A land that devours its inhabitants

I was glad to see this article, in Haaretz no less. No doubt there were shortcomings. However, to say that Israel "lost" is ludicrous, and to say that Hizbullah won is totally absurd. True, they claim they won, but if any Shiites disagree, something will "happen" to them. Israel is a democracy where rival groups openly criticize each other, and the enemy tries to use this to its advantage. However, Nasrallah, the puppet dictator, has had to repeatedly explain himself to his people. They may all be saying they won, but they do not feel like they won. Their live are worse than ever, Hizbullah cannot in reality rebuild the damage, and the people are terrified of another war which looks inevitable. The Israelis should lighten up on each other and focus their energy on coming up with a plan to disarm Hizbullah, which is still capable of launching more attacks on Israeli civilians.

It is in American History of our own forefathers fight with these SAME breed of people, therefore it is the Koran and the same mindedness that CREATES such evils toward outsiders and even their own neighbors, they know HATRED, Resistance, and violence, I have seen NOTHING good come from that style of like mindedness !! Feel free to change my mind. Please.

According the polls, initial support for Israel declined during the Lebanon war but sharply increased afterwards in the USA and especially in Europe. It is true that "some" and only some are blaming Israel for the Iraq war. But, not only are these only some people, more importantly, they are flatly wrong. And Jewish groups have been at the forefront of opposing the war in Iraq. It seems far more likely that the fact that Saddam tried to assassinate our president's dad...and that Bush sr's failure to win the first war in Iraq is widely seen as the reason that he is humiliated as the only one term president since Carter...are the "real" irrational reasons our president was itching to attack Iraq. And let's not forget that Saddam WANTED us to think he had wmd. He thought it would deter us. He was wrong. Heck, worldwide pretty much everyone thought he had wmds. The debate was not "whether" he had them but whether to give sanctions more time. And Iran is more than just "Israel's problem."

I agree. While I hate the killing of the young palestinian children done by Israel army, I have heard and seen nothing but violence from the islamic people in ALL islamic countries !! Not only to others but to their own people and neighbors. They kill,maim,murder their own. They want to do the same to the western world.

I have more to say... Just put yourself in the other person's shoes and ask a very simple question to yourself: "WHY?" If you can honestly answer the Q., understand & implement, a lot of animosity, hatred & misunderstanding & misconceptions will be replaced by more 'human' feeling of understanding and tolerance.

Yoel, I have no animosity toward Israel over the lebanon war, although it seemed a little excessive and hurt many innocent citizens. I think that it should have been done with more intelligence as to WHERE and HOW to dismantle Hezbollah , but I feel the same way about Americas war in Iraq, and Now after hating wars, believe that IRAN is very dangerous to the world around us. Their idealogy is some scary stuff, and they are just truly evil and dont care who they kill, just like they kill their own teenage kids for being raped. Girls are tremendously abused in Iran. The only problem I have with Israel is them killing those little bitty palestinian children. That doesnt make any sense to me ?? We know that Hezbollah and Iran are dangerous, and the rest of the Jihad fighters that want to control the world. We had some arrested in Michigan for passing money to Hezbollah. I think that they should not let anymore of those people into America, irregardless of how good they claim to be.

As Haaretz' writers are professional liers- now they cannot stop lieing to themselves, too. This war was a disaster. Israel friends in the USA lost huge, the Arabs- which supported Israel first time in history-lost, the Lebanese ready to get rid of Hesbolla-lost, moderates in Iraq, Palestine and Afganistan lost their grounds and arguements for good. A country which reads Haaretz and hold a trade union VIP as defence minister cannot win either a war of words or a hot real war.

Many things come in groups of three. They say that every story has three sides. Your side. My side. And, the truth. Somethings are wrong all the time. Somethings are wrong some of the times. And, somethings are simple always right. Cluster bombs are not illegal. Yes, there are situations where they ought not to be used. When Hezbollah intentionally uses civilian positions from which to fire missiles (NOTE: these rockets were intentionally aimed at civilians) it is quite legal to use various counter majors to best clear the area. Unfortunately, these American made cluster bombs left many unexployed bomblets behind. Let us rememeber that when Russian or American troops attack an area they often soften up the enemy by carpet bombing. It is only Israel that continually tries to protect civilians at the frequent expense of her solgers.

