FrenkelX - Israeli headlines Xplained

Iran

2007-10-22T07:58:00.000+02:00

Putin's visit to Iran made quite a steer in the media.

1) Most of the Israeli newspaper articles cry out that we must not repeat the pre-WW2 mistakes, and prevent WW3 at all cost.

2) Globes had an article saying that the Iranophobia in the Israeli press allows Prime Minister Olmert to continue it's squeeze on the Gazza strip / continue peace talks with Mahmud Abbas / and ofcourse fend off the third investigation against him announced this week. Public opinion is easily shifted when a nuclear threat is on the front page.

3) Aluf Ben - a well known opinion maker - remarks that the Israeli attack on the nuclear facility in Syria went unnoticed by the international community. Israel has not been condemned and there is a reason for that. He suggests that the world signals Israel that it would not mind if Israel would continue doing the dirty job and also bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.

4) Stratfor - an international independent agency - claims that Putin is not helping Iran with their Nuclear Plant as the Iranians may have wanted. Instead, he is taking political and military steps to make a US invasion into Iran - very difficult. This would give Putin, so stratfor claims, more time to prepare for the Eastern Europe military power increase, while the US gets more and more complicated in the middle east.

Itai

How Israel keeps it's sanity

2007-02-26T21:35:00.000+02:00

Ofir Pines (Member of Parliament from the Avoda) was interviewed on Monday morning radio show and reminded the listeners that Prime Minister Olmert once said that his government does not need a policy, but need a good management. Mr. Pines, that only a few months ago resigned from the Government, said that on one topic Olmert does have an Agenda - weakening Israel's supreme court ("Bagatz").

Bagatz often forces the government to explain it's actions in public and bind them to the existing Parliament laws. In recent years, the supreme court also canceled laws that countered existing super-laws. These super-laws were approved by a majority of the Parliament members (61 out of 120), and are the closest thing Israel has to a constitution.

Israeli politicians frequently use the (ongoing) security events to stir the media focus from domestic issues. As a democracy, this is a disastrous process for Israel. The politicians of course have a domestic agenda, but they bend or overlook democratic principles such as minority group rights, information transparency , human rights and other "constraints".

"Bagatz" is Israel's way to keep it's sanity, and save it from short-sighted politicians. All of the "hot" or "taboo" topics such as Palestinian rights, gay rights, the Shabat end up in "Bagatz" - and it was under criticism for not being diversified.

Recently, a new Parliament member named "Esterina Tartman" proposed a bill that will cancel Bagatz' ability to cancel laws. The political setting was such that she could have easily gained enough votes for her bill. Supported by the newly appointed Justice Minister (who was assigned to this post because he thinks that Bagatz is too powerful), the proposed bill allows Bagatz to force on all of the Parliament members to vote on the subject at hand, but they cannot cancel laws. Had this law passed, it would mean the end of the Israeli sane democracy as we know it.

Esterina was the leading candidate to become the next Tourist minister. What Esterina forgot, is that she is playing a game that is way out of her league. A few days ago, the press replayed her saying that she has a MA degree , while she actually did not. Her press conference only got her into more trouble, and she was forced to remove her candidacy from the Tourist minister post.

Ofir Pines, by the way, forsaw that Bagatz is in trouble, and proposed a bill that would allow Bagatz to cancel a law, but it requires all 9 Judges to adjourn (which means that you need at least five supreme court judges to cancel a law).

Itai

Tireless Optimist

2006-09-18T09:35:00.000+03:00

Shimon Peres gave an interview to "London & Kirshenbaum" (channel 10). London & Kirshenbaum were considered for a long time a dieing breed. They are older, respect their guests in the show and also take their answers with a grain of salt. When the interview was almost over London said to Shimon Peres, "as always you are a tireless optimist". Peres, who is already 80 and something years old, smiled and answered "aren't you being tired from being so pessimistic?".

