Israeli Interior Minister: Lebanon War was a Divine Loss

Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai believes that Israel lost the July 2006 war because Israelis have turned their back on God:

“But here we come to the Second Lebanon War, without Syria, without Jordan, without Libya – just 2,000 Hezbollah men. 2,000! And look at what happens. Do you know why? Because we said, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’. What do you think? That you can succeed without help from God? Without the Torah of Israel? Without the learned of the Torah?” he commanded.

With Hassan Nasrallah declaring a “divine victory” and Eli Yishai declaring a “divine loss”, it seems that both Hezbollah and Israel are on the same page.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai: Lebanon war lost due to distance from God

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Noble Energy Willing to Assist Lebanon with Own Gas Finds

The story of the gas find off the coast of Israel (or possibly Lebanon) will not go away. Here’s a map I was able to find of the gas fields in question (from Green Prophet):

Green Prophet: Natural Gas Map off Israeli Coast

Israeli billionaire, Yitzhak Tshuva, who controls Noble Energy Inc. (the company that found the gas) has publicly voiced his willingness to help Lebanon with ‘our’ gas:

Lebanon can benefit from the discovery of off-shore gas fields in its territorial waters, billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva told some 4,000 haredi businessmen in Jerusalem last Thursday during a conference sponsored by the Hamodia daily.

[...]

“There is no argument over the fact that the finds are in Israeli territory, but seismographic data indicate there is a large amount of gas in Lebanese territory as well,” Tshuva said.

[...]

“If there is gas within Lebanon’s territory, we will be willing to share with them (Lebanese authorities) all the information we have regarding the search for natural gas in exchange for real peace,” Tshuva told the conference.

Yeah, well I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

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• Thumbs Up from the Time’s
• The Hummus Battle May Have Been Won, But the War is Not Over
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Lebanese Get High on Hash from Down South

I absolutely detest when Lebanese go around blaming their social problems on foreign countries. More often than not, its usually finger-pointing at the West for their “socially degrading exports” which, according to these type of activists, is forced down our throat; not that we, as consumers, enjoy them.

What really annoyed me recently was a statement by one of Lebanon’s anti-drug NGOs ” Jeunesse Anti Drogue” (unfortunately my first name is their acronym) to parliament:

During a parliament discussion on the country’s increasing drug problem, Joseph Hawat [president of JAD] spoke about rising figures of drug addicts that are being reported in the Arab world and highlighted Israeli involvement as being a particular threat.

Come on! You mean its not our lax border security, our laissez-faire attitude towards hashish or that its still grown in our backyards that is the cause of the problem? And it seems the comment is based on coincidence:

“Last year, we (JAD) were researching the case of a drug smuggler who was importing chocolate from Egypt that contained LSD and other drugs,” he said, “We traced the drug dealer’s source in Egypt to an Israeli businessman living in Egypt.”

How was it getting into the country? Who was transporting it? How was it distributed once it got here? Of course, I am not expecting any answers. When you start playing the “Israel is behind everything” card you are basically standing up and saying that the problem is too big to handle and we cannot do anything about it. You are effectively saying that you have no control over the situation and cannot do anything about.

This would be a perfect time for the government to step in and take action:

…the [Lebanese] government will allocate millions of dollars for the war on drugs, most of which will be transferred to the JAD.

Why? So they could spend more money on research (read: witch hunt) looking for the Israeli boogieman? Then of course there’s the fact that drugs are part of our war with Israel – hashish for hush-hush:

Hezbollah takes the line that the drugs are being used for a good cause, namely to buy Israeli military secrets. The organization considers the drugs trade to be part of an “indirect war” against Israel, one that certainly came in handy during the 34-day war in the summer of 2006.

For years, Hezbollah has been trading Lebanese-produced heroin and cocaine for Israeli military secrets.

This then raises the question: how serious is the government in their fight against drugs?

Check out these great posts:

• Warsuits
• No entrenamos a Hezbollah
• Israeli Interior Minister: Lebanon War was a Divine Loss

Israel Details War Plans to Lebanon

I guess I must have missed that memo but the go-to blog on wars (past, present and future) has issued what it describes as Israel’s attack plan in its next war with Lebanon in a post titled Israel Tells Lebanon How It Will Be Destroyed.

…Israel plans to use a larger force (4-5 combat divisions, versus three in 2006, and more than twice as many aircraft and many more commandos.) The next war would involve doing a lot more damage to Hezbollah, in a shorter period of time. The earlier war lasted 34 days. Since 2006, Hezbollah has acquired more power (via its control of about a third of the voters) in the Lebanese government. Thus the new plan involves doing a lot more damage to the rest of Lebanon, and the Lebanese armed forces. Israel wants all Lebanese to know that they are partly responsible for Hezbollah continuing to exist.

Anyone shaking in their sandals? Didn’t think so. The blog goes on to give a warped history lesson about Lebanon and Hezbollah, and how we fear Israel but are afraid of taking on Hezbollah for fear of the repercussions and therefore we must die.

I honestly love how the site simplifies everything; as if the whole thing is going to be a walk in the park for the Israelis. Quite naive in my opinion kind of like the objectives the Israelis set in the 2006 war. Just as the post rightly acknowledges that Israel has learned a lot from 2006, if fails to reciprocate that so have we. My personal opinion is that unless there is a balance of terror on both sides (i.e. we can match Israel’s firepower) then war is inevitable, but to pretend that you can dictate actions on the battlefield and predict their outcomes shows not more than pure gullibility and failure to fully understand events on the ground.

War a failure: Israeli soldiers walk back into Israel from south Lebanon in August 2006 (AFP: Gali Tibbon)

Check out these great posts:

• Warsuits
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• Lebanese Get High on Hash from Down South

Lebanon Drags Dow(n) Markets

I never knew we had such an affect on international markets:

The stock market fell Tuesday, adding to losses from the Dow Jones industrial average’s worst May since 1940, as BP’s failure to plug a leaking oil well dragged down energy producers, and a report said Lebanon fired on Israeli warplanes.
[...]
Indexes erased earlier gains triggered by growth in U.S. construction spending and manufacturing after AFP reported that a senior Israeli security official said the nation’s aircraft were targeted by Lebanese anti-aircraft guns.

Really? Why? Anyway, next time we won’t be shooting at does pesky warplanes invading our airspace. We wouldn’t want to create another market crash in the event we actually hit one.

Pathetic: The Dow drops after AFP reports Lebanon fired at Israeli warplanes.

Check out these great posts:

• Thumbs Up from the Time’s
• The Hummus Battle May Have Been Won, But the War is Not Over
• The Enemy of My Enemy…