Tag Archives: Israel

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How Big of a Deal is Israel’s New Wall Alongside the Lebanese Border?

Aljazeera:

The Israeli army has begun building a wall that will run several kilometres along part of its border with Lebanon [...] the wall would be more than 2km long and 10 metres high

Many people hate walls. They are the opposite of communication and exchange and are associated with separation, oppression and imprisonment. The Berlin wall and the Israeli west bank barrier are notorious examples of how inhumane such walls can be. But is the one planned alongside the Lebanese border that big of a deal? Continue reading →

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What Hezbollah and America Have in Common

A smart and interesting angle from Andrew Exum:

Hezbollah finds itself in much the same position as the United States as it watches the clouds of war gather between Israel and Iran. Like the United States, it has reason to hope conflict can be averted. But like the United States, it is realistic about the likelihood that it will be drawn into a conflict once the first shots are fired.

The important insight here is that both of them are so wary of a war that they’re almost willing to work together to prevent it from happening.. That would nicely explain the chumminess between the two sides lately.. (PS: Exum is one of the paint-balling 4)

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❊ Anti-Israeli Vegetarians and Anti-Israeli Vegans

So I guess Lara Fabian is coming to Lebanon after all.

The only thing worse than reversing course is changing your mind about reversing course. So we are now entering a clash pitting “fans of the usurping power that kills Lebanese children” against “mullah-loving gun-totting enemies of culture and civilization”.

These are really harsh classifications. Surely we can come with something better than that. So I was inspired by previous comments in this blog to come up with different categories of Lebanese:

  • Anti Israel Vegetarians: They are declared enemies of Israel and boycott activists. Every now and then they find a celebrity who sang in Israel, a gallery displaying the work of an Israeli photographer or a politician who accidentally said hello to an Israeli on twitter, and decide to publicly shame them for contributing to the death of Lebanese children. After that, they resume life as normal citizens of the 21st century
  • Anti Israel Vegans: They are truly committed to the cause of boycotting Israel. They don’t use cancer drugs invented by Israelis, they don’t drink Starbucks or eat at McDonalds. They don’t use the internet, google, facebook, twitter or Microsoft products. They shun banks, loans, credit cards and just about any invention that Israelis happened to have taken part of somewhere down the creative line. These are the truly committed to the cause of not killing Lebanese babies

The problem with this dichotomy is that the vegetarians are hypocrites and the vegans are savages. The rest of the Lebanese are stuck between the two. They are not carnivores, they’re just people who decided that the best way to live is to eat that meal and not ask whether it’s halal or not..

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Israel to “Liaise With Lebanese Officials” Over Building of Wall

AFP on Israel’s plan to build a wall alongside a part of the Lebanese border:

Any final decision on such a project would be coordinated with officials in Lebanon, the sources said, in a move which would hopefully prevent sniper attacks during the construction work. Although the two countries are technically in a state of war, Israeli and Lebanese military officials meet regularly in the company of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL to liaise on border issues.

Keep your eyes on this one. It’s promising to be a lot of fun. .

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Has Hamas Left Iran’s Orbit?

- Lose the gun son -

A few weeks ago the US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said the following: “Iran is basically down to just two principal remaining allies — the Assad clique in Syria and Hezbollah”

It was telling that Hamas was not on that list. There was talk at the time that Hamas has left the Mullahs and was now in the orbit of influence of post-revolutionary Egypt. Today we are starting to witness some of the repercussions of that break, as we are hearing noises about Hamas potentially letting go of armed resistance altogether and switching to non-violent resistance against Israel.

If this is true, it’s huge for two reasons:

  • It would be the first time an Arab resistance group willfully abandons violence because it believes that non violence is a more effective way to restore rights. That should be attributed to the success of the revolutions in places like Tunisia.
  • It would deprive the Hezbollah-Assad-Iran axis of the only Sunni ally they had, which served as very important PR talking point whenever they were accused of being a “Shiaa Crescent”.
If Hamas is indeed renouncing violence, Israel would be crazy if it did not reward this switch in a meaningful way, by making tangible concessions towards peace with Palestine. If the Hebrew state wanted to send the message that violence doesn’t pay, this would be the best opportunity to do so.

Update: Read Hussein Ibish’s more subtle and informed take on Hamas’ realignment

Also: What stands in the way of Palestinian non-violence ?

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Apple To Buy an Israeli Tech Company for $500 Million

Techcrunch:

Apple is reportedly going to use part of its enormous pile of cash to buy an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage solutions. Calcalist reports [...] that the world’s most valuable company is in talks to buy Herzliya Pituach, Israel-based Anobit for $400 million to $500 million.

For some perspective and fun, here’s Minister Nicholas Sahnaoui on August 26, the day he announced 3G in Lebanon:

What we’re doing in the ministry [...] will unleash huge amounts of economic and human power, which is currently latent, or is being exported. [...] It’s going to make Lebanon become one of the most advanced countries in the field of Information Technology and Multimedia Creativity.

Good thing he decided not to exaggerate..

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The Islamists are Legitimate Whether the West / Liberals Like Them or Not

Rami Khouri makes an argument: Legitimacy comes from the ballot boxes, not from policies (real or perceived), no matter how distasteful those policies appear to the west or liberals. He even drove his point further by bringing up the American republican primaries:

Comical, even farcical, characters like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, Donald Trump and others of their amusing ilk are subjected to the sole test of legitimate incumbency – which is how politics should work. They may be dangerous demagogues or incompetent provincial clowns, or both in some cases; but that is all overlooked if they gain votes.

A better example would be Israel. The peace process broke down again and again, but it is never because of Netenyahu’s intransigence, it’s always –we are told– because he wants to preserve his political alliance with the ultra-orthodox parties (the equivalents of the Salafists in Egypt). The world is supposed to understand that because it’s how democracies work. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I’m not a big fan of Khouri’s fixation on the western history of colonialism and imperialism, but his latest article makes a solid point.

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Asking Them to Jump into The Fire?

Tony Badran has an interesting take on Sayyed Nasrallah’s Ashoura speech. In his view, the speech serves to prepare a reluctant flock for a confrontation with Israel over Iran’s weapons:

The overriding motif of the address was the perseverance of the faithful regardless of the hardships they must face and the sacrifices they must make. Nasrallah made it amply clear that what was expected of the believers was nothing short of self-sacrifice. To drive the point home, he referenced a story from Shia tradition about how the faithful—men, women and children—willingly jumped into a pit of fire rather than renounce their Imam.

And why did he make a surprise appearance in person?

The purpose behind that was to bind himself, Hezbollah and the Shia community in one fate [...] “I have chosen to be among you today for a few minutes … so the whole world can hear and we can renew our pledge,”

Sounds about right to me. When I first saw the title: “Jumping into the Fire”, I thought Tony was talking about something else. I thought the article was about how Nasrallah was going all in with the Syrian regime, but then again everything is connected in the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis.