Only we're allowed

I admire and respect your honesty....but the voice of reason will never prevail

you are one sick puppy.

We in America are sick and tired to be told by Israel about who to arm or who to talk to or what king of relationship we would like to have around the world. Israeli arrogance is unprecedented in the hstory of nations. A small country of 6 Million want to control a country of 340 million. We have our national interestss and most of the time they do not coincide with Israel's. In America jews are only a mere 2 % of the population, yet they act as if they own the country. Is it not enough that we send Israel our precious billions that are badly needed in our communities and yet you keep complaining about our President and other officials that have America's interests at heart? Well most of the people I know and deal with and are too many, are fed -up of this special relationship and are working day and night trying to change it.

and it is the level of dehumanization with respect to the Jews that permeate Lebanese society and the army. Normal human beings do not kill the fellow human being because he cuts a tree. It is only ultimate Jew-haters can murder a Jew because of a tree. For those anti-Semites that Jew does not have mother, father, wife, children... He is just, in their hateful anti-Semitic eyes, a "zionist Jew", who can be murdered at any convenient opportunity, nothing more. This is nazi-like Hizbullah ideology permeating islamic population, shia and sunni alike.

Israel expects everyone else to play to a different set of rules than it itself wants to abide by. Even today Netanyahu is ordering, not asking or suggesting, ordering the Lebanese military to court martial it's Commander who decided to defend the Lebanese side of the border. When surely the only logical thing for Israel to do is to call for an International investiggation similar to the UN flotilla investigation. To aportion blame if any to the events on the northern border.

it is certain that in the next years,decades, whatever,there will be various armed clashes between lebanese and israel.

Is like Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinians inside Gaza. If one is wrong, so is the other.

...a lebanese sniper shoots at officers 300 **within** the border fence as a response to 3 soldiers pruning trees (!) **within** Israel's territory, and Gideon Levy **still** find reason to castigate Israel, while hinting admiration for the Lebanese Army??!!?? Like the old military joke goes: If the map doesn't comply with the terrain, the map takes precedence. Mi poor migraine.

All countries are allowed to defend themselves, also Israel.

We truly respect your opinions and wisdom. We pray that Israeli political readers get some of your commonsense. Praise you pen.

Let's stick to this event, shall we. The fence is not the border, israelis were in israeli territory, Lebanese started to shoot across the border to kill israelis. Are these facts true Mr Levy ? The fact that Israel is arrogant and deserves your hellfire is not relevant here. No idea if UNIFIL initially asked a delay or not, but as a journalist please check : did UNIFIL finally agree to the israeli operation and inform the Lebanese (and indirectly gave info to Hizbollah) ? yes or no ? Facts mr. Levy, dont let your sentiments drive you.

Gideon Levy is describing exactly the rules Israel is expecting others to follow and those , which are valid for Israel. The God´s chosen people can do every harm and remain innocent. They can invade Lebanon killing thousands civilians, destroying their infrastructure, apply cluster bombs, fly continously over Lebanon without being condemmed as criminal state. But wait, time will change, the world is no longer accepting Israels arrogance and ingnorance.

And thank you Haaretz.com allowing this man to earn a living writing for your publication. I wish we had a man with his courage and a newspaper with your balls to publish such opinion in America.

And people who maintain it does have no idea what they are talking about.

Dear Mr. Levy, let me say that in Lebanon we are equally worried about this march to war... I believe that if the Israeli government truly wishes for its northern border to ever become peaceful, they should push their american and European allies to reinforce the Lebanese army. The IDF should also work at avoiding any behavior that could end up in unfortunate incidents such as we've seen yesterday. these result in useless deaths for both sides. If those conditions were met, Hezbollah would find it very hard to keep justifying the continuation of its armed resistance. If that unstable component of the security equation would be cancelled, then I believe it is only then that we will find a status of peace on the blue line.

...as long as you ignore all the facts that contradict him. You have to admire how he quickly brushes aside UNIFIL's confirmation that the Israeli soldiers were in Israeli territory. It's awfully hard to violate another country's sovereignty when you haven't actually crossed into it. Levy also outright deceives in comparing the Gaza fence to the current one. The Gaza fence has always had a well-publicized no-go zone, while WRT to the Lebanon fence, Israel regularly receives permission from UNIFIL to clear trees and vegetation used by terrorists to hide and snipe from. So while it may have been wiser for Israel to wait for another approval, the Lebanese forces knew full well that nothing unusual was happening. And they certainly had time to go through gov't channels or complain to the UN. But the bottom line is that while Gazan terrorists continue to endanger the IDF and Israelis by repeated attempts to plant bombs near the fence or infiltrate, there is no such precedent in the area of the Lebanese fence from Israel's side. So the equation of the two situations by Levy is invalid. Lebanon was not protecting its sovereignty; it viciously took advantage of a technicality to attack the IDF.

And in this case we are not being arrogant. If we do not reply, the result will certainly be more snipers shooting at our soldiers. Such an escalation can be dangerous, for at a certain point a war with Lebanon might emerge. If we would have replied to Sderot bombing the first day rockets started to fall, maybe all "cast lead" operation could have been avoided.

thank you sir for you honest, if only many Israelis think like you, we would have peace long time ago

I am sure if it wasn't for articles like this one, Haaretz would have been just like "any other Israeli paper". Thank you Mr. Levy for your objectivity.

