Trying times

Just about every day, I’ve been getting something like this via the Ha’aretz and Forward mailing lists.

Dear Friend,

These are trying times for Israel. After weeks of relentless attacks on communities in northern Israel, thousands of people are traumatized, thousands have been forced from their homes, and thousands sit daily in bomb shelters. With cities under attack, suppliers are unwilling to deliver food and all businesses, including grocery stores and supermarkets, are closed due to war. Families sitting in bomb shelters are hungry and have neither the funds nor the capabilities to purchase food.

For friends of Israel who are far from the front-lines, today you can make a difference to those under attack!

Whether it is one meal or hundred meals, please help purchase food for those who desperately count on your support.

Best wishes for a peaceful summer,

Abraham Israel

It sure is tough being an Israeli in these trying times. Still, with near 90% of Israeli Jews cheering on the bombs and missiles, it’s hard to sypathise. If they would just emerge from their bunkers in their millions and march on Jerusalem demanding an end to the slaughter in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank, they could stop it. Just like that. But it appears that this is the kind of life they have chosen for themselves, growling and snapping and often enough biting any Arab who happens to be in the vicinity. A creature like that really ought to be put down before it causes any more damage. Unfortunately, the US, in the guise of the SPCA, won’t hear a word said against the poor demented cur, while feeding the beast to bloating on a strict diet of nutritious morsels like bunker busters. Bur clearly human beings can’t live by bombs alone.

Speaking of dogs, the humanitarian population of northern Israel have left their beloved pets to their own devices, as reported in today’s Ha’aretz:

Thousands of dogs have been abandoned. The cats have lost their food supply and simply die. The dogs are helpless, they can't even jump onto the garbage containers.

Unlike their Lebanese counterparts, the Israeli dogs don’t even have babies’ femurs to gnaw on and assuage their hunger.

Lessons learned

Meanwhile, In Ha’aretz, Yoel Marcus has learned his lesson from the devastation of Lebanon:

By now, it is clear this war is not about Lebanon. Hezbollah is not a local terrorist organization but an operative arm of Iran, Syria, Al-Qaida and the instigators of the attack on the Twin Towers. Israel is not just safeguarding Kiryat Shmona, Hadera and maybe Tel Aviv. It has been forced to become a partner in the war on fire-and-brimstone Islamic fundamentalism and what Bush calls the "axis of evil" in this part of the world.

So let's leave the critiques and the armchair commentary until after the war and face reality. Reality is that we need to take a deep breath and strike Hezbollah with everything we've got, on land and air, until we neutralize it as a military force on our border. It is important to achieve the upper hand by cease-fire time. We have to show them that "Little Satan" has big teeth.

I guess that about says it all.