Shimon presented his "new" plan for the Middle East which had two parallel axes (the plural of axis, not a sharp metal that cuts trees). The first axis is economic. He would like to see a big industrial zone near the Israeli-Gazza border (the last one was closed after the disengagement from Gazza). Peres admitted that the international donations of 1 billion dollars that the Palestinian Authority got every year, was the source of corruption and bloated organizations, and that is why the PLO lost the elections to the Hamas. An economical change will force a political change, so he claims. Like China, Russia and India the economics will force a change to a more liberal regime. The second axis is diplomatic. Israel and the Palestine are required to take trust building actions (such as releasing Palestinian prisoners by the Israelis and the release of the Israeli soldier by the Hamas). This would not bring peace but would allow the conditions for the beginning of piece talks. Regarding the Palestinian rumors to stick to the Saud's offer (which calls for recognizing Israel by all Arab states in exchange for Israeli complete withdrawal to 1967 borders), Peres said that this offer is a start but it does not deal with the two most important issues for the arab world – Jerusalem, and the right of return.

Jerusalem is a long time fetish of both the Israelis and the Palestines backed up by strong theological reasoning. Both claim that Jerusalem is their eternal capital city. The right of return is a Palestine wish that they will be offered their houses that they abandoned in the Israeli independence war in 1948 (including all of the original families' offspring) – which in practice means a flux of millions of Palestines into Israel and the practical destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.

When thinking about what Peres claimed we need to keep in mind:
1) Some of the "facts" that Peres uses to strengthen his arguments are his making. For us these are facts, for politicians like Peres these are outcomes of an Israeli policy (which to the most part Shimon Perez was part of).
2) The rest of the facts were chosen such to support his arguments. Yes, modern economics requires liberal changes, but they also require a leader that has a vision and the ability to pursue these changes. The Hamas was voted to fight the corruption but they have not created any real democratic instrument to fight the corruption in the Palestinian Authotiry.
3) The Palestinian Authority is required to collect weapons from citizens and fractions that oppose their policy. Any move towards Israel by the official authority can be easily jeopardized by the opposition with an attack on Israel. Since both the PLO and the Hamas are armed, but are not strong enough to disarm each other, a unity government was proposed.

Terror Agriculture

2006-09-09T13:59:00.000+03:00

Dror Poir in his blog writes about the situation in Gaza and defines a new term: "Terror Agriculture". He reminds us that 49% of the Gaza population are children, and implies that their living conditions (shortage of electricity , unemployment and the blockade ) are the grounds for the next generation of Terrorists. He concludes that it is Israel's responsibility and fault and demand that more people will talk about it.

Dror also points to Igal Sarena's post about a number of families from Gaza that do not support the Hamas activity but cannot do much when their back yard or house is used to fire Kassam rockets into Israel (which means a phone call a few minutes later - get out of the house - and an Israeli bombing).

What I do not like about such articles is that they do not take into account the political settings that created them. Both treat the Israeli government (and consequently the entire Israeli population) as heartless, but do not analyze the political underground currents that stir the Israeli government (leftwards or rightwards).

There were three major events in the recent Gaza history: Israeli settlement pullout, Hamas won the Palestinian elections and the abduction of Gilad Shalit.

The Israeli pullout was part of the US plan for election for Palestinian parliament. You cannot have an election if you do not have any land to control. From Israel's point of view, it released an economic burden, and allowed to close the Israeli-Gaza border (since there are no longer Israeli settlements in the Gaza part of the border). When the border is closed, no terrorists can come into Israel. The only problem was that Israel also needed to withdraw from the Egyptian-Gaza border. This border is now a smuggling route of Terror experts, advanced weapons and money from Iran. Israel closed the door but was forced to leave the window open.

The Palestinian elections were supposed to stop the growing power of Hamas (that won in many municipal elections a few months before) . It was assumed that the PLO will win, and together with Israeli support will crush Hamas. The reality was that Hamas has won by a landslide, and continued his anti-Israeli policy. Some Israeli voices comforted themselves by thinking: "at least now their actions and their statements in English are aligned, which will make the Israeli actions more understandable". Others maybe hoped that the reality of politics will make the wolf act like a sheep. In reality, however, the US, Europe and Israel cut all money trails leading to Hamas. Since there is not much of an economy left in Gaza (no revenues = no taxes) the money comes in briefcases from Iran. The guy who is in charge of the money is the Hamas leader, Halled Mashal which lives in Syria. He is the one that calls the shots, and is not bound to the real-politic of an elected government.

