Why don't you pickup A.I. USA annual report for 2004 and check how much money was contributed to it by human rights-loving Jews. That's 24%! That is, barely 2% of the US population makes 24% of all contribution to it. It behooves the American Jews to stop all contributions to this entity that's just become a tool of international campaign of delegitimization of the Jewish state.

... did it again. From a historically much appreciated advocate of the politically and ethnically opressed during the cold war to a deeply corrupted side line referee in every imaginable political issue. An organization that has lost its purpose and somehow always ends up on the wrong side of the table. What's the use for AI?

in less than 2 month, the Israeli had wars with Lebanon, UN, Amnesty, ... who is next?

Everyone but you knows who started this war,it was hizbo. Not the fact that Israel has guilty terrorists in jail.That was just the excuse used by hizbo to launch its attack. Israel was founded in 1947 with the UN partition resolution;and in 1949 Israel's admission to the UN,this was accepted by most other states at the UN. Not on the melodramatic blood and bones crap. War crimes are 4000 rockets most of them fired intentionally at civilians. That is what hizbo did, are they guilty of a crime? I always get a kick out of the logic from the arabs. Give all the land we ask for , release all the prisoners who have tried to kill you and then will talk about peace. Thanks, but no thanks. You want to talk about peace come to the table first then you negotiate, that is how it works, I don't give everything you want and then hope you will talk about peace you silly man.

The Israeli logic is: If all the world is full of civilian killings; why should only Israel stop the killings. If in many world places atrocities are committed and the perpetrators are not convicted by Human Right, then why should only Israel be convicted.

Amnesty International doesn't say that Israel can't defend itself. They just state that hitting civilian targets indiscriminately constitutes a warcrime. They also point out that both Israel and Hizbollah are guilty of said crimes. So, Israel is guilty of warcrimes. It doesn't matter what anyone else did, that is still true. If I'm driving at 50 mph on a 35 mph road, I'm still speeding, even if the car infront of me has the same speed as I do. Hizbollah's warcrimes doesn't make Israel's warcrimes go away, or even justify them. Food for thought: Why did Israel kill much more civilians than soldiers during this last conflict, when Hizbollah, the "terrorist organisation", did the opposite?

since you say that the UNS is a credible agency two questions to you: 1. do you support the UN resolution describing the deployment of lebanese troops to southern lebanon after israeli withdrawal in 2000 and disbanding of military wing of Hazbollah(why wasnt that done in your opinion 2. That Shebah Farms is part of Syria not Lebanon (and if you think otherwise...then why is Israel drawn into this isnt it an argumeement between Lebanon and Syria. Who should israel return it toif the UN deems that Israel went to the internationally recognized frontier and returned all lands to Lebanon 3. Previously another writer indicated that Hezbolla would not be an effective force if "IsraeL would supply more jobs to both lebanese4 and Palestinians in trade and jobs. an interesting point that I think deserves merit..in long term stability. I really question where the other Arab countries are in trullu helping the Palestinians, Lebanese. Investment in Lebanon does not equate to correcting social injustices...that are not to be blamed on Israel. Funny the middle east has the potential of surpasing the European Union one day..oil, gas, technology, agriculture, toursim..I belive the ony countries that will ever emerge from this will be the UAE and Oman..There is the potential.. I do believe that this hinges with popular democracy and I think that will take years to root in most muslim middle eastern countries, if ever once the social injustices are addressed. I dont think Israel is to blame for everything!

How do you resond to missiles coming from populated areas? Mst of the Hezbolla casualties in Israel were civilian, they delibirately targeted civilian areas. How ould you expect the israelis to retaliate (this is not a rhetorical question..) Please answer the questin by considering the following analgy below: supposing rockets came down on Malmo from central copenhagen, what would recommend the swedish military do? Bomb infrustructure, port, then the areas from which the missliles were coming?

and isn't that agression? war planes flying in the middle of the night over Beirut? waking people up with sonic booms? sending soldiers over the border? not giving up Shebaa Farms to Lebanon? Israel is NOT an innocent victim when it comes to its war with Hizbollah. Then there's the criminal treatment of the Palestinians, putting them into aparteid-like, concentration camps. I really don't understand what right anyone had to create Israel and force Palestinians off THEIR land! God's? Whose God? It was a very racist act to create Israel in the first place. But then the establishment of the USA and Canada was a racist act too. Look what was done to the Indians and Inuit in America - North and South. Perhaps it's time we learned to share this lovely planet and live in harmony as CIVILIZED people.

