Observations, articles, opinions etc. in Dutch and English. The author, Bert de Bruin (Yonathan Dror Bar-On), is a Dutch-Jewish historian, who has specialized in modern Jewish history and in the history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. In July 2008 his first book, Israel en ik - Vijftien bekende Nederlanders over hun verhouding met een zestigjarige (Israel and I - Fifteen well-known Dutchmen and -women on their relationship with a 60-year-old), was published. He also edited Een veilig Israel in een vreedzaam Midden-Oosten (A Safe Israel in a Peaceful Middle-East), which contains speeches (by Paul Bremer, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dan Meridor, Mark Rutte, Maxime Verhagen and others) held at an international conference in the Peace Palace in The Hague in March 2010. For feedback please post a comment, or send this blog's author an email.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

From today onwards Israel is involved in an all-out war on two fronts. I am not a legal expert but I would say that the Hizbullah attacks, even more than the attack that killed two soldiers and ended with the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit almost three weeks ago, are a casus belli in every sense of the word. Israel can and should respond massively, attack all possible targets linked to Hizbullah and to every Lebanese and Syrian element that supports that organization. Civilian targets should be avoided, of course, but if Lebanese ( or Syrian ) civilians get hurt that should not stop Israel from achieving its objectives. This is a classic example of a war of choice, chosen by Hizbullah, by its Iranian and Syrian puppet masters and by its Lebanese landlords. Each of those will have to be held accountable. Israel's government and the IDF have to make sure that all our neigbors will know again that provoking Israel just isn't worth it. I am sorry for the innocent Palestinians and Lebanese who will pay for this with their lives and with their misery. Also, I am sure that the UN and many other international bodies will condemn Israel's actions, but if they are unable to do their job in Southern Lebanon properly and unwilling to acknowledge that Israel has the right and even more the duty to defend its citizens - civilians and soldiers - then, well, $#$@%">$#$@% them.

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