Hamas government and Haled Mashal are one as far as the Israelis are concerned, so I'll call them Hamas in short. Hamas continued the rocket attacks on Israel and conducted the attack on an Israeli patrol tank (in the Israeli side of the border) abducting Gilad shalit. Since then (about 6 weeks ago) the Israeli public opinion shifted even more towards - do whatever it takes we do not care any more - which brings us to the beginning of this post.

US is waiting for the Hamas government to break apart (oh, I forgot to mention that Israeli arrested 45 hammas parliament members and some government ministers as a bargaining chip in exchange for Gilad Shalit). The Hamas are waiting for the Bush / Blair governments to be replaced with a more flexible government.

Only time will tell who "won". One thing is for sure - the Palestinians families leaving in Gaza already lost.

Haifa deputy mayor was fired

2006-09-05T20:04:00.000+03:00

Haifa's mayor Yonah Yahav interviewed today and explained why his deputy was fired. According to Mr Yahav, he was the one that ensisted that Haifa will have an Arab deputy mayor. However, during the war he did not act responsibly torwards the Arab population. He said things that increased the tensions between jews and Arabs (which for years are known to be good relations in the city of Haifa), and accroding to Mr. Yahav, he did not show himself in his constituency and relieved the tension as would expected from a deputy major when the tension is already higher than ussual.

Mr. Yahav said, that although his article published in Ynet was moderate, it was done in hebrew and after the wheels of impeachement started rolling. However, during the war his interviews in the Arab media were out of line.

Kidnapped

2006-08-29T22:34:00.000+03:00

Israeli newspapers claim that the kidnapping of the two fox news journalists was done by the same group that kidnapped the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Hammas political leadership has decided to move Gilad from their hands into a different group, but the original kidnappers want him back. So, they kidnapped two US journalists and released them only in exchange for Gilad Shalit (which selebrated his 20th birthday a few days ago).

LBC (a leading Lebanese TV channel) has released a promo showing a few seconds of Ron Arad (the Israeli pilot that is held in captivity for the past 20 years). The video itself is a small part of a pro-Hezbollah TV show which contains a 70 seconds long video of Ron Arad. Ron looks young and it is believed that his video does not contain any new information on his condition or whereabouts today.

The promo has an emotional impact in Israel. Israeli radio and TV talk about the chance to negotiate his release while he was held by Lebanese (terrorists). Today Ron is believed to to be held by Iran and all negotiation paths have failed.

This all comes only three days before the big demonstration in Tel Aviv for the release of the Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev , Ehud Goldwasser (who were kidnapped on July 12th by Hezbollah) and Gilad Shalit (kinapped by the Hammas on June 20th) .

What all this means is that Israel is sticking its ground not to negotiate their release, and that Hezbollah is under pressure to release them (according to the UN resolution they should have already done that).

Boiling

2006-08-21T19:35:00.000+03:00

The international force that was supposed to deploy in Lebanon is delaying. The Lebanese army does not seem to disarm Hezbollah nor it cannot stop it from rearming itself again. As stratfor indicates, no international force has declared that it is willing to disarm Hezbollah.

Meanwhile in Israel, many journalists and polititians hint that a 2nd round with Hezbollah or Syria is in the near future. It seems that Israel would prefer to increase its military budget on the expense of economical growth, but will not negotiate with Syria at this time. Negotiating with Syria now, would require the Israelies to give more and get in return less, much less. There is no confidence in Israel that the current Syrian government (or the next government to come) will respect a piece agreement. The memories from pre 1967 of Syrian artilery on the Golan Heights bombing the entire Galilei down below, cannot be forgoten.

