The following is a piece of a Socratic dialog, from an article by Israel Zwick. As a former student of Philosophy, I absolutely love it! Socrates is the guy from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (IMFA). You’ll recognize the other guy.
Archive for March, 2007
The BBC vs. Socrates
Saturday, March 31st, 2007Olmert, security heads, disagree on outcome of Lebanon war
Saturday, March 31st, 2007Yes, I know I said something nice about PM Olmert yesterday. But now I need to make up for it. Here is what he told the Israeli Newspaper Yediot Aharonot yesterday:
Israel won last summer’s war with Hizbullah despite a hailstorm of criticism by the Israeli public of the army’s poor performance, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Ynet in a special Passover interview.
“I say we had positive results in Lebanon, we had big achievements, we won this war and we were also exposed to some weaknesses,” the prime minister said. “I think that eventually this will be the historical judgment, and I will get credit for that.” — Ehud Olmert (YNet)
But he should know better:
Mossad Chief Meir Dagan and Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin arrived at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem shortly after the war…[and told him that] the war was a national catastrophe and Israel suffered a critical blow.” — YNet
Olmert actually said in another interview that not only did Israel win, but everything went exactly as he had planned:
So, from the outset, the ambition was not to take over a territory or to cross the area. The strategy was to establish pressure that would create the involvement of international forces to force the army of Lebanon to take over the South. That was the purpose of the war. Look at the statement I made on the 17th of July, and the cabinet announcement of the 19th of July. From the beginning, we were not interested in the typical knock-out kind of victory which doesn’t exist when you fight against terrorists. [The aim] was the arrangement that had to be approved by the Lebanese government, and to be drafted and phrased properly by the United States and the members of the Security Council. And that’s what we did. — Jerusalem Post
Right.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Olmert, Lebanon war
Can we be critical of jihadists?
Saturday, March 31st, 2007By Vic Rosenthal
The UN Human Rights Commission suggests that freedom of speech can go too far:
Cynicism you can cut with a knife
Saturday, March 31st, 2007The EU is optimistic about the possibility of Mideast peace, says the Jerusalem Post. The only problem is that one of the parties refuses to even lie about preferring war:
Still, they have faced a dilemma over how to deal with the newly formed Palestinian unity government – a coalition between Hamas and the more moderate Fatah of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Its platform falls short of international demands that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by existing Palestinian-Israel agreements.
On Saturday, the Europeans agreed they will judge the new government by its actions rather than its words and progressively help it build up credible government institutions
The cynicism is thick enough to cut with a knife.
The new government’s actions consist of preparing for war by stockpiling smuggled arms, building and firing rockets, developing new kinds of rockets, and constructing Lebanon-like fortifications in Gaza. They are also continuing incitement against Israel in schools, mosques, media, and every other institution.
In fact, it’s impossible to find either actions or words of peace coming from this ‘government’ that we in the West are paying for.
Technorati Tags: EU, Israel, Palestinians
Olmert has it exactly right
Friday, March 30th, 2007By Vic Rosenthal
Ehud Olmert has an interview in today’s Jerusalem Post. It’s a long interview, and quite interesting. For now I want to quote his response to the refugee issue in the Arab initiative, about which I wrote yesterday.
