From The Guardian UK
By Jonathan Freedland

It was meant to be over by now. This time last week Israeli military planners were demanding another 72 hours to finish the job: that’s all they needed, they promised, to clear southern Lebanon of Hizbullah. Yet the enemy has proved stubborn. Despite two weeks of bombardment, Hizbullah’s formidable arsenal remains in place. Yesterday they fired yet more rockets – 60 of them – deep into Israel, reaching the city of Haifa and killing a teenage girl in the Arab village of Maghar.

This persistence is causing the first rumblings of Israeli disquiet. Why are the Katyushas “still coming, and killing?” asks one Israeli columnist. Are the Israel Defence Forces losing their edge, asks another, wondering if “instead of an army that is small but smart, we are catching glimpses of an army that is big, rich and dumb”. The top brass deny they have been surprised by Hizbullah’s strength. They expected nothing less, they say – not least because Iran has been supplying the movement with more than $100m worth of arms. Which would explain the serious hardware, including long-range missiles, at Hizbullah’s disposal.

So far none of this has eroded the astonishingly high level of Israeli public support for the war. I spoke yesterday to a “refusenik”, an Israeli soldier whose principles compelled him to spend a month in jail rather than serve in the West Bank or Gaza. Even he was clear: “We had no choice but to hit back.” This is not about defending occupied territory, because Israel is not an genuine occupier in Lebanon. This is, he says, about defending the country from a proxy army of a state, Iran, that is committed to Israel’s destruction.

Read more Mistakes