When you give it some thought, there is some humor in the situation. Say that one is in a fight: one person beats his rival to the ground and the one on the ground, although he got beaten, claims that he won. That makes the victor angry. No, the one standing up says, I busted your lip, broke your ribs, and knocked out your teeth. Yes, says the guy on the ground, you are right, but I think I won because as long as I can convince myself I won then I did win. Israel did not fight a good fight but it did win, and Hezbollah fought a good fight but they did lose. Israel's frustation is that Hezbollah will not acknowledge that it lost. Pretty soon, Israel begins to wonder if Israel really did win, then it will finally end up believing it lost. All the time, the real beaten party is laughing.

I have more to say! It's time for the readers of Haaretz to have as much respect for the religious Jews as they have for the Arabs. It's time that both religious and non-religious Jews of Israel grant one another freedom of religion. Hamas, Hezbollah & Al Qeida want to kill ALL of us, so we must pull together & not make it so easy for them.

.. not saying you need to apologize but the deeds done will speak for themselves.. I am sure you know enough about the history of the conflict to know that they are not "simple terrorists" .. come now! peace

Israel need not apologize for waging a war with the terrorists who plague their land. War is hell, plain and simple. Mistakes are made and people die. The truth hurts and so does war. However, Israel exists within reach of countless murderers and generally vile people. People who know nothing but violence. There is only one way to communicate with these types, and that is with an overwhelming force. May God stand beside Israel and I can only pray that the people of the world, especially in the USA realize this before its too late.

"Get a bloody grip - that was not a war. Iraq is a war." Name one other time when thousands of missles have been fired over an international border, from on country's territory to another, that hasn't been considered a "war". Despite the fact that you believe Israel should be attacked, when militaries fight each other with bombs, guns, and missiles, it is war. Your hatred of Israel, no matter how strongly felt, doesn't change the literal meaning of words. The sooner you realize that, is the same sooner that your posts will be credible. As it stands currently, they just read like a bad joke.

"Many military families are now blaming Jews -- for the Iraq war. This is not "left wing," it is middle America." If they are, their stress has made them delusional. Nobody pushed harder for this war than Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Each of those men had their own reasons; none of which had anything to do with Israel. In his first meeting after 9/11, Bush made it clear that he wanted the attacks pinned on Iraq. This, despite the fact that all of his security advisors disputed any connection. With no Jews in his cabinet, Bush decided to take out Saddam because his father was percieved as too wimpy to do so. Cheney's former employers have made 10's of billions of dollars off of this war. Rumsfeld wished to elevate military responses back into the vaulted position that they enjoyed previous to Vietnam. It is a total misrepresentation to assert that American fores are dying in Iraq because of Israel. Moreover, it is a blood libel to assert that it is because of "the Jews".

I wonder if Israelis understand how harmful the Lebanon war has been to Israel's reputation. I hear in USA, very often, "I used to support Israel -- and now I don't." Now, we hear American Jews urging war with Iran -- and non-Jewish Americans are becoming very angry. It is so foolish for Jews to think that people voicing criticism of Israel -- and all the wars Israel wants US to engage in --are "left wing." How wrong you are. Many military families are now blaming Jews -- for the Iraq war. This is not "left wing," it is middle America.

Okay - some straight talk from someone who IS straight. -- First, your talkback has very little to do with the article, unless you are attempting to imply that open homosexuality is why Israel lost the last war. -- Second, and most importantly, the IDF has never had the US's "closet gay" policy. If someone has a sexual preference different than his neighbor - so what. That has very little to do with combat training and less to do with National Service. --- Our problems, and their origins are much more complex.

it can only amaze me that this paper can write about a "press" that spreads hate, lies and lynches the opposition.hasnt this been the policy of the leftist press towards the "settlers"

I understand that there has been a change in the Armed services where those openly homosexual may serve. Br raising the status of political correctness, and a 'do Your own thing' perspective, I wonder if this degraded the carrying out of orders and also, in itself, degraded unit cohesion.

