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Israeli Refusenik vs. Israeli Peace Party Member: A Debate on Israel's Assault on Lebanon
While a large part of the international community opposes Israel's offensive on Lebanon, polls conducted over the past week have shown that between 90% and 95% of Israeli Jews remain in support of Israel's actions. We host a debate with a former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves and a member of Israeli peace party, Meretz.
While a large part of the international community opposes Israel's offensive on Lebanon, polls conducted over the past week have shown that between 90 and 95 percent of Israeli Jews remain in support of Israel's actions, including members of the major Israeli peace parties. Yet as the assault continues into its tenth day, there are also many Israelis who have begun to speak out against their country's policies.
This week Staff Seargent Itzik Shabbat became the first Israeli soldier to refuse to participate in the attacks on Lebanon. The Israeli peace party, Meretz, which initially supported the military's actions, has more recently begun questioning the extent of the current violence, according to a spokesperson for Meretz head Yossi Beilin.
* Yonatan Shapira, a former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves. In 2003 Yonatan initiated the group of Israeli Air Force pilots who refused to fly attack missions on Palestinian territories. He is also the founder of the organization Combatants for Peace.
* Uri Zaki, chairman of Young Meretz.
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/21/1432212
This week Staff Seargent Itzik Shabbat became the first Israeli soldier to refuse to participate in the attacks on Lebanon. The Israeli peace party, Meretz, which initially supported the military's actions, has more recently begun questioning the extent of the current violence, according to a spokesperson for Meretz head Yossi Beilin.
* Yonatan Shapira, a former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves. In 2003 Yonatan initiated the group of Israeli Air Force pilots who refused to fly attack missions on Palestinian territories. He is also the founder of the organization Combatants for Peace.
* Uri Zaki, chairman of Young Meretz.
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/21/1432212
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After pounding Lebanon for almost 10 days, Israel is little closer to rescuing two captured soldiers or preventing cross-border rocket attacks.
Ari Shavit, a columnist for Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper, wrote on Friday: "Despite the media euphoria and the patriotic spin, the aerial war ... is not heading for victory.
"The IAF [Israeli Air Force] alone obviously cannot solve all the problems, including the presence of thousands of rockets in Lebanon.
"There will be no resolution from the air, even if the pilots ultimately manage to locate Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and kill him."
On Thursday, more than 40 rockets hit Israeli cities and the captured soldiers remained in the hands of Hezbollah.
The attacks continued on Friday.
These rocket strikes have underscored Israel's lack of tangible success while simultaneously raising enthusiasm for more strikes against Lebanon.
A poll on Friday found that 90% of Israelis believe that the offensive should continue until Hezbollah is driven out of southern Lebanon, but they are divided on how to achieve that goal.
Israeli divisions
Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz's long-standing military affairs correspondent, summed up the country's dilemma.
"Even though it is clear that the air force alone cannot solve the problem of missiles being fired at Israel, there is no real support for a broad, lengthy ground operation in Lebanon," he wrote on Friday.
But as Hezbollah rockets continue to hit cities and towns across the north of the country, Israeli opinion is slowly starting to tilt in favour of invasion as the only viable option.
Uri Dromi, formerly Yitzak Rabin's chief spokesman, wrote in The Independent on Friday that Israelis agree that "doing nothing in the face of such aggression is not an option at all".
History's lessons
A desire for security at home may outweigh Israelis' fears that a new ground invasion of Lebanon would risk repeating the mistakes of Israel's previous war in 1982.
Then, in an echo of today's crisis, Israel invaded Lebanon to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on northern Israel.
But although the invasion swiftly silenced the rockets, it also had unexpected consequences.
Lebanese Shia, angered by the invasion and subsequent occupation, formed Hezbollah and waged a guerrilla campaign against Israeli troops in Lebanon.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EF4BDBE9-0083-45E8-AAF4-AD052941F794.htm
Ari Shavit, a columnist for Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper, wrote on Friday: "Despite the media euphoria and the patriotic spin, the aerial war ... is not heading for victory.
"The IAF [Israeli Air Force] alone obviously cannot solve all the problems, including the presence of thousands of rockets in Lebanon.
"There will be no resolution from the air, even if the pilots ultimately manage to locate Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and kill him."
On Thursday, more than 40 rockets hit Israeli cities and the captured soldiers remained in the hands of Hezbollah.
The attacks continued on Friday.
These rocket strikes have underscored Israel's lack of tangible success while simultaneously raising enthusiasm for more strikes against Lebanon.
A poll on Friday found that 90% of Israelis believe that the offensive should continue until Hezbollah is driven out of southern Lebanon, but they are divided on how to achieve that goal.
Israeli divisions
Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz's long-standing military affairs correspondent, summed up the country's dilemma.
"Even though it is clear that the air force alone cannot solve the problem of missiles being fired at Israel, there is no real support for a broad, lengthy ground operation in Lebanon," he wrote on Friday.
But as Hezbollah rockets continue to hit cities and towns across the north of the country, Israeli opinion is slowly starting to tilt in favour of invasion as the only viable option.
Uri Dromi, formerly Yitzak Rabin's chief spokesman, wrote in The Independent on Friday that Israelis agree that "doing nothing in the face of such aggression is not an option at all".
History's lessons
A desire for security at home may outweigh Israelis' fears that a new ground invasion of Lebanon would risk repeating the mistakes of Israel's previous war in 1982.
Then, in an echo of today's crisis, Israel invaded Lebanon to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on northern Israel.
But although the invasion swiftly silenced the rockets, it also had unexpected consequences.
Lebanese Shia, angered by the invasion and subsequent occupation, formed Hezbollah and waged a guerrilla campaign against Israeli troops in Lebanon.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EF4BDBE9-0083-45E8-AAF4-AD052941F794.htm
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