Flight Pundit

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel’s part for whatever reason, the following two sentences really say it all:

If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.

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Consequences:

QANA, Lebanon, July 30 — Israeli warplanes blasted a group of buildings in this southern Lebanese village Sunday, killing dozens of people, most of them women and children, according to Lebanese officials. The Israeli military said the airstrike was aimed at destroying Hezbollah rocket launchers nearby and that civilians were not being targeted.

Lebanese Health Minister Mohammed Khalifeh said the bombing killed at least 57 people, among them 37 children, many of whom had taken refuge in a three-story building. More than 27 bodies, including 17 children ages 9 months to 10 years, were taken to one government hospital in the nearby city of Tyre.

A little history:

Some 150 rockets were fired from the Lebanese village of Qana over the past 20 days, Air Force Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel said on Sunday evening.

Speaking to reporters, Eshel added that Hizbullah rocket launchers were hidden in civilian buildings in the village. He proceeded to show video footage of rocket launchers being driven into the village following launches.

Photographic Evidence:

THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon’s battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia.

The civilians were warned:

DF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz also expressed sorrow over the loss of innocent life. “We were operating in a place from where Katyushas are being fired and we distributed notices to residents. Unfortunately, people who assembled in the area, whom we were unaware of, were harmed,” said Halutz.
[...]
A high-ranking IAF officer said that the IDF had warned the residents of Qana to evacuate the village in anticipation of the airstrikes on Katyusha launchers.
[...]
“We warned the residents that we would be attacking there,” he said. “We work under the assumption that the villages are empty and that whoever is there is affiliated with Hizbullah.”

And now the whining begins.

CAIR:

WASHINGTON, July 30 /PRNewswire/ – A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today said the Bush administration and the international community must act to stop Israel’s campaign of “terror” in Southern Lebanon.

The UN:

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday repeated his call for an immediate halt to violence between Israel and Hezbollah, condemning an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 54 people and telling the U.N. Security Council he was “deeply disturbed” that his previous calls for cease-fire had gone unheeded.

Few people recognize a nations’ legitimate right to defend itself anymore. Israel is doing just that. They consider this a war. Against Hezbollah- the terrorist group that operates out of Lebanon. The Lebanese people and leadership need to take responsibility for their own complacency in this. Until they do so, these tragic things will continue to happen. Israel is not the problem. Lebanon is part of the problem, and Hezbollah IS the center of the problem. Islamic extremists will go to any length to alter world opinion…including today’s activity. They will set the conditions, including setting up innocent civilians for certain death- just to hear the condemnations against Israel.

Unlike Lebanon, Israel is looking out for the people of it’s country; Lebanon, through it’s enabling of Hezbollah- is exploiting it’s people. I stand with Israel.

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