I think the first thing I would advice them to do is to find out why they are firing rockets at us. This might seem unnecessarily time consuming or irrelevant to some, and that it would have been better to just mount a counter attack to try to make the attacks stop. How ever, It's my belief that very few people or organizations wake up one day and starts sending 1000+ rockets against another country just for the heck of it. They have, in their minds, a very good reason for doing so. Knowing that reason can, obviously, be instrumental in making the attacks stop. If the military then determined that they were either unwilling or unable to do anything about those reasons, I would suggest that they used what ever recon and surveillance technology they had at their disposal to find out where the attacks were coming from, and then attack those sites, preferably using attack helicopters which is, or I should say, can be, more precise in who gets killed than large (say 2000lbs) bombs are. No widespread destruction of infrastructure and no blockades. You see, I think one of the best methods of making sure that the attacks - doesn't - stop, would be to cause unecessary suffering to their population, giving support, and making the lives a whole lot easier, for the elements in their society which is firing the rockets. Returning to the reality for a moment, you say that Hizbollah targeted civilians on purpose, and they did. But this is what Amnesty International has found Israel guilty of as well. IMHO, calling human rights organizations anti-semitic or biased just hurts ones credibility, when the evidence against you is right there in vivid colors as well as in black and white.

The answer to your question is simple 1) Hizbo used human shields by launching attacks from civilian centers, putting innocent people in harms way, and just for photo-ops for TV and print news. In addition since so much false,fake and altered photos are coming out of the area a closer look at what the AI report is based on is warranted.No information that comes from arab sources can be trusted since they have been caught lying for so many years. 2) Just because hizbo has inferior weapons WW2 issue that are not as effective at killing is only a blessing for Israel. The IDF certainly does not have to apologize for its superior weapons,and since hizbo put the people ( civilians ) in harms way by launching attacks from their homes it clearly hizbo responsibility. 3) In the end to put bluntly Israel is not guilty.Period.

Yes, but even if they did use civilians as human shields that doesn't mean it's ok to indiscriminately kill civilians. Forgive me for not responding to your remarks regarding arab sources. The tone in your writing makes me think that any response, how ever thoughtful, would simply be in vain. Perhaps we should instead consider the posibillity that human rights organisations probably doesn't accuse entire countries of war crimes unless they have rather solid evidence that it has been commited. As for your third statement. You are obviously free to have your own opinion, but as I'm sure you understand - you saying so doesn't necessarily make it so. Feel free to present an argument why killing civilians en masse, with highly questionable military results as an outcome, doesn't constitute a warcrime when Israel is doing it.

If they used human shields by definition the response is called self defense. The AI report is based on arab sources although in one section I read, it stated AI arrived on the scene the next day. Did you read the report? Because we know of fake,staged and altered photos as well as inflated kill numbers i.e. Qana and speech at UN by the Lebonon PM... also this PR tactic is used by the Pals in Israel i.e. Jenin ( 1st 1000's, then 800-900 and real number 52 ), famous video of martyr's funeal then IDF Gunship flies over and the guy jumps out of the casket, believe me I could fill a book. My point is arriving the next day tells you nothing. Rocket launchers can be removed the scene can be altered, in Jenin the Pals were video taped planting dead animals in the rubble to increase the smell of rotting flesh for intn'l groups coming to see if Israel did anything wrong there. If you can't trust the source of the info you cannot trust the report.

Dear Arja, can you substantiate your accusation of Israel keeping Pestinians in concentration camps? Can you produce some visual evidence (of course, not the Adnan Hajj kind)? If that were the case, there would be not one trace of any Arabs left in Gaza. Israel dismantled settlements in Gaza and is being rewarded with constant Qassam rocket attacks on civilians and suicide bomber attacks. Dear Alexander, some points for you to consider: 1) Israelis within Katyusha range spend the 34 days of the war in communal bomb shelters or in safety rooms (enforced concrete rooms in their own homes that have become mandatory for some time). Numbers range around the million bracket. Several tens of thousands of Israelis fled southwards to relatives, friends, hotels, a.s.o. Civilians were killed when venturing out into the open. 2) Given the amount of bombs (according to Lebanese estimates the equivalent of 5 Hiroshima nuclear bombs) the numbers of Lebanese civilians killed in the conflict was ridiculously low. Plus, who did the counting? Same Adnan Hajj I mentioned above even posted a fauxto of a dead llama rolled up in a carpet as an air strike victim (visit EUreferendum.com for some interesting points concerning the manipulation of the media and subsequently public opinion). 3) IAF dropped warnings when they were about to raid intended targets. These warning were simply ignored. 4) Lebanese Prime-Minister, Fuad Saniora, broke into tears during the Arab League meeting over 40 civilians killed in Hula. At the end of the day they managed to produce evidence of only ONE dead body. Israel repeatedly expressed deep regrets over the killing innocent victims. Nasrallah advised Arab inhabitants of Haifa to leave town so as to be able to bomb the hell out of Jews. 5) Hezbos systematically targeted hospitals (Nahariya and Safed), schools, shopping malls, crowded residential areas. IDF/IAF targeted Hezb HQ and strongholds, along with rocket-launching areas, as seen in videos released by the IAF. You have been misinformed, truly.

I'll try to comment on your points. 1. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanon civilians felt it necessary to leave their homes. I don't think it's really disputed that the number of displaced people in Lebanon far outnumbered those in Israel. And when the Israelis return, most of their houses will still be standing. 2. Maybe the number is exaggerated, maybe it isn't. I think the number of - more or less - undisputed accounts of civilian deaths are enough to raise some serious questions. Particularly when it involves UN buildings where personel repeatedly tries to make IDF stop the attack prior to people dying. Or convoys which IDF were asked to leave alone by UN and others, but which still was attacked resulting in civilian fatalities. 3. Believe it or not, but telling someone that you are going to bomb their village doesn't make it ok to bomb it. Actually, the use of force or the threat of force to accomplish political goals used to be a text book definition of terrorism. It basically isn't anymore though, since too many countries would then qualify. Did IDF forget to glue warning signs to the Vietnam-era cluster bombs that still are causing fatalities? And maybe they should have refrained from attacking people when they were trying to leave having read the notes? 4. Didn't the Israelis also find out about what Nasrallah said? Not that much of a differance to what IDF did in that case, is it? 5. I can't say that they wouldn't have specifically targeted those places, had their weapons actually permitted it. Doesn't it seem strange that civilians took shelter in Hezbollah HQs and strongholds when they knew they were extremely likely bomb targets? Or maybe IDF simply acted according to their belief that any remaining people in southern Lebanon were terrorists? Maybe I'm not the only one being misinformed?

Shalom #105, read your answer in # 83 'Lessons for next time'. Obviously, nowadays, anti-Semites, hidden behind a smiling but deceptive cloud of false humanistic language in favor of Muslim civilian and paramilitary terrorists, think that Jews should allow their beloved terrorists to kill them without any MAJOR consequences. Believe me, I do understand that such is a very European way of thinking. So cultured, so sophisticated so civilized! But Europeans should find some consolation about the fact that Hitler is dead, and that the Vatican has no air in its evil lungs to blow upon one more fire in which to incinerate Jews -- like in their "good old times". Sorry, you see, times have changed. Get used to it! Jews are slowly but surely opening our eyes. And it is people like you, Alexander, who more than anything else, have cooperated to this new 20/20 vision. It is the heart-felt, rationalized bigotry that says that Jews are to stand firm and be silently and passively killed, just because civilians are doing it. Let me tell you something about Jews which you seem to ignore. Jews love life, and peace, and love, and work, and fun. But if you want to kill again one more of our children, we will kill all of yours – and without any apology. We do remember Auschwitz, the Auschwitz that you Europeans ideated, and acted upon the Jewish people. Go to Aljazeera, Alexander. Talk with your “innocent civilian” terrorists there. You seem to be half-intelligent so, please, try to convince them to stop being blood-thirsty jackasses instead of trying to convince the victim to stop his own defense. Good day, sir.