No. The former member of the Knesset has one thing to do, to appologize to the intellectually honest Israelis, by saying that his religious Zionism has failed them. Like the rear-guards of born again Evangelicals, and born again Muslims, this branch is a historical failure. After Spinoza, religious Zionism is a foolish ideology. A privately practiced Judaism is tolerable. A public display of a sectarian ritual is not. The long suffering Jewish nation needs its liberation from this antagonistic branch. The best thing is for the Israeli people to reach out with big hearts to the fellow Palestinians. See the good example of the OneVoice movement.

and fixing them we will keep repeating our mistakes. This is what has been happening in Israel for the last 56 years. Hiding our heads in the sand will not make the problems go away.

Over 700 sites so far have been identified by those on the ground clearing the cluster bombs. They should never have been used at all. They are also hidden in the hundreds of thousands in the orchards which are too dangerous to enter so all the food is rotting. Get a bloody grip - that was not a war. Iraq is a war.

The main achievement of the last war was that Lebanese army and UN forces with mandate to enforce calm took care for the northern border. The north is as quiet today as it has never been. Second our achievement is that this war did not stop and did not hinder the ongoing economical boom. And there were indeed failures, the strategy of airforce strikes instead of massive land invasion proved to be wrong, it exposed our north to terrorists' rockets. This failure must be investigated -- but surely we should take the things in proportion and understand, that the last war was succeessful in fact.

...to change public perception. Motivation is needed to make some changes. It starts with the thoughts of every individual. If we walk around complaining all day, we will get more things to complain about. This is how the universe works, but its what they unfortunatly don't teach us in school. This article is actually very similar in some regards to a speech recently given by Aubach. If we don't know what it means to be a Jew then indeed why stay here and why think positively. Its time for Israel to go back to basics, the question is - who will will lead us there?

Yehuda, slija, but common habibi, we're not that stupid. Let it go, you can do it, common, breath in, breath out, breath in...now say it, its ok, just say it: We messed up big time. We emboldened Hizbollah, we emboldened Iran, we looked pathetic to the Americans, we lost many lives and infrastucture...we created more anti-Israeli hatred and rage in the Islamic world and the rest of the globe. We didn't get our soldiers back. We lost. Good job. I knew you could do it.

Israel is getting beaten up on the cluster bomb issue based on what to all intents and purposes appear to be fabricated numbers from a Mr Rapopport. The UN has not even found a fraction of cluster bomb strikes claimed by Mr Rapopports sources but his report has been reported as fact as opposed to his third-hand rumours.

Yehuda Ben-Meir is a product of the Religious Zionist movement which started out alright in advocating a Jewish return to Eretz Israel and building a Jewish state. Somehow, this morphed into a bizarre worship of the state apparatus. The most extreme example was when the state carried out its anti-democratic pogrom in Gush Katif and many of the victims went out and hugged the soldiers and policement that were carrying out the crime. Ben-Meir expresses this bizarre distortion of religious Zionism into saying that it is "destructive" to criticize state officials too much. State officials are SERVANTS of the people and if they mess up like they did during last year's disastrous Lebanon war, then they must accept responsibility. IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO ARE THE RULERS-NOT THE Olmert/Peretz/Halutz/Supreme Court clique!

The unreasoned hysterical criticism (as opposed to valid reasoned criticism) of actions in the latest war are a consequence of the usual left wing attitude towards anything Zionist and the right wing's seeking revenge on those individuals, starting with Ehud Olmert, who were involved in the withdrawal from Gaza. That the extreme left and extreme right find themselves in a partnership against the center is not all that unusual. That the press finds their outrageous behavior more news worthy and thus over-reports it, is also not unexpected. But I had expected something better from the quality press like Ha'aretz.

From another American psychologist, AMEN!No One person or persons are to "blame". The society we've made deserves to be faulted. Where were "Boogi", Bibi, Shaul, Ehud, and even Arik and others these last 6 years?????