Meanwhile in the Gazza strip Hammas is gaining confidence. Israeli intelegence reported that the negotiation on a joint Fatah-Hammas has failed and Hammas started hunting down the oposition Fatah members. Hammas has refued to the Egyptian deal in which they will release Gilad shalit and in return Israel would have promisses to release some prisoners. In response to this escelation Israel arested another Hammas official (vice prime minister). Most of the Hammas officials arrested by Israel can face an Israeli trial for terrorist activity they were involved with in the past. The intelegence also reported of a large ammount of explosives and Iranian money moving freely from the Egyptian-Gazza border (that was once in Israeli responsibility, but now is Egyptian responsibility).

Israel cannot afford the West Bank to arm like the southern Lebanon or Gazza, and therfore Olmert's disengagement plan, will be disbanded. In addition Haim Ramon, the polititian behind the West Bank disengagement plan, had to resign from the Ministry of Justice (after one of his former employees complaint to her boss that Haim Ramon hugged and kissed her against her will).

To conclude, at this point in time, it seems that a new arms race has begun.

Hypocrisy

2006-08-19T08:16:00.000+03:00

The Telegraph published evidence that Syria ,Russia and Iran were involved with supplying weapons for the Hezbollah. One of the last paragraphs quotes Netanyahu:

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud Party leader and a rival, said:
"There were many failures - failures on identifying the threat, failures in
preparing to meet the threat, failures in the management of the war, failures in
the management of the home front."

Netanyahu had a leading role as a finance minister in cutting military project budgets (such as the Merkava tank). Israeli newspapers claim that a new tank system that counters the Russian anti-tank missiles has already been developed, but the Israeli government decided not to produce it for the Israeli Defence Force before the US army ordered it ( larger quantities makes each item cheaper to manufacture ).

24-08-2006 update: See a video of this system , and its accomlishments.

Russia (again)

2006-08-13T20:27:00.000+03:00

Israel is pressing Russia to implement the agreement it supported in the UN security council. Russia's anti-tank missiles in the hands of Hezbollah, was one of the problems that IDF faced in this war.

Channel 10 reported that an Israeli forign ministry mission to Russia will demand that these missiles will not get into the hands of Hezbollah in the future.

Does the US trusts Israel's jugment ?

2006-08-11T20:11:00.000+03:00

According to the NYTimes Israel has asked for more MRLS rockets. Their deadly effect can be used to destroy Hezbollah rocket launchers. The report suggests that if the US approves the shipment, it will demand from Israel guarantees that it will be used with care (not to hurt uninvolved civilians).

The US knows Israel is under presuure to stop Hezbollah's rocket launchers, and the question is whether US trusts the Israel to use the MLRS rockets only in cases in which civilians will not be harmed.

Update: CNN filmed a burned lebannese that was hurt from a faulty cluster bomb (probably MLRS) when returning to south lebanon. CNN did not confirm the man's claims, but that does not change the effect these pictured had on most viewers. The NYTimes article was probably leaked on purpose, to prevent these kind of news to harm the Bush administration.

Negotiating under fire

2006-08-08T18:11:00.000+03:00

The Israeli government is expected to instruct (tonight or tomorrow) the military to go deeper into Lebanon. This comes after the short range Katyusha rockets keep falling on Israeli cities. The longer range missiles are being handled (relativly) well with air force bomings, and commando raids.

Israel knows that the negotiation on the disarment of the Hezbollah is coming, and that its ability to launch rockets on Israel gives it a stronger hand in the negotiation.

09-aug-2006 Update: As expected, Israeli Defence Force got from the government green light to start preparing for a deeper invasion into Lebanon. One thing was odd, that the army presented only one plan (and not several) to the goverment, practically saying take-it-or-leave-it.

19-aug-2006 Update : The Israeli government has delayed the deeper invasion only after the cease fire negotiation has complete (The gun is always more effective before it fires). However, we now know that the operation goal was mainly to boost the morale, and to show that after 30 days of fighting the army advanced more than a few killometers. In practice, since the time was short (about 3 days) before the cease fire started, the army hasted, and the Hezbollah easily spotted the tanks and fired anti-tank missiles. 35 soldiers were killed in 3 days, which is one third of the total soldiers killed in this war. The lebanese government did not wait for the international UM force and sent 15,000 troops to the south. This means that the Israeli troops that advanced will quickly retreat back as the Lebanese army takes control of southern Lebanon. The main question is : how much control ?

