ass lowns

So a sovereign state was attacked by an uncontrolled militia of another state which is sponsored by a third state. The attack, a political ploy to disrupt pressure by a superpower on the third state in question was calculated, sophisticated, violent, and violated the UN-approved border which officially fulfilled a UN Security Council resolution.

What did the UN do about this? Well, let’s see. The Security Council met to condemn the attack. They sat there and watched as the French – their ambassador to the UN grateful that the UN resides in NY and not in some car-burning suburb of Paris where disgruntled 2nd and 3rd generation predominantly Muslim immigrants from France’s colonial past are bringing to the French a taste of that sordid history – suggested a resolution condemning the Hezbollah violence…and the Israeli retaliation.

In a show of justice and fair play, the US objected to the mention of Israel in the resolution. Then the Algerians – yup, one of those countries defined by the French’s sordid past – who also sit on this hallowed Security Council that Israel has never been able to join (although Syria has been on it), proposed that the resolution was ill advised and any mention of Hezbollah should be abandoned altogether. Unfortunately, since the NY Times, AP and Reuters have thus far not seen fit to report on this effective UN Security Council session, I am limited to the Israel papers which are not reporting how the Algerians justified their position. I’m sure if we had the information, we could put our doctoral student in Philosophy to work deciphering the illogic of their position.

By the way, the good news is the Israelis were not taken by surprise and nobody got hurt. The bad news is that Hezbollah effectively showered the entire North of Israel with their attack. Their fighters also showed some balls in the attack and were unafraid to directly and personally attack IDF positions.

In case you are wondering, that photo above shows Hezbollah fighters, not Israeli soldiers. As you can see, they don’t look like the idiot Hamas fighters, and they also don’t look like amateurs. They look like well armed and well-prepared soldiers.

In related news, IDF sources believe the Hezbollah bombardment was launched because of a failed attempt to attack a paratrooper unit with the intent to kill or kidnap soldiers. The attempted attack failed because the paratroopers noticed the attackers and reacted swiftly. The hero of the day is a young recruit by the name of David Markovitz. David, a Hesder soldier, was the unit’s sharpshooter and calmly aimed and with precision quickly killed the four well-armed attackers as they approached. David’s calm and sure hand have earned him national press in Israel, in part because he is a young recruit and only about a month out of basic training (which is several months for paratroopers and most infantry soldiers in the IDF).


The happy soldier can be seen here. Oddly, he looks like Jordan Bratman. You know, the guy who just married Christina Aguilera.

Sources include Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, Yediot.

About the author

themiddle

22 Comments

  • No, no he doesn’t look like Bratman. Unless by that you meant he’s a better looking version.

    Anyway, I can’t say something real because this sort of thing sickens me. Then I just have nothing to say.

  • I think we need to approach this whole HezBULLah thing another way. First we need to reward lebanese farmers for informing on HBull movements. Send them care baskets of Israel fruit etc. We need to pamper the Lebanese lawmakers with dead sea mineral bath salts. We should sponsor a massive peace concert for Jews, Muslims and Christians on the border with like sting or U2. We need to drop fashion t’s all across the border regions to get more good will. The shirts can have a catchy slogans. Then we destroy the hizbollah headquarters in Beirut with all those nice terrorists inside.

  • Why did they publish the guy’s picture? He popped four terrorists. You don’t think Hizb’allah reads the papers? They might as well have put a target on his forehead.

    But that was some damn fine shooting. Kol ha kavod.

    What’s the weather like in S. Lebanon right about now? If it’s not raining IDF missiles, something’s wrong.

  • It seems that the army succeeded in getting its ass whipped. Baruch hashem, ‘only’ a dozen wounded and some equipment damaged:

    watch part of the Hezbollah video shown on Israel TV:

    http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/011/195.html
    http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3173270,00.html

    But we bombed a bridge and some open fields afterwards, so ‘we won’. It seems there was some criticism in the fact that the army was quick to release the story about Markovitz to cover up the rest of the story.

  • Rabbi Yonah,
    we can do it at any time, except the jewish state has to be pragmatic and be restrained. Under Sharon’s watch, he’s turned the army into an impotent shell worrying more about its image rather than the israeli defence force.

  • Josh, it’s a surprise attack and they’re being bombarded by fairly sophisticated weapons. How is that being owned? If tomorrow Israel launched a targeted surprise attack on a Hezbollah outpost, many of them would be killed and also wouldn’t respond while under this kind of attack.

    You’ve come to a point where everything about the IDF deserves severe criticism even when not warranted.

  • They do not mind dying in battle. To them this is the ultimate sacrifice for their allah. The issue is how to remove terrorism in the area, specifically suicide bombers. This is the one thing Israel has no answer for.

  • the point is the IDf “response” probably failed to wound a single terorist because they aimed precisely at open empty spaces. I mean common Middle wake up.

  • No, Alex, if there were no casualties on their side, it’s because they know the IDF is going to retaliate and they evacuate their camps and buildings. Should the IDF send infantry soldiers across a border just to make sure they kill some poor schmuck in “retaliation?”

    The IDF and the Israeli government understood this for an intentional provocation and acted appropriately.