Dear Alexander, Hezb started this war by crossing the international border, killing eight Israeli soldiers, kidnapping two and launching rockets on NINE Israeli cities, claiming that Israel is a cancer that should be extirpated from this region. Is that legitimate casus belli ? Or should we have asked - Oh, Sayyed dear, what did we do to upset you? Why are you so upset? Please, stop. Tell us your grievances and we shall comply and behave in the future. Unfortunately, we do not live in Scandinavia, and you have no idea about the scale of terrorist attacks coming at us from Palestinians and Hezbollah. You seem to ignore or condone terrorist actions. Israel retreated from Lebanon in 2000, and was on the brink of civil war last year during the dismantling of the Gaza settlements and a few West Bank settlements. Ever since Gaza has rewarded us with Qassam rocket attacks. Hezbollah is another story. They are backed by Syria and Iran. You mention the UN? Have you served in the UN? Then you might be aware of the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers (from within Israeli borders) in 2000. What you might not know is that members of the UNIFIL Indian contingent either deliberately assisted or turned a blind eye to yet another act of war (they were BRIBED): Hezbollah terrorists dressed in UN uniforms and driving UN vehicles attacked the unsuspecting Israeli patrol and dragged them over the border. All of this was taped. The soldiers' bodies were exchanged three years later for some 400 live terrorists held in Israel. Is that rate fair? (And talking of rates, the Hammas demands the release of 600 Palestinians prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier kidnapped in June 2006) Eventually the tapes surfaced and the UN was caught with its pants down. Instead of resigning or being demoted, Mr. Anan mumbled some lame excuse and carried right on ignoring huge-scale war crimes perpetrated in his native Africa (Ever heard of Darfur, e.g.?.) That is why we stopped trusting the UN. Hezbollah armed themselves (they fired 4000+ rockets at Northern Israel out of their 12,000-15,000 arsenal) and dug themselves in all over Southern Lebanon under the UN's noses. Israel acted in self-defense. (We have the right to defend ourselves and the right to exercise that right). All of this would have been avoided had the Hezbollah returned the kidnapped soldiers and stopped firing rockets at our towns. It is funny that you see no need for Hezbollah to explain their reasons, if ever they had one besides the annihilation of Israel, or to resort to diplomatic channels (if Sweden came under rocket attack, you would try to find out the reasons why, instead of trying to stop the attacks immediately - I had no idea you had civilians or soldiers to spare). Except these were not the first rockets to land in Israel. The past six years have seen constant attacks, constant damage, but Israel showed restraint. WRONG! They should have acted on the first Katyusha. Instead, they let Hezbollah grow out of control. Had UN resolution 1559 been implemented, none of this would have come to pass. Last but not least, please listen to sane opinions coming out Lebanon or the Muslim world, such as the interview granted by Dr. Waffa Sultan to Al-Jazeera, or Michael Behe's The most hypocritical people on Earth, both available on the net. One more thing, during the 48 hours prior to the ceasefire coming into effect, IAF and Navy continued to heavily bombard Hezb strongholds in Beirut (Hezb also stepped up attacks, firing 250 rockets a day). Curiously enough, the lights in Greater Beirut never went out at night, as if the inhabitants wanted to show our F-16's the way and to illuminate their targets. I thought the first thing to do when your city comes under attack by enemy warplanes is to switch off lights and apply camouflage precautions. That did not happen in Beirut.

Dear Sad, Hezbollah might have triggered this latest conflict, but then again, maybe they didn't. Some say that the military operation had been planned for some time before it was put in motion. Some say that this latest conflict started in Gaza when two brothers were abducted by IDF because they where accused of being terrorists. This wasn't reported a whole lot in the media in comparison to when the corporal from IDF was abducted the next day. Then the IDF attacks in Gaza started with the destroyed power plant, other infrastructure etc. Some people suggest that Hezbollah then started their attack to force Israel to battle on two fronts, taking some "heat" of the Gaza strip. Maybe this is wrong, maybe it isn't. I wont have anyone else tell me which opinions are the "sane" ones however, I'll try to form my own opinion using information at hand. Regarding UN. Maybe they did turn a blind eye, I don't know, I'm not familiar with that incident. What I have seen is human rights workers having stones thrown on them by children in Israel settlements, while an Israeli soldier was there and said he couldn't do anything about it. Then there was the petition sent by 60-something UN workers to, if it was IDF or the Israeli government back in 2003, asking them to please stop beating and killing them. This since there had been several incidents of various types, including fatalities. Maybe the UN workers on site has difficulties trusting IDF and Israel too? Regarding Darfur, AI actually wrote more reports on Sudanese issues per year from 2003 to 2006 than what they did on Israel - Palestinian problems combined from 2001 and 2006. Regarding hypothetical rocket attacks against Sweden. You're right, we probably don't feel we have any civilians or soldiers to spare. That's why it's so important to handle a conflict correctly from the start. Otherwise you can easily be dragged into a never ending conflict with much more suffering and deaths as a result. Regarding UN resolutions: I feel that they should be enforced and respected. Unfortunately, the veto power factor in the security council has severely damaged the credibility of that institution. There's no super power blocking resolutions against Hezbollah or Lebanon. Forgive me if I didn't comment all your points. Thanks for your long response though.