1st UN resolution - The Draft

2006-08-06T21:41:00.000+03:00

Yesterday, the French and the US has agreed on a draft for the 1st UN security council resolution. This draft describes the cease fire agreement, the disarming of Hezbollah, but does not cover the deployment of the military force that will replace the Israeli army in southern Lebanon. The French, insisted, not to send any soldier until they have assurances that the fighting is over.

The Lebanese are not satisfied with the draft and will demand to include assurances that their interests will not be forgotten (such as a condition in which the Israeli forces retreat from Lebanon). Saudi Arabia has already called for an Arab conference to backup the Lebanese government proposal. It is very likely that the Lebanese demands will be taken into consideration in the final resolution.

Hezbollah can easily jeopardize this agreement by not disarming. They will use the temporary Israel army in Lebanon as an excuse to "resist the occupation", and practically delay the arrival of the French forces forever. In this scenario, Hezbollah will loose political points in Lebanon. Yes, Hezbollah are ready to fight forever, but it is not for Lebanon's best interest.

Olmert's slip of the tongue

2006-08-02T20:51:00.000+03:00

Olmert said in an interview today that the war in Lebanon will enable the disengagement from the west bank (Palestinian territories). Making a statement on a controversial issue hurts the unanimous consensus around his leadership in this war and its goals, and it is unlikely he said it on purpose.

If indeed this is a slip of the tongue, then Olmert actually meant what he said. One of Olmert's concern is that after the disengagement, Palestinian rockets will cover all Israeli major cities. It is now clear that if the missiles from Lebanon and Gaza will not cease after the war, then the disengagement from the west bank will not take place.

Halutz and the hospital

2006-08-01T21:02:00.000+03:00

Reports from Friday claim that Dan Halutz Israel defense Force's chief of staff did not feel well, because of fatigue. Today, 4 days later, Channel 10 reporter hinted that his deputy Moshe Kaplinski is taking more decisions than before. Moshe Kaplinski knows the ground forces better than Dan Halutz, and is very familiar with Lebanon territory.

The defense minister was reported to add Gabi Ashkenzazi a few weeks ago to his advisory staff. Gabi also has personal expirience with Lebanon territory.

Together with the reserve divisions that will be entering Lebanon soon, IDF is expected to drive hezbollah away from the Israeli border.

The US is using delay tactics in the UN, which gives IDF a little more time. However, the main question remains - who will "replace" the Israeli army once it pulls out ofLebanon. Will an internation force be willing to enter "Hezbollah" land ? If these forces will mainly include European soldiers, then I expect Israel will be given even more time, to make their job easier.

update 8-aug-2006: Haluz decided that Moshe Kaplinski will (practically) be replacing the northern ground forces commander (Udi Adam).

Time is up

2006-07-30T20:16:00.000+03:00

Startfor issued a report last night, that if cease fire starts today, Hezbollah practically won.

Channel 10 reported that Condoleezza Rice said that the time is up. She was called back to Washington, which means that she might have difference of opinion with George Bush. Unofficial reports from the US say that the White House is very angry. All of their diplomatic efforts have been underminded. This all comes after the terrible images of 55 bodies from Kfar Kanna, following the collapse of their resident building. Olmert ofcourse appologized after this incident.

Time will tell what happened there, but nothing that will be said from this point forward (including all of the following text) will not change the tragedy.

Israeli Air Force did not give much details, and said that more time is needed to analyze the pictures. According to their first analysis the house that collapsed was hit 8 hours before it collapsed.

IAF implied more things (although it was not said explicitly in the briefing) :
1) IAF identified this house as a Hezbollah headquarters, in charge of sending rockets into Israel
2) IAF did not know there were citizens in this house.
3) Hezbollah kept weapons in this house, and it may caused the secondary explosion (8 hours after the attack ?)
4) Why people did not leave the house if there was fire ? Why there were no reports on the collapse right after the IAF air attack ?
5) It took a long while to match the ground photos from the arab media with the photos from the airplanes.