Dear Gideon, One must take into account a number of unprecedented facts. The Saudi monarch flew into Damascus,then together with Pres.B.Assad, they together departed for Beirut. We all know the reason. Hizbullah is not a ragtag militia, they are most certainly the most powerful force in Lebanon,any verdict,passed against said militia involving its leadershio in the killing of Mr.Rafiq Hariri could well create total chaos in Lebanon. Futhermore, the recent firings of rockets against Sderot and Ashkelon has created another diversion, followed by the unusual missile attacks on Eilat and Aqaba. The US president, is detemined to engage with Tehran on some rather serious talks. Whilst Israel may not be happy, the Gulf States are truly worried that a regional war is far closer than many wish to believe. The outreaching power of Tehran, far surpasses the theorectical musings of those specialists in ME politics. Tehran, needs to heat up the region, show the West that it cannot be trifled with, that any talks with Washington comes at a price. The recent clash with the Lebanese Army, may well have been premeditated as shown, since all parties were advised 3 hours before said tree pruning operation. Now, here is where I agree with you, Israel, the IDF know quite well how the political stakes lie, they know how sensitive all the borders have become. Then again, it could well be that since these scrub clearing operations are quite frequent, no one actually gave much attention, for the Lt.Col., was basically out in the open together with his Captain, who is critically wounded. We have both served in ZAHAL, we both know, how to behave in a critical zone. We also know, that Hizbullah military wing members serve in the LAF. Finger pointing and blame, should be placed more on the current political mess, where neither ZAHAL commanders, nor the LAF commanders wish for another war. Best wishes. Stephen.

Wether the Lebanese were right or wrong to object to that tree-lopping operation, the IDF had no right to respond to Lebanese warning shots by laying down an artillery barrage on the Lebanese. That is an unwarranted escalation of an "incident" into a "firefight". And you are quite correct that the Israeli outrage is based more on the fact that the IDF was horrified to find that the other side not only fired back, but did so with telling effect. This Israeli army is nothing more that a bunch of thugs with guns, and it is led by a bunch of bully-boys, and this rabble of an army simply Do Not Like It when the other side has the gall to stand up and trade blows with it.

Lebanon does not want peace simple as that so if they want war we need to give it to them and then we can check with them if they really want peace or another war!! The Lebanese had a change in 2000 to choose peace but instead wanted war!! Sorry Gideon these are the facts even if you try to twist the truth!!

Some facts are inconvenient for Levy. Why is it that a Lebanese journalist just happened to be there when this happened? Did he magically know that the commander was going to just be protecting his country's sovereignty at that very moment? The dubious presence of the journalist seems to simply not fit neatly with Levy's depiction of the Lebanese role in this skirmish.

I tend to agree with Gideon Levy, but I think that crossing the fence into a border enclave is a legitimate action, and that if this had occurred between two other countries he would have reacted differently. Waiting for UNIFIL might have been wiser; but it certainly doesn't justify opening fire on Israeli forces. There are many legitimate criticisms of our (Israel's) use of force, but this case is an example to the contrary.

Suppose the opposite would have happened. Suppose an Israeli sniper would kill a Lebanese officer within Lebanon borders. Suppose Lebanon would react with launching rockets on Israel. Would you really accuse Lebanon? Wouldn't you accuse Israel in this case?

Why can't people in the Middle East be it Israel and the Arab World accept justified criticism and FACTS, why do you expect Gideon to lie ? Don't you hear enough lies from the Army and the government ? Aren't you eager to hear the truth once in a while ? he is free to express his views even if you don't like them !!

there are conflicting reports. One version is that the UN asked the IDF to postpone the operation for two hours which was granted by the IDF....Anyway a couple of trees should not be the cause for a new war I think.

And how unfortunate for Israel, and for them, that they're unable to see how the damage it does is beginning to compound, and is increasingly damaging not only its image, but also its security. This is true in the international arena, as well among its neighbors, whose overtures of peace are likely to fade with - or be dashed by - the ever growing tension that IT is bringing to the region. Israel has within its reach, the means to secure a peaceful future of security and prosperity, as well as regional stability - but in its arrogance, it chooses to dismiss it. So yeah, the Lebanese were out of line for over-reacting to Israeli arrogance THIS time. But it wasn't necessarily just the tree cutting that drew the reaction - was it?

Definition: 'Hubris' is over-weening pride or self-confidence as when a man or state shows itself to be God-like." In recent months we are witnessing the failure of one Israeli security organization after another. The common thread is "Hubris". It reminds one of the period following the six-day war victory which ended when Hubris prevented the recognition of the war to come (on Yom Kippur). To wit: 1. The Mossad operation in Dubai. Using 32(!) agents to assassinate an easily replaceable person, thus risking, and probably losing, these agents' ability to remain anonymous. Israelis understand this crazy failure, and the Mossad chief will be replaced this year. 2. Shin Bet goes on an expedition to harass and silence Uri Blau, a journalist doing his job to the benefit of the State, like many others, just because he exposes criminal behavior by IDF officers (Assassination plots against Arab militants that can be arrested.) Reminds me of Nixon trying to use the CIA to explain away the Watergate crew. 3. The Turkish "flotilla". Use strong arm technique when other non-lethal means are available (such as disabling the motors and propellers of the boats). Now Gideon Levy discloses a tale of hubris regarding the tree-cutting. In all these actions, the operation succeeds but the patient dies. Pretty remarkable.