remains an open question whether Israel's leaders have learned the most critical lesson of all: that genocidal jihadists and other mortal foes cannot be wheedled, negotiated, bribed, or ignored into quietude.

Get a bunch of Christians to smear a bit lard on each corpse's face (mebbe in the shape of a cross), don't bury the body until a day or two passes, then bury face down with feet towards Mecca. No use just killing them physically, you have to kill them spiritually as well - there will be less "we love death" types volunteering if it is known that Allah will turn his back on them. Try it and see what happens - and ignore the usual Muslim howling and "World Opinion" Whining.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Israelis convinced themselves that ethnically cleansing Gaza of its Jews and handing over the territory to the Palestinians would reduce violence and make Israel safer. It did just the opposite.

In 2000, Israelis had similarly believed that a unilateral retreat from southern Lebanon would deprive Hezbollah of any pretext for continuing its war against the Jewish state. But far from extinguishing Hezbollah's jihadist dreams, it inflamed them.

Why do we continually ignore history?

[RC2]

Israel needs to play this for their people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeN8yFmL5iA&NR=1

[GQuagmire]

Sadly the One is going to follow right in Jimmah’s footsteps

[freekitty]

Israel has a superior military, I would think. The people that wrote and commented don’t get out often do they?

[GQuagmire]

They read the Globe,and mostly live in MA. Need I say more? :)

[Oldpuppymax]

Learned its lesson?? The lesson is to fight to win and ignore the left. Not so tough, is it!

[Starboard]

Go Israel before Obama tries to do something to interfere.

I may be proven wrong but I'll bet that many of his foreign policies will be based on neglect rather than interference. He'll "vote present", and pass the buck to the UN. There is nothing in his past to indicate he'll be willing to handle any hot potatoes. He just wants to be a president, not actually assume the responsibilities and perform the functions of a president.

[MarkL]

What is truly despicable is the attempt by them to draw a moral equivalency between inadvertent civilian casualties resulting from Israel's attacks on military Hamas target (intentionally located in densely populated civilian areas) and the intentional direct targeting of civilians by Hamas terrorists. We saw the same being done during the Iraq war by Liberal America-haters (pardon the redundancy).

Something that's very rarely reported is the fact that with the exception of the US and some of our European allies, only Israel purposely exposes its soldiers to additional danger in order to minimize "collateral damage." In fact, Israel actually has a record of telephoning residents of homes that are near enemy fortifications and tells them to get out before the shelling starts, often alerting the enemy in advance. Sort of like what the US did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, warning the non-combatants to get out BEFORE the atomic bombs were dropped. We never hear about THAT in the America hating media either.

Mark

[Common Tator]

I may be proven wrong but I'll bet that many of his(Obama's) foreign policies will be based on neglect rather than interference. He'll "vote present", and pass the buck to the UN. There is nothing in his past to indicate he'll be willing to handle any hot potatoes. He just wants to be a president, not actually assume the responsibilities and perform the functions of a president.

Worth Repeating!!!

[Common Tator]

I may be proven wrong but I'll bet that many of his(Obama's) foreign policies will be based on neglect rather than interference. He'll "vote present", and pass the buck to the UN. There is nothing in his past to indicate he'll be willing to handle any hot potatoes. He just wants to be a president, not actually assume the responsibilities and perform the functions of a president.

Worth Repeating!!!

[hinckley buzzard]

The stockpile of ignorance and hate among Globe readers is enough to power the city for a year without using fossil fules.

[ChinaThreat]

Sudatenland, i wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, there is no need to worry about collateral damage with those in Gaza. They chose their leaders freely. This cannot be denied. While i don’t advocated the killing of civilians, it is not like they aren’t complicit. They are the “enemy” and should be treated as such.

We have gone on in this utopian way of thinking in the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of this century, pretending that wars don’t kill people. They do. When you battle another state, their citizens are the enemy. Until Israel and the US act accordingly, the radical muslim majority will continue to fester and threaten civilization. Its not a racial thing, early on in their history they were a thriving civilization. Our mathematical systems and a suprisingly large part of our culture was affected by Persia and Arabia. Islam shares the Judeo/Christian values in most of its teachings, but the parts inserted by Muhammad (a murdering pedophile) are a beckon and call to the disaffected to rape, torture, mutilate and murder whom they choose with the excuse of infidel to justify their blood lust. I am neither Jew nor Christian, so my argument is not with their beliefs, its with their actions which are flagrantly INHUMAN.

The Palestenians have no justification for their actions of lobbing missiles into a another country. There is no occupation. There is no oppression. Hamas and its likes are nothing more than rabid dogs that have been trained to kill their entire lives. They are a blight on humanity, and a danger to civil governance throughout the world. Much like having a rabid dog roam the streets of your neighborhood.

If you elect terrorists to lead your country, you get no sympathy from this rank. Israel needs not provide quarter for any soul in Gaza. Release the bombs and get this over with post haste. The slow bleed of negotiating with rabid dogs is a drain on civilized logic.