Dear Alexander, ok, I got carried away, perhaps those opinions are not sane, nevertheless they are voices coming out of Lebanon and the Muslim world. However, in order to decide whether they are sane or not, you might first want to listen to them. I am aware of the Hebron incident (kids throwing stones and the soldiers not intervening). What I saw was an obnoxious American woman yap-yap-yapping at IDF troops. The way I saw it there were three soldiers and one had to be busy all thrying to appease an interfering busybody frustrated at not having her way. That soldier clearly told her at one point that he was taking orders from his commanding officers only. Is that not what soldiers are supposed to do? Does the Swedish army act otherwise? Could I walk up to a Swedish soldier and order him about? Like, say, Swedish troops were to join the UN peace keeping force and patrol South Lebanon and I became aware that Hezbollah terrorists activities. Could I walk up the that Swedish soldier - "stop that man, what is he doing? Why don't you do anything? I'm telling you to do something. Can't you see what he is doing? Why don't you do something? That man is about to do something. Oh, if that were my husband I'd throw him out of bed. But you are not doing anything. Stop that man. Why don't you listen to me? " Who are these peace activists anyway? Who appointed them? Who gives them the right to approach soldiers and tell them what to do? Do they act under the auspices of the UN or something? About the Darfur situation, perhaps reports are being written, but nothing is being done. Genocide is going on large-scale, yet the world is only concerned with Israel and the Palestinians. One last thought - suppose what you are saying about how this conflict started is true - then in your opinion it is ok for Hezbollah to start a terrorist war with Israel in order to ease the Gaza front. Or perhaps to retaliate. Good thinking. Flawless logic. Thank you for making it so clear to us. I would like to make one more point -at the height of the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, a young man (really young, in his early 20's) was murdered by of the Old City wall in Jerusalem. It was an Italian volunteer whose wish was to spend some time with Arab children in East Jerusalem. A Palestinian acting in support of the Hezbollah mistook him for a Jew and stabbed him to death. Great consolation it must have been for the guy's parents.

Dear Sad, "That soldier clearly told her at one point that he was taking orders from his commanding officers only. Is that not what soldiers are supposed to do? Does the Swedish army act otherwise? Could I walk up to a Swedish soldier and order him about?" No, you probably couldn't. But if you were standing on the street with some kid throwing stones at you, you would merely slap that kid over the face. The human rights workers couldn't do that since then things would probably start to go really sideways as you can imagine. It's also a very different situation than your Hezbollah scenario. It's not like the soldier was asked to apprehend or kill those kids, he could have simply said "come on guys, stop throwing stones at them". What do you think the soldier would have done if it had been a local shop owner who got hit by the stones? Would there have been a need for "orders"? And, no, I didn't say that I thought it was ok for anyone to start a war. I merely stated that there are different views on what took place, which then might mean that the mainstream media story of "Hezbollah did it" is an oversimplification of the events. I don't know who all the peace activists are, but if one keeps in mind that they generally are there to try and help those that are suffering, often without pay, I think one should treat them with respect. They obviously don't have any authority to give orders, but I still like to think that any human has the right to ask another human for help if they are in distress. Regarding the murder of the Italian man at the Old Wall. While I haven't heard of that incident, it's obviously an incomprehensible tragedy to his family and friends. But that is of course true for all fatalities in a conflict.

The soldier in question was not disrespectful towards that woman. And, no, he cannot slap anybody, except perhaps someone resisting arrest. Or he would have to face an investigation. Had that woman left him alone, chances are he might have done his job better. Soldiers are not riot police.

