2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict / Israel was right to attack Lebanon

Position: Israel was right to attack Lebanon

This position addresses the topic 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

For this position

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"On Wednesday CNN cameras showed destruction in Tyre. What does Israel have against Tyre and its inhabitants? Nothing. But the long-range Hezbollah rockets that have been raining terror on Haifa are based in Tyre. What is Israel to do? Leave untouched the launch sites that are deliberately placed in built-up areas?"

From 'Disproportionate' in What Moral Universe?, by Charles Krauthammer (The Washington Post, July 28, 2006) (view)

"At the same time, you [Olmert] will send ground forces to the Litani to destroy every Hezbollah bunker, outpost, communications facility and weapons cache. You will withdraw the bulk of those forces as soon as feasible, but you will announce that Israel will shoot on sight any Hezbollah forces that move within 10 miles of the border. That should get the Katyushas out of range of Haifa and Tiberias."

From Being Ehud Olmert, by Bret Stephens (The Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2006) (view)

"The real problem is that Israel's response has been all too proportional. So far it has only gone after Hamas and Hezbollah. (Some collateral damage is inevitable because these groups hide among civilians.) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is showing superhuman restraint by not, at the very least, "accidentally" bombing the Syrian and Iranian embassies in Beirut, which serve as Hezbollah liaison offices."

From Let Israel Take Off the Gloves, by Max Boot (Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2006) (view)

"In all other crises there was a negotiation process, a set of plans and some hope of reconciliation. But this crisis is different. Iran doesn't do road maps. The jihadists who are driving this crisis don't do reconciliation. In other words, this crisis is a return to the elemental conflict between Israel and those who seek to destroy it."

From As Israel Goes for Withdrawal, Its Enemies Go Berserk, by David Brooks (The New York Times, July 16, 2006) (view)

"By hitting back, Israel is not only exercising its right of self-defense; it is also restoring some law and order in this area, reminding the hooligans of the region that they just can't spread havoc and get away with it."

From Hitting targets in Gaza, Lebanon simply self-defense, by Uri Dromi (The Miami Herald, July 14, 2006) (view)

"If President Bush doesn't succumb to world opinion, Israel will win, soon, a decisive victory. And then world opinion will change."

From Hearts and Minds, by Jack Kelly (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 6, 2006) (view)

"Twenty-eight dead civilians in a village from which 150 Katyusha rockets have been launched against Israel doesn't seem "disproportionate" to me. What's "disproportionate" is the idea that civilian life should be allowed to proceed normally in what is, in fact, a terrorist launching platform."

From Advocates of 'proportion' are just unbalanced, by Mark Steyn (Chicago Sun-Times, August 6, 2006) (view)

"America's green light for Israel to defend itself is seen as a favor to Israel. But that is a tendentious, misleadingly partial analysis. The green light -- indeed, the encouragement -- is also an act of clear self-interest. America wants, America needs, a decisive Hezbollah defeat."

From Israel's Lost Moment, by Charles Krauthammer (The Washington Post, August 4, 2006) (view)

"But now the ceasefire is a catastrophe for Israel to harvest, and Lebanon to share. And it was Israel's fault. Not for trying to destroy Hezbollah, but for failing to do so."

From Can Israel Survive This Catastrophe?, by David Warren (Ottawa Citizen, August 17, 2006) (view)

"The resolution adopted on a 15-to-0 vote, if implemented faithfully by all sides, would significantly reduce Hezbollah's ability to cause trouble."

From A Month of War, by The Washington Post editorial board (The Washington Post, August 13, 2006) (view)

"Now is the time for Israel to clean Hezbollah out of the Middle East, just as we are trying to clean al Qaeda out of everywhere else they have planted their soldiers. This is a long haul, and a dangerous war, but it will be longer and made more dangerous with appeasement and ceasefires being urged upon Israel and, for that matter, the United States."

From Why Israel Fights..., by William J. Bennett (National Review, August 11, 2006) (view)

Against this position

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"A war which killed up to 1,200 Lebanese, the majority civilians, and nearly 160 Israelis was ill thought out. The decision to respond to the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah on July 12 with an intensive military strike was not based on a detailed military plan. Other options were not considered. Ehud Olmert made up his mind hastily, without consultation outside the army, without studying the problems of the Lebanese front, and without considering alternatives."

