Is Israel Accomplishing Anything Positive ?

For a couple of weeks now, the Israeli's have been bombing Lebanon. They have also invaded the southern section of Lebanon. The thrust of all this military action is to either destroy the Hezbollah fighters based there, or at least push them back out of range of Israel. A laudable goal, but are they accomplishing it?

After two weeks of fighting, Hezbollah is still going strong, and is still fighting the Israeli soldiers, and hitting northern Israeli cities with hundreds of rockets daily. Obviously, they have not begun to control or get rid of Hezbollah. Even worse, they have increased the popularity of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and probably the rest of the Muslim world as well. Before the invasion, Hezbollah was supported by about 20-30% of the Lebanese population. Now it is supported by over 80%. Yesterday, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fuad Saniora, praised Hezbollah and thanked them for helping defend Lebanon from the Israelis. It looks like Israel has created more enemies than it has killed.

Yesterday, the Israeli's bombed a building in Lebanon, killing 60 civilians, including 34 children and 12 women. This caused worldwide outrage, and the Israeli's said they would discontinue the bombing for a 48 hour period. Less than 24 hours after saying they would stop, the Israelis again bombed southern Lebanon, saying they were just supporting ground operations. It's as if the Israelis are trying to destroy their own credibility.

Afew days ago, the Israelis bombed a U.N. outpost, killing 4 U.N. observers. Israel said the bombing was an accident, but the U.N. had called them at least 10 times, telling them their bombs were coming too close to the outpost. They kept bombing and finally hit the outpost. Why did they not stop? It has the appearance of an intentional hit on the outpost, and the U.N. is demanding an investigation. Did the Israelis not want any U.N. observers witnessing their actions in southern Lebanon?

Perhaps the most disturbing of all, is wondering if Israel is telling the truth about what started the military action. They have said they were reacting to Hezbollah coming into Israel and kidnapping 3 Isreali soldiers. However, some have said it may not have happened that way. It may be that Israel sent soldiers across the border on a mission, and three were captured. If this is true, then it was not a kidnapping at all, but a capture of invading troops.

It looks like Israel has accomplished a few things, but none of them are positive. They have increased the popularity of and support for Hezbollah. They have damaged their own credibility. With the bombing of innocent civilians, they have created more terrorists. They have turned worldwide opinion against them. Even worse, they have not accomplished their stated goals, and say at least 2-3 more weeks of war is neccessary.

Israel needs to objectively reassess what they are doing. A war that provides only negative consequences is not a war worth continuing.