The life of 16 year old Haviv Dadon has been brutally cut short, thanks to the Hizbullah terrorists to our north who have seen it fit to fire mortar shells into Israel. Four other youths were injured and seven people, including an elderly couple, have been treated for shock.
Israel’s response has so far been cautious. IAF helicopters and jets struck anti-aircraft canons in the western sector of southern Lebanon, and warnings have been sent to Syria and Lebanon.
In my opinion, what is needed is a massive retaliation to signal to Hizbullah, and its sponsors Syria and Lebanon, that their actions will not go unpunished. If we do not deter them from attacking us, more and more Israeli lives will be lost in the long run.
What people in other countries perhaps do not understand about this conflict is that Israel’s enemies view compromise and inaction as a sign of weakness. Our withdrawal from Lebanon is a prime example of this. We withdrew in accordance with all UN resolutions, yet Hizbullah have continued to attack our northern villages. Rather than reducing the level of violence against us, our withdrawal encouraged Hizbullah, as well as the palestinian terror groups, to intensify attacks against us. They were encouraged by what they saw as our capitulation.
This is not to say that there is no place for negotiation and compromise. Rather, we should wage an uncompromising war on those parties who attack us, and negotiate with those parties interested in diplomacy.
While I believe that it is in Israel’s interests to hit our enemies hard, it is doubtful that our government will risk antagonizing Washington, who are apparently holding us back from retaliating on a large scale.
