Following the tragic loss of 60 civilians in Qana as a result of an Israeli air strike on Hizbullah rocket launching positions, Prime Minister Olmert has declared a 48 hour halt to “aerial activity” over Lebanon:
Israel agreed to a 48-hour suspension of aerial activity over southern Lebanon after it bombed a Lebanese village on Sunday and a number of children died, a US official said.The attack marred US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s weeklong mission to halt the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah.
The suspension of over-flights was announced by US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. He said Israel has reserved the right to attack targets if it learns that attacks are being prepared against them.
It’s probable that the Israeli government announced this de facto bombing halt at the urging of US Secretary of State Condi Rice who just completed a round of talks with Olmert. Her trip back to Lebanon, however, has been cancelled by Prime Minister Siniora:
Saniora said Lebanon would be open only to an immediate cease-fire. “There is no place at this sad moment for any discussions other than an immediate and unconditional cease-fire as well as international investigation of the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now,” he told reporters Sunday.
The halt will be a godsend to Hizbullah who brought the bombing of Qana – the ancient city where it is said Christ performed the miracle of turning water into wine – on the civilians of that tragic town by using the streets and buildings as cover for their rocket launchers:
This morning, July 30, 2006, the IAF attacked missile launch sites in the area of the village of Qana, an area from which hundreds of missiles were launched towards the city of Nahariya and the communities in the western Galilee.The IDF will defend the citizens of Israel from attacks by the Hizbullah and the responsibility for any civilian casualties rests with the Hizbullah who have turned the suburbs of Lebanon into a war front by firing missiles from within civilian areas.
Residents in this region and specifically the residents of Qana were warned several days in advance to leave the village. Eighteen Israeli civilians have been killed and over 400 have been wounded by these rocket attacks which have disrupted the lives of tens of thousands of Israeli citizens.
The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians, but this is the result of Hizbullah terrorist organization’s contemptible use of Lebanese civilians as human shields.
In addition to the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has some eye opening video that clearly shows rockets being launched from between buildings in Qana.
In other words, the malicious bastards in Hizbullah, knowing that the rocket launches would draw immediate retaliation by the IAF, positioned their equipment so that maximum damage to civilian structures would ensue.
And it appears that this kind of cynicism is going to be rewarded as the nation’s of the world (including the United States) as well as the world press, and most of the left (who have been cheering on Hizbullah anyway) have gotten their way and Israel will now stop short of their stated goals of altering the situation on their northern border and trying to disarm Hizbullah.
For Hizbullah, it is a second Miracle at Qana.
The Hizbullah Hallelujah Chorus in the media and on the left has spent the last 24 hours ecstatically rolling in the blood of the civilians killed in Qana, dropping condemnatory bombs on the Israelis while being unable to display one iota of moral discrimination about the conflict. James Lewis at The American Thinker brilliantly elucidates this point:
We have lost elementary moral distinctions over the last century. As a culture, we pretend we cannot tell the difference between accidental shootings by police in pursuit of killers, and deliberate killing by those intent on destroying innocents. This is not, as the Left likes to boast, a reflection of our higher morality. It is a loss of elementary moral discrimination. We are much less moral than our ancestors of a hundred or two hundred years ago.One role of the New Media must be to restore that common sense morality which says that hiding behind women and children in war is murder, plain and simple. The onus for murder is on the terrorist, not the cop.
There is a solution: It is for the media and the United Nations to rediscover the elementary moral distinctions of the original Geneva Conventions. Killing innocents is murder. Drawing enemy fire on children is evil. It’s not hard.
Any recognition of Mr. Lewis’ argument will come too late for Israel who will be enjoined from restarting the bombing probably by the United States who sees the diplomatic writing on the wall. It is simply unsustainable to furnish any more support for Israel’s bombing campaign against Hizbullah and their rocket launching sites. Indeed, judging by the reaction by the world community, it would be a dead certainty that Hizbullah would move their military activities even closer to residences in order to maximize civilian casualties.
I hope otherwise but world public opinion is so outraged at this point that it appears that unless Israel is willing to go it alone, the war may be over. Does George Bush have it within himself to continue to commit the US to standing with Israel against Hizbullah? I would hope that he would but at this point, I wouldn’t be too harsh on him if he urged Olmert to fold his cards and trust that the international community can summon the strength to force Hizbullah to accede to UN Resolution 1559 that mandates their disarming.
One final point: The unexplained gap of 8 hours between the time the building where 56 civilians lost their lives and its collapse will go mostly unnoticed in the media. It doesn’t fit the narrative of bloodthirsty Jews killing innocent babies for no reason. Also unnoticed will be the definitive proof that shows Hizbullah carrying out combat operations smack in the middle of suburban Beirut, giving the lie to idiotic imbeciles like Mitch Prothero of Slate.com who said that Hizbullah using civilians as human shields was a “myth.”
Israel is in a box. If they stop now, Hizbullah is a clear winner despite being pulverized by both the Israeli army and air force. Their simple survival will be spun by the media and the left as a great victory against those horrid Jews. But if they continue the war following this 48 hour bombing halt, they may have to do it without the support of the United States as Bush is coming under increasing domestic and international pressure to rein in the Israelis and force them agree to a cease fire while they are still short of their military goals.
Bush is going to earn his salary this week.
