Nice and true words, Tommy. But Iran doesn't threaten only Israel .Radical Islam wants to bring down the whole Western world. So, why don't you try and persuade your government to send courageous Irish soldiers to fight Iran instead of those "pussyfooting" Israelis who are fighting now? Easy to say...

Your comment has some basic truths which I cannot deny. The intellectual Left (elite) have run a masssive campaign over the past 20 years. Starting with Yossi Beilin's folly(Oslo) through Baraks inane withdrawal and ending finally with Sharon's misguided dangerous disengagement the Israeli populace has been brainwashed using the leftist media into believing that through diplomacy and good will Israel can defeat its enemies. However, there were many voices raised from the moderate right who opposed these catostrophic and suicidal actions from the onset. These conservatives were quickly denounced by the media as being the 'Radical right' i.e fanatic warmongers. Any citizen who opposed Oslo or Kadima was immediately ridiculed by the media and by his friends. Nonetheless they persevered and today sadly they can all sit back and say "i told you so'. Do not forget Miriam that Israel is a tiny country (5 million) where the professional work force is very close knit. Many businessmen, physicians, academics earn their living within this society. The social and economic pressures can be overwhelming when your lone voice of reason is derided as being radical and extreme. I have had numerous work related conflicts due to my conservative views, which inturn denied my advancement in the workplace. I know others who have seen a limited boycott of their businesses due to their political views. Public dissent while encouraged and lauded by the left is considered radicalism when you oppose leftist views.

Always remember that Israel's strength is from above.

what are you talking about??? Olmert should resign, or finish the job now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somehow the Secretary General of Hezbollah has been able to elude his final destiny. He is an angry man. His anger is blessed by his patron, the Supreme Iranian Ayatollah. The magnitude of that anger is beyond comprehension. The focus of that anger is dispersed broadly towards Jewish Women, their children, their husbands, their parents, against the defenseless peace loving families living in the land of Israel are all the object of his anger. Naturally, this enormous amount of anger requires a great deal of forbearance, investment, organization and planning if it is to fully brought into a manifestation in the form a release of his followers to vent all of the collective anger that he has instructed them to feel. To further raise the stakes, the anger is elevated to the level of blessed anger by the spiritual guides pulling the strings in Iran. That really makes for a very confusing assessment of matters. Apparently the international leadership considers all of this anger to be justified by virtue of the constant indictment the west is under for being imperialistic and conspicuously impious. Although the present manifestation of anger is directed at the innocent people trying to live their lives in Israel, or those in Iraq where the same angry man makes life and death his dominion, subsequent eruptions of Supreme anger will be far-reaching unless all of this anger is managed with appropriate correction and other important human rights considerations long overdue. Luckily for him, the Secretary General of Hezbollah directs his angry attacks against Israeli women from the safety of some embassy where he has both sanctuary and war making privileges. The courage to not hesitate for one moment to obliterate any sanctuary this angry man has wherever it may be located is something few could muster. United Nations diplomats naively fool themselves into believing that this seething anger can be negotiated into conciliatory compromise. The onus isn’t on the instigator in Iran to desist; it has been imposed on Israel, the victim of Hezbollah aggression. The reliance upon the French to keep the peace will not protect Israel from further rocket and missile attacks against its sovereign territory. It makes sense only within the context of the twisted convoluted mind set prevalent throughout the UN. Just look at the fabulous work the UN has done in Africa and elsewhere recently. The French have plenty of experience overseeing and facilitating massacres. The only party with any real prospect of resolving this conflict is Israel. Diplomacy has no remedy for the persistent anger that will only spread unless it is killed. It would be a blessing for all hostilities to end. Once the angry war maker and his immediate compatriots are captured or killed, peace will really have a chance of taking hold. Even 50,000 French blue berets wouldn’t stop the virulent anger and the pernicious threat the people of Israel are exposed to.