I didn't suggest that the soldier should slap the kids. I said that the human rights workers would have done that under normal circumstances (had they been elsewhere). Now, they couldn't defend themselves, obviously fearing further hostilities. Apologies if that part was unclear in my previous comment. I'd say the soldier not only showed disrespect, he was being hostile by in-action. Stating that soldiers are not riot police is meaningless, first of all it wasn't a riot and second, he's still a human being. The human rights workers are not his enemies, although I suspect he has a different opinion on that. And to reiterate my question: Do you think the soldier would require "orders" to help a local citizen, had they been in the same situation?

I have enjoyed the thoughtful give and take between you and Sad. Two points of clarification. 1) You stated maybe hezbo started it maybe they didn't, or that the media account is wrong.UN Resoluion 1701, second paragragh, states clearly who started the war in Lebanon, " Expressing its utmost concern at the continuing escalation of the hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hezbollah's attack on Israel on July 12, 2006 ". Personally I have always thought of the UN as being bias against Israel. So I was surprised to see the truth stated so clearly in UN Res.1701. 2) Your point on Gaza is misleading. In the year previous to the incident you mentioned about the two brothers, the Pals have attacked Israel repeatedly. Since the Gaza pullout, 1000+ rockets targeting civilians have been fired from Gaza into Israel. At what point does Israel have the right to defend itself? When does Israel have the right to mount a full scale ground attack to stop the rockets? When the tit for tat clearly is not working to stop the constant missle attacks from the Pals, what would you recommend?

It's not so much that the media account is wrong, we know what happened and what happened next. What I was saying was that there are reasons that may or may not have contributed to the start of the conflict that mainstream media has reported very little on. We're all aware that hostilities didn't start on July 12. From what I've understood, Israel never fully retreated from Lebanon in 2000. If Israeli forces remained, this was an occupation. Israel too has a right to defend itself as soon as it is being attacked. Of course, killing civilians which have not been participating in the attacks should be avoided. What Amnesty is accusing Israel of is not that it defended itself, it is that it appears to have, in some instances, defended itself with disregard to the lives of innocent civilians. The cluster bombs we can read about now is one example. Remember that the US suspended shipping of those to Israel for 6 years after an investigation of the 1982 war showed use of cluster bombs against civilians. Recommending something for the situation is fairly easy, recommending something that can be agreed upon by all parties is close to impossible. Starting to release the vast numbers of prisoners held in Israel could yield some positive effects I guess. Starting some form of negotiations seems necessary. Officials against any form of negotiations, on either side, should be releaved of duty. Unfortunately, I think It's going to take a while before peace becomes a possibility.

Thank you, Mark, for coming to the rescue. I was beginning to think that I am either feeding a troll, or dealing with someone who has the mental flexibility of a mule. Sorry, Alexander in Sweden, you are hair-splitting, and not very good at it. Still, one last remark - that woman was a PEST!!! The soldier showed enormous patience. Her tone of voice was inacceptable, her comments out of place, her presence self-imposed. We only saw the footage she shot, therefore we have no idea what was really going on. Please, Alexander, do not bother to reply. I know I won't.

Dear Alexander, you might wish to switch your attention to the events taking place in your own native Sweden: http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3674&date=20060428&PHPSESSID=151a20b729860e9bd580996d94743dff Your muslim community wants separate legislation. Hezbollah is on their way to you. Please keep us posted on how you are handling the situation, and let us be the judge of your measures.

We know there were stones being thrown at the help workers and that the soldier did't try to help, or are you objecting to that version? If you for some reason do decide to respond again, please answer my simple question, now asked for the third time: Would there have been a need for "orders" had the stones been hitting a local citizen? It's a simple, resonable question in my opinion. Not even close to the "trolling" that you conviniently tries to dismiss my arguments with. About the separate legislation. That suggestion was immdiately dismissed by government officials as can be seen following the link that you provided. The reason is that having different laws for women and men is completely unacceptable in Sweden. That's why we can't have divorces being approved of by an imam for instance. And it's not Hezbollah who is trying to change the legislation, it's the muslim community, or atleast it's leadership, in Sweden. Or am I splitting hairs again?