From Olmert exposed, by The Guardian editorial board (The Guardian, May 1, 2007) (view)

"By pulverising Lebanon and killing hundreds of civilians, the Israelis are doing nothing more than reminding us of their power, as well as their contempt for Arab lives. But by responding to Israeli aggression, and standing up to the mighty Israeli army, Hezbollah is showing the world that the Jewish state's regional monopoly on armed might is slipping away."

From Morality and power, by Irfan Husain (Dawn, July 29, 2006) (view)

"The one thing that's clear so far is that Rice believes that allowing Israel to decimate Hezbollah and drive what's left of the group out of southern Lebanon is such a valuable step toward her "new" Middle East that it's worth crippling a nascent Arab democracy with hundreds of civilian casualties and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure damage."

From A War of Her Own, by Eugene Robinson (The Washington Post, July 28, 2006) (view)

"Any diplomatic efforts this week to bring about a cease-fire and install a multinational force in south Lebanon will succeed in the long run only if they respond to the demands and rights of Lebanese and Israelis alike."

From It's not only about Israel, Ms. Rice, by Rami G. Khouri (International Herald Tribune, July 25, 2006) (view)

"George Bush, Condoleezza Rice and, for that matter, John Howard, can bleat forever about Israel's right to defend itself, but we are witnessing an obscenity. On all sides. The targeted Israeli air strike which murders children in a Beirut suburb is as much a crime against humanity as an indiscriminate Hezbollah rocket crashing into downtown Haifa."

From Stop laughing, it's US policy that's the joke, by Mike Carlton (The Sydney Morning Herald, July 22, 2006) (view)

"We in Lebanon call upon the international community and citizens everywhere to support my country's sovereignty and end this folly now. We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which it has repeatedly and willfully violated."

From End This Tragedy Now, by Fouad Siniora (The Washington Post, August 9, 2006) (view)

"The United States, in turn, miscalculated Israel's abilities and the damage done to its own interests in the Middle East by blocking a quick cease-fire and allying its policies so closely to those of Israel."

From Israel's misguided strategies, by H.D.S. Greenway (The Boston Globe, August 8, 2006) (view)

"Israel has shown that its air force can demolish any target it wants to hit--and some it doesn't. But it also has proven that this is an ineffectual way of fighting guerrillas who can easily hide amid a sympathetic local population."

From Lebanon and the unlearned lessons of Iraq, by Steve Chapman (Chicago Tribune, August 3, 2006) (view)

"If the neoconservatives were not so adept at claiming the patriotic high ground for themselves -- and convincing the nation that they are interested only in advancing the security of America and Israel and the cause of democracy -- it might be time to start asking which of them are actually agents of Iran. The question is pertinent because "objectively," as they like to say, neoconservative policy has resulted in enormous profit to the Iranian mullahs, at grave cost to the United States and with little or no benefit to Israel."

From To Iran with love, by Joe Conason (Salon.com, August 25, 2006) (view)

"What a waste that it took more than 30 days to adopt a United Nations Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Lebanon. Thirty days during which nothing positive was achieved and a great deal of pain, suffering and damage was inflicted on innocent people."

From Start Talking to Hezbollah, by Lakhdar Brahimi (The New York Times, August 18, 2006) (view)

"Rather than seek the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel sought to eliminate it permanently. If the aim had been to disarm it, in line with United Nations Resolution 1559, Israel might have initiated a diplomatic round, drawing in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, to help with the Lebanese government. But, encouraged by the Bush administration, Israel treated Lebanese sovereignty as a fiction."

From Israel's debacle, courtesy of Bush, by Sidney Blumenthal (Salon.com, August 17, 2006) (view)

"It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response. The result instead has been that broad Arab and worldwide support has been rallied for these groups, while condemnation of both Israel and the United States has intensified."

From Stop the Band-Aid Treatment, by Jimmy Carter (The Washington Post, August 1, 2006) (view)

Mixed on this position

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"Israel is hoping to change the equation, to force Lebanon to take control of its border or accept an outside force that would do so. The tactic of striking Hezbollah has some chance of bringing that about. Stopping the attack and hoping for the best has no chance at all."

From 'Back Off, Israel,' Doesn't Cut It, by Jonathan Chait (Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2006) (view)

"The long-term strategic consequences of this tragic month-long war are hard to discern. Apart from the tragedy of the civilian deaths on both sides, the war must be provisionally reckoned a messy draw. Israel has not achieved its strategic objectives, although it would be wrong to think that Israel has gained nothing."

From A few gains for Israel, by Greg Sheridan (The Australian, August 17, 2006) (view)