Israel: "Not Sparta"

It the Arabs are defeated in war, they simply sit back and wait for revenge.

If Israel is defeated, the Jews remaining will be exterminated.

That is the difference.

You all know it.

If you deny that, you are a comtemptible liar.

If Israel appears to be defeated, the Masada option goes into effect.

And everyone will be subjected to the [literal] fallout.

Bertram,

I'm sure Doron Rosenblum, an IDF veteran, is completely unaware what Israel being overrun would mean [/snark]. Israel escalated the awful kidnapping of two soldiers into a full out invasion of Lebanon, when there were clearly other options. Take a deep breath, put down the New Republic, and stop panicking. As natural cynic noted, Israel is a nuclear power.

Let's stop boldly fighting to the last Israeli.

Re. Response to Bertram.

Rosenblum is writing for Haaretz, a left wing, soft on Arabs paper and therefore has no credibility. The fact of the matter is that the IDF failed to win the war because of the incompetence of Olmert, who instead of turning the area South of the Litani river into a parking lot, or ordering a large scale invasion in the first week, dillydallied until the last 3 days when it was too late. The fact that Israel is a nuclear power with perhaps as many as 600 nuclear devices is irrelevent as the islamic terrorist Amadinejad is insane and couldn't care less how many Iranians would perish in a nuclear exchange, as long as Israel is removed from the map.

As for other options, I suppose the Israel bashers on this blog would have preferred the appeasment approach: trade terrorists locked up in Israeli jails for the two soldiers who were kidnapped.

"Nobody ever won a war by dying for their country, they won a war by making the other guy die for his country," General George Patton (somewhat cleaned up!)

Meh, the real issue is that none of the Arab countries have the military might to overcome Israel's conventional forces, nor do they have generals with the tactical ability to compensate. This is fairly irrelevant, however, as most of the Arab government aside from Syria have concluded that Israel is the lesser of two evils compared to the Persian threat...there are long memories there, and I wouldn't doubt that the name of Cyrus the Great has come up in a few of the region's war rooms.

Israel's main mission wasn't to deter Hezb'ullah, their main mission was to send a message to Iran and Syria that any attack on Israel would have immediate and extremely disproportionate consequences, and that those countries should not expect the UN to step in and stop them until long after the damage was done.

Ahmadinejad will do what he will, or whatever those who pull his strings wish. The bigger concern for them ought to be the complete acqiesence on the part of Sunni Arab governnments, and they will hopefully realize that if they wish to push Israel into a standoff, their biggest threat will not be the demons housed at Dimona, but an Israeli-Sunni Arab alliance, or at least nonaggression pact, that would pretty much cripple their hopes for hegemony in the region.

Ahmadinejad may not care if he blows up the world, but I would bet dimes to dinars that those who pull his strings most certainly do.