Human Sacrifice

That's what Israel was being asked to pay as the price of its continued provisional existence in the Middle East. Once Israel had shown readiness to compromise and had withdrawn from Lebanon and then from Gaza, the slow attrition of rocket attacks and the occasional suicide bombing continued, as if to say: You are month-to-month tenants of this land, and your rent will be collected in blood until such time as we are ready to evict you.

Refusing to pay sharecropper's rent in human lives, Israel has now become a holy terror -- albeit perhaps the only holy terror in the history of the world that gives advance warning of its onslaughts. The readiness to compromise was read as weakness, and Israel seems hellbent on assuring that that mistake is never made again.

Innocents are caught in between, as always in war but doubly always in "asymmetric warfare." Much more than the survival of Israel is at stake. Those who are weeping most assiduously about women and children are themselves fighting a profound political battle behind a moral shield. From The New York Sun:

President Ahmadinejad of Iran likewise explained the importance of Hezbollah's battle in an interview that aired on the Iranian News Channel on July 23. "In my opinion, Lebanon is the scene of a historic test that will determine the future of humanity," he said.

Read that sentence again and remember it: "A historic test that wll determine the future of humanity." That is what Israel is fighting for, and that is what Lebanese Shiite civilians, like the 3000 Americans killed on 9/11/01, are dying for. All-out war has been declared on liberal democracy by neo-medieval fascist theocracy. Soon enough that war will be nuclear. This is a crucial point, psychologically and strategically, to score a decisive victory -- if that is even possible with the world howling for a ceasefire. Ruthless strength may be railed against and hated, but deep down, when niceness has only emboldened the most ruthless, strength is also admired -- even by the defeated.

Much as some of you may hate it and try to deny it, as long as you are enjoying the relative safety and luxurious freedom of life in America, Israel is fighting alone for you and me. On this one, the Right is right: unreal as it sounds from an air-conditioned SUV, that much is at stake. If you aid Nasrallah, you're sacrificing your grandchildren to dhimmitude. That choice is yours to make (though not your grandchildren's), but it would be less hypocritical of you to go live in Iran now.

Comments

[Richard Lawrence Cohen]

You're right. Israel is the point man of Western civilization, fighting for France and Germany and the Netherlands and those countries don't know it. The sight of a grinning Ahmadinejad in today's NYT, demanding an end to Israeli attacks, is a surreal joke. A modern-day Hitler -- the analogy is not exaggerated, and does not concern only the Jews -- using the rhetoric of peace to further his dreams of extermination.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Yes.

Linked on YARGB and I'm sending it to some others.

[karen]

I think these countries you speak of, Richard- do know it. Are they so stupid after dealing w/events of their own w/Islamofacists?

Yet, they are calling up/down and black/white... this is one thing about the Liberal brain i can't wrap my own around- the efficacy of Liberals to inter-change words that detour meaning off the beaten path of reality.

I find it impressive to see many Right-winged sites claiming to be ~A friend of Israel~ or flying the Israeli flag in support of their struggles/Life.

[Keith]

"I find it impressive to see many Right-winged sites claiming to be ~A friend of Israel~ or flying the Israeli flag in support of their struggles/Life."
I find it utterly baffling that left-wing sites don't.
A tiny nation fighting for it's life against an enemy sworn to destroy it doesn't deserve support? Where are the values that once illuminated the Left?

[XYBORG]

"and it's already been proven that nothing is gained by restraint, you might as well try to do as much damage as you can while you can." - Gottlieb

Remarkable volte face from all the "rainbow coalition" rhapsodics.

So duplicitous. So J*wish.

[Walrus]

Amba sheds her ambivalence... as well she should.

Why are all the calls for ceasefires made to Israel and not to Hezbollah? There are two different possibilities and perversely, they're probably both true at the same time.

One, a deep prejudice against Israel that blinds people to the offenses committed against it.

Two, an unspoken acknowledgment that Israel is the more civilized of the two and that a call to Hezbollah for restraint is a total waste of time.

[Allen Khodabash]

A great, great post.

But I don't see how this war can be won without taking it to Tehran -- in a little way or a big way.

Maybe we'll get lucky and the Iranians will put a foot wrong.

Anyway, the myth of land for peace has been shattered forever. This is a war of extermination on the Islamic side. We must fight back or, as you say, accept a future of dhimmitude.

[JewishAtheist]

There's no question that Nasrallah et al want the complete destruction of Israel and of the West in general. However, it doesn't necessarily follow from there that Israel's response is the correct one. Have we stopped al-Quaida by invading Iraq? Has terrorism diminished or grown as a result of our actions?

How many Lebanese children will grow up hating Israel not merely out of general anti-semitism, but because Israel killed their parents or siblings?

The strongest, most obvious approach isn't always the best one.

[GN]

Refusing to pay sharecropper's rent in human lives, Israel has now become a holy terror -Gottleib

I LOVE this analogy!!!! As these whackos continue to ?pake with a stick" it is imperative that they are soundly smacked down and kicked from the schoolyard. It is dis-heartening that innocents must be victimized in it .... but it imperative to the survival of Isreal and Europe and ... and .... and .... the same countries that are cowering now also cowered with Hitler .... and obviously learned ......NOTHING.

[a concerned citizen]

All of you armchair zionists need to move to Israel. A point of clarification, Lebanon is a democratic, Christian country. If you love Israel so much why don't you move there!