What do you believe the media has under reported on? In regards to what started the war in Lebanon? My understanding is Israel did fully and completely withdraw from Lebanon and was in full UN compliance at the time of the hezbo attack. Hezbo killed 8 IDFsoldiers and kidnapped 2 more. That was done so hezbo would have hostages to trade with Israel. Am I wrong? What have you heard that is different? Israel does have better weapons ( more accurate, bigger, greater diversity and longer range) as I have stated before Israel shouldn't have to apologize for it. Everyone knows Israel is well armed and if you attack them they will respond. I have not seen any convincing evidence that Israel intentionally targeted civilians. Cluster bombs have tactical use. Sad, continue with the strong facts, without emotion and your argument is strong and only is diminished by getting to emotional.You don't need to be rescued, stick with the facts and you win, and maybe convince others of the truth .

The two brothers that was abducted from Gaza one day prior to the abduction of Corporal Shalit was barely reported in media. They were abducted because they were suspected of belonging to a terrorists organization. Of course, to many people in Gaza and Lebanon, the same could be said about Corporal Shalit. You said that Hezbollah wanted to trade hostages with Israel. How many hostages does Israel have? Lebanon claims that the Sheeba Farms area is their territory, this has been controlled by Israel even after the withdrawal of forces in 2000. It is true however, that Israel have fully complied with UN security council resolution 425, but Lebanon made a reservation that the withdrawal line did not match the Israeli border. You are also correct that Israel shouldn't have to apologize for defending itself. Unless they are causing unnecessary civilian deaths. This is something that Amnesty International now has accused them of. Also, remember that the US provided the cluster bombs to Israel with the reservation that they were not to be used against civilian targets. And, as I said before, following a US investigation of the 1982 war, US suspended shipment of cluster bombs to Israel for 6 years. What tactical use do you see them having anyway, other than killing indiscriminately? Then we have the UN building where UN staff according to media contacted the IDF 10 times asking them to stop shelling the area. Each time they were told that the attack would stop. 4 UN workers got killed. I think that with Israels superior recon abilities such as the unmanned scout planes, not to mention the intelligence agencies which are considered to be among the best in the world, the number of dead Lebanese civilians in this last conflict becomes something of a mystery. Unless you consider the possibility that they perhaps disregard civilian lives to achieve military objectives. There were even reports that IDF pilots intentionally missed the targets they had been assigned. This simply because they knew the target statistics on the prior attacks and were concerned for the reputation of IDF. (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1838437,00.html) (http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/lebanon-articles/2006-August/000575.html)

1) Thanks for the info about the two brothers, although it has nothing to do with who started the war in Lebanon. The Pals can stop the conflict any time. Simply stop their attacks against Israel and Israel will stop also. I would be glad to discuss that in more detail any time. 2) You made me laugh with the hostage thing ( I do not mean that in a sarcastic way... I really did get a chuckle out of the way you phrased it ). Israel has prisoners in jail for little things like murder and hezbo wants some of them back so they plan kidnaping missions for trade with Israel. The key difference is Israel captures people that a) during the course of commiting murder or suspects of plotting mur der using their high tech recon you so admire. In contrast hezbo killed and kidnaped people who were complete strangers , they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do you see a difference? 3) We agree Israel was in compliance with all UN resolutions. So clearly ( Sheeba Farms ) cannot be a legitimate reason for the war. UN Res. 1701 blames hezbo for starting the war and now on NTV in Lebanon 8/27/06 article on YNET Nassrallah admitted my version as the truth. He stated, paraphrasing " he would not have ordered the hostage taking mission if he felt that there was even a 1% chance that Israel would respond the way it did ". The news item said his tone was apologetic. So the leader of hezbo and UN Res. 1701 both blame that incident for starting the war. Case closed on that issue! 3) You stated that Israel has the right to defend itself. In that same YNET article Nassrallah was opposed to the part of UN 1701 that clearly states Israel has the right to defend itself against hezbo attacks. No big surprise there one of the goals of all the arabs is to deny that right to Israel. That is why they put out false stories, stage and alter photos, to create greater world sympathy. 4) You said there were even reports about IDF pilots intentionlly missing, those are called rumors, and since you did not state where that so called report has come from i'm guessing it is a arab source. To be fair even a broken clock is right twice a day, and , I have no problem with it being checked out , the thing is, the rumor you stated, will be reported as a fact ,and when it is proved to be false it won't get any press coverage in the arab world. This is the common PR tool used in that part of the world. I did try those links you provided but kept getting a error in opening it.