If the current crisis provides anything beneficial at all, it is by finally providing an absolute refutation of the pet projects of the weirdo left. No, if the Arabs are left alone, and Israel complies with its international obligations, no they won't just leave Israel alone. Unfortunately, the legacy of this fairytale was the bizzare policy adopted by Olmert/Peretz, the tentative attempts to exercise surgical restraint, in order not to offend world opinion. However, this is not the days of the intifada, nor even 1996, in the new post-911, post-Bali, post-7/7, post-Heathrow world, very little of the International population, or to be more precise, the international, WESTERN population, actually cares how many arabs are killed or by whom. The cause of which is the fact that many western nations, and the people whose opinions count, are sick to death of worrying about being blown up by these ratbags on holiday, on their way to work, at work, or even on public transport. To put it succinctly, the rest of the western world has had to deal with a dose of what has become the daily reality in Israel for way too long, being fear of being killed by some nutcase with a bomb and a grudge, and have realised that they do not like it. Unfortunately for the Israeli-left, much of their policy is built upon not offending, or even pandering to, a western opinion that no longer exists on the whole. This explains why Olmert/Peretz did not act decisively, because they expected to be stopped by the outcry that they expected, but which did not eventuate, even after Kafr Qana (in fact they paused for 48 hours waiting for it to materialise). It appears that not only Hizbollah/Lebanon did not expect that Israel would be given the opportunity to act decisively, the current government relied upon this reaction in order that they could state that they acted decisively, but were stopped by the international outcry. Therefore, given the absence of the expected outcry the IDF could well have won this war in the first two weeks, but Olmert dithered waiting for a response that did not come. Israel's politicians, from both camps, must quickly come to terms with the current situation, the world doesn't care how hard Israel works, despite the work of the international press alongside pali/hizbolliwood. This freedom is worth more in the coming crisis' than several brigades of armour, it is carte blanche, Israel can finally act to the extent of its ability, and even if Hizbollah claims a victory, the lack of international outcry has seriously unsettled the Arab League. Israel now has something it has never really enjoyed in the past, the ability to act, use it to acheive legitimate aims, because the rest of the western world has finally woken up to the reality.

Freedom isn't free. Nor, is it available at a discount at WalMart. This is something Olmert and his buddies will never understand. Meanwhile, I'm joining American Friends of Likud and sending them as much money as I can. Will someone please by Olmet and his friends a one way ticket to France where he can have tea with Kofi Annan the next time he is in town.

Nul--Over here we have a government with a huge dose of rip-van-winkle ism My own member of parliament does not aven bother replying-to emails or letters (islam is a hot potato)--- you see there is no problem with islam In fact in connection with the airport plots Quote "Khurshid Ahmed, leader of the British Muslim Forum was rung by a chief superintendent from the Metropolitan Police and a senior official from the Department for Communities and Local Government just before 7am to be told the arrests had taken place. The police also contacted Dr Muhammed Abdul Bari, General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, at 6.54am. He was told that a number of arrests had taken place "for the public’s safety" but given few details. Mr Ahmed said that he felt the operation had been handled well but he warned that if the police failed to find any evidence to incriminate the people concerned then relations between the government and the Muslim community would deteriorate further...."UNQUOTE We even seek their approval for actions against muslims The state the uk is in is mindboggling--There will be meetings and more meetings to determine why these muslims are turning to violence and there will not aven be a suggestion that it might be sometning to do with the preaching of islam-and koranic texts--the same way they think the crisis that Israel is in is to do with land--Nonsense--It is to do with the arab hatred for the jews backed up from iran and By the way the "pussyfooting" was a reference to your leaders Olmert perez etc and not a reflection on your soldiers Incidentally although there may be no UK soldiers in iran they are certainly dying in iraq and afghanistan where we gave these countries democracy and they chose sharia as the basis for their laws

1. Are Jews and Israel guilty? - In no way. When Jews were killed in gas chambers (in WWII), there were no protests from the WORLD COMMUNITY. Now Israel Jews try to protect themselves from rockets, terrorists, kidnappings, - but the so called WORLD COMMUNITY is protesting (French PM even invented the definition "non-proportional response"). 2. Is HEZBULLAH militia guilty? Sure, they are. The deployment of HEZBULLAH in the Southern Lebanon contradicts UN resolution 1559. HEZBULLAH is not manufacturing goods, but IRAN's money provide the existence and functioning of this terrorist organization. All military equipment, all the rockets prepared for killing the Israel civilians were manufactured, shipped and delivered by IRAN & SYRIA. 3. Are IRAN and SYRIA guilty? No one can deny their involvement: weapons of HEZBULLAH, training of HEZBULLAH, financial support of HEZBULLAH, - these elements are absolutely evident: the source IRAN & SYRIA. 4. Is LEBANON guilty? Yes. HEZBULLAH acted from LEBANON territory. Hezbullah party members are sitting in LEBANON PARLIAMENT, in LEBANON CABINET of Ministers. LEBANON cannot (or doesn't want to) separate itself from HEZBULLAH, - so, the LEBANON government and LEBANON-state is responsible for consequences of this war. 5. But what about killed and wounded Lebanese civilians? Are they guilty? - Sure, they are not, but it is impossible condemn Israel for their sufferings: it was a responsibility of the LEBANON not to allow deployment of HEZBALLAH military equipment among the civilians.