Syria

2006-07-29T17:08:00.000+03:00

Stratfor was claiming for quite a while that Israel refrains from endangering Bashar El Asad's regime in Syria, since there is no better alternative. Haaretz newspaper confirmed this theory claiming that Israeli foreign ministry disagrees with Bush vision of Democracy in Syria, since the Shia majority in Syria will vote for a radical regime.

Joshua Landis writes why Assad (thinks he may) benefit from the Israeli-Lebanese conflict

Israel economy still holding

2006-07-29T16:05:00.000+03:00

The Bank of Israel raises the interest rate for August 2006 by 0.25% to 5.5%

The main considerations behind the decision are:
Inflation in the first half of 2006 was close to the upper limit of the target price-stability range, while viewed over the previous twelve months inflation was above the upper limit of the range. The main forces affecting inflation in the first half of the year––in particular the rise in energy prices and in prices of other imports, and the contraction of the output gap––continue to exert inflationary pressures. These forces were partly offset in the second quarter of 2006 by the strengthening of the sheqel.
In the light of the changed security situation, Israel’s economic risk assessment increased. The rise in risk serves to reduce capital inflows and acts against the forces tending to strengthen the sheqel. This rise in risk, including inflation risk, demands a measure of monetary tightening, in order to maintain price stability and to bolster financial stability.

Guy Rolnik from Haaretz adds: Israel's real deterrent force is in its social durability against the military threats: The backup that the military receives from the citizens and the ability of the state to keep going forward economically even when at war.

technorati tags: economy Israel
war
middle east

Israel's strategy in and out of Lebanon

2006-07-29T05:05:00.000+03:00

Many voices in Israel call for a bigger ground operation in Lebanon. This move has been delayed by the Israeli government given the last days of fighting with Hezbollah. Hezbolla's anti-tank capabilities makes a long stay very dangerous. Since no other army "volunteers" to replace the Israeli army ; Israel will enter Lebanon only after it makes sure it has a way out.

Haaretz reported that Italy, Germany, Ireland, France and Turkey have said they are considering joining a United Nations run multinational force. On the other hand, Israel US and Portugal are reported to support a European Union led international force. In diplomatic language it sounds like this:

Rice said the terms and conditions of a such a cease-fire would involve "a multinational force under UN supervision" that would have a mandate to enforce a peace agreement.

This may look like a subtle matter, but in fact it is substantial. For years, the UN has kept forces in Lebanon, which did nothing more than sun bathing. Israel's criticism was at its peak in 2000 when the UN has denied a video tape that records the kidnapping of 3 of its soldiers by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah, dressed up as UN soldiers kidnapped 3 Israeli soldiers outside a UNIFIL outpost. The vehicle was caught on a UN camera, but Israel was not given a notice about that - something that could have saved the soldiers lives. Eventually Israel released thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the three soldiers' bodies, and a suspected Israeli drug dealer (that knew too many military secrets). This deal has increased Nassrala's political power, and marked the end of a UN led force in Lebanon.

Ironically, once a peace-keeping force will be agreed upon, Israel will restart the fighting by mobilizing three divisions into southern Lebanon and force Hezbollah out. On the other hand, this force could be used just as a warning for Hezbollah (not to resist the international force deployment in southern Lebanon).

Israel has also repeated its demand that the Hezbollah will not be re-armed by Syria. This requires two things. First, an agreement with Syria, and second for the international force to be deployed also on the Syrian-Lebanese border. This probably explains why the EU is reluctant to send it soldiers and get involved in this mess. Israel is practically asking the EU to put their money where their mouth is.

technorati tags: Lebanon Israel Hezbollah Syria war middle east politics

Zanshin

2006-07-28T21:32:00.000+03:00

In the martial arts, Zanshin means having no break in our activity, because there is no time to take back a stride or block and fix it.

The government has allowed the Israeli Defence Force to recruit more reserve soldiers (3 divisions, which is about 3 to 4 times the ammount of soldiers engaged today in Lebanon). Channel 10 reports it will take about a week to get them ready for battle. The government, however, did not allow to make any use of this force without its approval.