UPDATE
Ed Morrissey believes Hizbullah will honor the unilateral cease fire by the Israelis in the breach:
A suspension puts more pressure on Hezbollah than it does Israel. The world has screamed for a cease-fire, and Israel has conditionally agreed, at least for a short period. If Hezbollah quits firing over the border, the Israelis may extend it, allowing the conflict to settle. However, no one really believes that Hezbollah will honor this—after all, they started the war, and they obviously believe this plays to their benefit. Once they launch another rocket, all bets are off, and Israel will get at least another two weeks before the ADD-addled global diplomats again forget that Hezbollah started the war.
The US also benefits with this suspension. Given that our State Department announced it first and that it came at the end of Condoleezza Rice’s trip to Jerusalem, it appears rather obvious that the demand came from the White House. That kind of intervention establishes that we have some limits—even if they are foolish limits—to our laissez-faire attitude towards Israeli action.
I predict that the suspension will not last; Hezbollah will continue its operations, providing yet another point of clarity in this conflict.
Okay, Captain, pass me some of that kool aid. I’ll take a sip…
Any rockets launched by Hizbullah in this cease fire period will be blamed on Israel because, although it wasn’t specifically mentioned, the cessation of air attacks will not preclude the IDF from attacking Hez positions in southern Lebanon on the ground.
But let’s explore your thesis further. Any “point in clarity” with regards to this conflict will not be recognized by the overwhelming majority of nations (including the EU) as well as most of the media and certainly the left in this country. For them, there is no moral clarity to be gleaned. Israel is at fault. Israel is using “disproportionate” force to protect themselves. Israel is bombing Lebanese civilians deliberately (“Hizbullah? Hiding among civilians?” It’s a myth.)
In short, those most in need of moral clarity are wearing blinders in the first place. It is left to you and me and those of us who recognize that Israel’s fight is our fight to delineate any moral distinctions to be had in this war.
7:13 pm
It is incredible – and incredibly hypocritical – that Bush put pressure on Israel to accept a ‘temporary’ ceasefire. Whatever happened to Bush’s claim that any ceasefire needed to reflect a new reality, that it wasn’t sufficient to hold things as they were? When has Bush ever agreed to have the US military stand down in Iraq and take time off from trying to kill insurgents and terrorists?
And it is incredible that Israel agreed to stop as they ought to have learned by now that every time – yes, every time – they stop trying to kill terrorists, the terrorists who escape come back to kill more Israelis. And they’re stopping because some supposed civilians died, civilians who were too stupid or supportive of Hezbollah to heed the Israeli warnings to evactuate? God, it’s sad to watch. And what is sadder is that Bush and his headline loving Secretary of State are going to sleep tonight thinking they did good… when all they really did is impose the death sentence on a countless number of Israelis…
8:06 pm
I’m not sure if we know for certain that the US urged Israel to engage in a ceasefire but I think it is higly probable. As Steve aptly points out, this would be highly hypocritical. I would go a step further and state that it would be despicable for the US or any other country to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
It would be unethical for the US or any other country to compromise the national security of Israel, a western style democracy, for their oil needs or because they fear terrorist attacks.
8:22 pm
I too am distressed and upset that there appears to be a cease fire going on here, but the hez will be able then to get more rockets from Iran and $$$$$ from Syria and more unconditional support from cnn, msnbc and alas, even Fox is falling for most of this staged drama from the latest bombing. If one looks close and have a medical background such as I do you can tell the patients are mostly props—IV’s are not attached, blood is not really blood, bandages are wrapped completely wrong, it just doesn’t look real, its obvious, not to say that there have been real injuries and God is with the little children.
With all the American/Lebonese dual citizens we so rapidly got out of Lebanon we better be watching our own medical supplies cuz I got a feeling we’er gonna need em.
I wish, for all, happy dreams of Isreal finishing this job once and for all.
9:54 pm
Rick: point of information. Think the First Miracle at Cana was Christ turning water into wine at a wedding feast.
9:58 pm
Lesley:
Thanks for pointing that out. I changed it.
The thing is – it took three hours for someone to point that out. Loaves and fishes was a whole other miracle alltogether.
7:49 am
Just in Time
John Hinderaker, su Powerline, ha qualche domanda interessante su questo striscione anti-americano comparso misteriosamente davanti all’edificio di Cana dove ieri sarebbero morti oltre 50 civili, appena poche ore dopo il bombardamento israeliano che …
1:33 pm
Israeli air force hits Lebanon despite agreement to halt raids for 48 hours
The Israeli air force carried out strikes Monday in southern Lebanon despite an agreement to halt ra
2:29 pm
MSM - Hezbollah loves children- dead ones
HT LGF via Blackfive
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RBT is on the road again with spotty net access. I had to post this one re the Qana incident in Lebanon. I will update later with some other questions the MSM is not probing e.g…
12:00 am
Who on the Left has been cheering Hezbollah?
Please be specific, I would really like to know.
6:48 am
md, just turn up your miracle ear, or just watch hardball or cnn, heck, cnn had a very leftist Jewish Rabbi on last night and he was debating Dennis Prague and the good Rabbi was cheerleading,horse faced kerry cheerleads in a subtle way and the left hate Bush and Rice so much they are foaming at the mouth to undercut everything these two are saying.