  • I’ve spoken to quite a few IDF soldiers who claim:

    a) Hezbollah are excellent fighters
    b) They rarely see ’em until a bomb, RPG, machine gun fire rains down on their position.

    And while the IDF tried to create Sayaret units to deal specifically with Hezbollah…they were a foe that is very hard to defeat. In time, Lebanon will be forced to disarm the poorly shaven dudes and send ’em back to Iran…Syria…or Concordia University.

  • I think Hezbollah would be much easier to beat back, and perhaps even defeat right now. They are much more established now and cannot rely on the local population the way they once did. When you’re occupying an area and they form an insurrection, their abilities are very different than behind a border. In the meantime, the IDF will continue to lower the possibility of a successful infiltration or attack.

  • middle,
    I’m VERY afraid that we are about to repeat the yom kippur war where Israel was nearly wiped off the map by ‘surprise’ attack.

    The army is sending warning signals from the northern border and the southern border but the government is telling the army to shut up and say something else.

    This latest attack wasn’t even such a surprise attack. The Northern Command has been on higher alert since the beginning of the week in anticipation. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that someone knew exactly what was coming but we didn’t preempt in order to once again draw the pity of the world at the expense of young Jewish/Druze/Bedouin soldiers.

    Middle, we’ve been saying this for a long time now; the army fires at empty fields and abandonned buildings. You think this is an effective tactic or strategy? Give the army credit for knowing specifically where the enemy is. The government won’t allow it to fight back. UNIFIL is invited to check out the damaged homes in the northern communities, and a complaint is fired at the UN, if at all. Thomas Friedman call this ‘a peace we can live with’ (sorry can’t find the link).

    The Hezbollah is a 2000 man fighting unit that humiliated the IDF and kicked us out of Lebanon. We could’ve at any time win that war against them, but we played defense and took the punches rather than giving them back two-time.

    On top of that, Hezbollah is now a political force in Lebanese politics and this ‘legitimacy’ is one reason why the Israeli government is pressured to ‘restrain itself’ and not intervene in internal Lebanese affairs.

  • “The Hezbollah is a 2000 man fighting unit that humiliated the IDF and kicked us out of Lebanon. We could’ve at any time win that war against them”

    The IDF soldiers I’ve spoken to would disagree with you.

  • How many “in the know” members of the IDF do you come across in Toronto, shtreimel? Shuki at the felafel joint on Steeles and Bathurst doesn’t count, despite the fact that according to him, he was a kravi paratrooper in a secret unit… “I’d tell you more but then I’d have to keel you.”

    Whatever. The notion that Israel’s response to Hezbollah has been restrained is not so uncommon. This is only reinforced by useless Israeli retaliations against open fields and abandoned buildings. WTF! Do you have any idea how much an artillery shell costs? Israel has the means and the intelligence to confront Hezbollah a little more forcefully than it does now. Hopefully the politicians will wake up and allow our defense apparatus to take care of business, in South Lebanon, in Gaza, the West Bank and anywhere else that harbors those that threaten the physical integrity of Israel and its citizens.

  • Yep, get Muffti the info and he’ll get crackin’ on the question of justification by Algeria. But do it soon or he’ll (if he’s very very lucky) get a professorship and he’ll start charging for the same service that he’ll make some poor grad student do at half the going rate.

  • Well Josh, I know that if Israel attacks buildings with people in them, it ends up killing Lebanese civilians who are innocent. It might get a Hezbollah fighter or two, but it’s not as if they have a Kiryah building complex that can be targeted (why does Israel have the Kiryah?!).

    Essentially, this was an intentional provocation intended to divert attention from Syria and its Hariri assassination problems. So why give the Syrians what they want? Why make Israel look bad by targeting buildings?

    Hezbollah can be fought in a real war. This isn’t a real war, nor will there be deterrence here since both sides know that the Lebanese border won’t be breached any time soon. Playing into the hands of the enemy is not a smart thing to do. Making them play our game is much smarter.

    As for another Yom Kippur war, let’s hope you are entirely wrong. Of all people, one would think Sharon would not be in charge in the event of such a debacle.

  • The k iryah, and it’s continued renovation and expansion, is the greatest hypocr1sy of the state of 1srael. Its so called value for jew1sh lives doesn’t seem to bother the fact that by having the HQ in the middle of a major metropolis will ensure a major catastrophe in the event of a war (chas v’shalom). The k iryah was originally built at the edge of the city but the city has since engulfed it. It, the base, should have been moved a long time ago in order to prevent risking hundreds of thousands of lives. With regard to this issue, we are as guilty as the people we condemn.

    We can only speculate the reason for keeping its continued location, though I know that it is mainly because the location is convenient for the generals and majors who serve there, and you can get a great shwarma (with discount in uniform)within a five minute walk. Moving it to some remote location would force many spoiled officers and their families to relocate. Or maybe it’s the Azrael1 mall that it’s connected to by private bridge.

  • David’s calm and sure hand have earned him national press in Israel

    well the jew will be aimed by another calm sniper one day. they are all calm if they kill from a distance of hundreds of feet and think they are in no direct danger. the snipers in baghdad are calm, too. and earn public aplauses 😉