Under the assumption that about 10 days from now the diplomatic pressure will increase and a cease fire will be declared - the Israeli move can be described as Zanshin.

The fighting will stop, but the IDF will be as ready as it was in the first day to continue the battle. It will remain fresh, alert, aware and will respond in no-time if required.

Fox News: Last American shuttle out of Beirut

2006-07-27T11:20:00.000+03:00

Fox news reported that the American evacuation has been completed. This may be the sign for Israel to start the recruiting more reserves and start the massive invasion into southern Lebanon.

Olmert is soft with Bint Jbel

2006-07-26T21:21:00.000+03:00

Yesterday channel 10 reported that the Israeli ground forces has encircled the village except the road heading north (farther away from Israel) , to allow the civilians a way out. One of the soldiers that participated in the early fights in Bint Jbel yesterday said that it is a ghost town and all of the civilians have already left.

Today, channel 10 reported that the commander of the ground forces asked the air force commander to heavily bomb Bint Jbel before re-entering the village. The air force commander refused and the ground force that re-entered the village stepped into a Hezbollah trap. 8 soldiers were killed, 3 severely injured.

Update 28-June-2006: It seems that the Israeli soldiers entered the city and engaged the terrorists hiding in a certain house. This gave the signal to terrorists in houses around the soldiers to start firing too.

Images on TV show much more artillery shells falling on Bint-Jbel. This still means that it is done only on specific houses and not indiscriminately (to "flatten" the city) as some voices suggests.

Russian weapons in the hands of Hezbollah

2006-07-26T21:07:00.000+03:00

Israeli Channel 10 news reported that Hezbollah are using Kornet anti-tank missiles and that it can even damage a Merkava 4 tank. Kornet missiles are made in Russia and sold to Syria which gives them to Hezbollah.

The cold war perhaps is over but the Russians are still kicking...

Preventing a Humanetarian Crisis in Lebanon (2)

2006-07-26T14:46:00.000+03:00

Update on the previous post :

Israeli channel 1 reported that ships has started unloading humanetarian aid in Beirut seaport. Some of it will stay in Beirut and the rest will be moved to southern Lebanon.

Annan accuses Israel over attack on UN post

2006-07-26T09:35:00.000+03:00

The UN secretary general Kofi Annan says an Israeli attack on a UN observation post was "apparently deliberate". Four unarmed military observers were killed in the air strike in southern Lebanon.

Israeli radio explains the United Nations secretary anger:

1) Anan implied that this was done on purpose to undermine the efforts to deploy international forces. Israel denies that this attack was on purpose. Analysts explain that Anan is the most experienced polititians in the UN, and that he did not imply what he actually did imply. The explanation is that Anan was extremely extremely extremely angry.

2) The UN observers were injured but not killed. Israel did not stop the fire on that region, which did not allow the UN to rescue the observers. Some of the observers eventually died from their wounds.

3) Anan tried to reach Olmert on the phone ASAP but Olmert was not available.

Israeli Forign Ministry Zippi Llivni said (hearing transcript, not word-by-word) :
The accusation it is unjustified. No Israeli soldier will hurt a UN soldier on purpose. It does not fit the Israeli view of this conflict. The IDF is checking the incident and will report the investigation results. I've already sent our apologies to the UN secretary, Austria FM, Canadian FM. And tomorrow will meet with Finnish FM and Chinese FM.

Update 27-July-2006: New evidence that Hezbollah used the UNTSO post as human shields. Click the link and then the small play button for the interview with retired Canadian major general Lewis Mackenzie.

Sattelite image of Hezbollah district in southern Beirut

2006-07-26T07:23:00.000+03:00

Before	After

DigitalGlobe released a picture of a southern Beirut after the Israeli bombings. According to Stratfor this picture shows the Bir al Abid district of downtown Beirut, Lebanon, a known Hezbollah stronghold. The second picture was taken by Google Earth (before the bombing). Notice that buildings from neighbour districts remained unharmed.

Update 29-july-2006: Those of you that installed Google Earth can have both pictures overlayed one on top of the other.

technorati tags: googleearth google earth lebanon war middle east beirut