Updates 1 - Hezbollah's Act of War
*bumped and closed - future updates in next update post *
UPDATE 12: From Israel at Level Ground: "IDF ground forces enter southern Lebanon in massive show of force; tank runs over hidden land mine, killing three soldiers, according to initial reports."
UPDATE 11: Reports are that was a seperate loss of up to seven Israeli soldiers after the IDF crossed the border in pursuit. This might be where Hezbollah is claiming they destroyed a tank.
UPDATE 10: Not a tank:
Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and two others were abducted Wednesday morning in an attack by guerillas from the militant Hezbollah organization. The militants attacked two IDF armored Hummer jeeps patrolling along the border with gunfire and explosives, in the midst of massive shelling attacks on Israel's north.
You know, in normal countries the idea of "massive shelling attacks" would itself be something out of the ordinary. People throughout the world might even comment on this situation - perhaps by noticing how strange it is that the proxy militia of one country should be routinely launching rockets and bombs at the houses and schools of another country. But not in Israel. No, where Israel is concerned it's just kind of taken as a given that there are days when fanatical Muslim soldiers will wake up grumpy and try to murder Jews, because that's just what they do. For instance - and we obviously don't agree with these people - but we can kind of sort of see how, if one ignores things like history, justice, and recent polling data... how one might think that the Palestinians are victims.
But Hezbollah? Seriously. This is a political party which actually sits in the Lebanese parliament. Let's imagine for a second that their wild excuse that Israel is still occupying parts of Lebanon was even colorable - in that case, they should still go to the UN instead of launching armed attacks. But Hezbollah is willing to act on what the rest of the world only silently acknowledges: international law works a little different in Israel's case. Israel does not have to be afforded the same deference that other countries do. And so now we have this passage, where the phrase "in the midst of massive shelling" is a description of the landscape, not a news item in and of itself. We've reached a point that we've been tending towards for many years now: the notion that Israelis will occasionally be shelled for no other reason than their existence has now become part of the background.
UPDATE 9: Still can't find anything definite about casualty figures, but the best guess based on everything we've read is that Hezbollah hit a tank and then went in to grab what they could - living hostages or, failing that, bodies (which is what they did last time). Three soldiers are confirmed dead in the attack.
UPDATE 8: Small reference in aYNet article from a couple hours ago said that Hezbollah was claiming to have destroyed an Israeli tank. It seemed like bluster, but now there are reports in Israeli media that attack helicopters are clearing out an area for an extraction team.
UPDATE 7: Hey, do you think that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is now going to get to write a column for the Washington Post like Hamas Ismail Haniyeh just did? That's the deal right - kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers, get a column? Or do you think that the WaPo won't take Nasrallah because his thugs didn't manage to murder any Israeli soldiers in their attack like Haniyeh's managed to do? That might be the question: Is Nasrallah not a successful enough terrorist for the Washington Post to turn over column inches to him?
UPDATE 6: When U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch just told Hezbollah to give back the kidnapped soldiers and stop bombing houses, do you think that they didn't take him seriously because he's currently scheduled to visit the Palestinian territories (which, some of you will recall, are actually controlled by a government that kidnaps Israeli soldiers and bombs Israeli houses?) And if you answered no to that question, was it because you think that Hezbollah already didn't respect Welch because he's become State's go-to guy for weasley back-tracking on US anti-terrorism stances?
UPDATE 5: In the least shocking news ever, Hezbollah continues their "hey, if the world will make absurd excuses for Hamas's acts of war..." routine by calling for a prisoner exchange. Yeah but you know, this probably has nothing to do with many media outlets' surprisingly crude and heavyhanded opposition to Israel's campaign to get Shalit back.
UPDATE 4: Is there anyone actually in charge of the New York Times Middle East section? Or is it just a ferret on meth, randomly jumping on combinations of sentences that all somehow come out misrepresenting things in exactly the way that downplays the depth and breadth of anti-Israeli hatred in the Arab world. Headline on the Hezbollah attack: Lebanese Rebels Seize 2 Israeli Soldiers at Border. Rebels? Seriously? Hezbollah is Lebanese political party, recognized as totally legitimate by the state. And even if they weren't, they still wouldn't be rebels: rebels fight their own governments, not the enemies of their governments. But we suppose that "Lebanese / Syrian / Iranian proxy army seizes 2 Israeli soldiers" wouldn't really have that sophisticated "cycle of violence" oomph. And they say there's no culture of mentorship any more at the Times any more...
UPDATE 3: The EU has asked Hezbollah to please return the Israeli soldiers they just kidnapped. You know what we think? We don't think that Hezbollah really believes that the EU actually impose consequences against groups that kidnap Israeli soldiers and bomb Israeli towns. And the reason Hezbollah won't really believe that Europe cares about those things might have something to do with several EU countries' odious coddling of Hamas - a group that promised to and did kidnap Israeli soldiers and bomb Israeli towns.
UPDATE 2: English version confirming that a unit of reserves has been activated.
UPDATE 1: And there's the callup of reserves. Story is from 6:43am EST, with a blind quote from a military source that the callup will "change the rules of the game on the northern front".
UPDATE 12: From Israel at Level Ground: "IDF ground forces enter southern Lebanon in massive show of force; tank runs over hidden land mine, killing three soldiers, according to initial reports."
UPDATE 11: Reports are that was a seperate loss of up to seven Israeli soldiers after the IDF crossed the border in pursuit. This might be where Hezbollah is claiming they destroyed a tank.
UPDATE 10: Not a tank:
Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and two others were abducted Wednesday morning in an attack by guerillas from the militant Hezbollah organization. The militants attacked two IDF armored Hummer jeeps patrolling along the border with gunfire and explosives, in the midst of massive shelling attacks on Israel's north.
You know, in normal countries the idea of "massive shelling attacks" would itself be something out of the ordinary. People throughout the world might even comment on this situation - perhaps by noticing how strange it is that the proxy militia of one country should be routinely launching rockets and bombs at the houses and schools of another country. But not in Israel. No, where Israel is concerned it's just kind of taken as a given that there are days when fanatical Muslim soldiers will wake up grumpy and try to murder Jews, because that's just what they do. For instance - and we obviously don't agree with these people - but we can kind of sort of see how, if one ignores things like history, justice, and recent polling data... how one might think that the Palestinians are victims.
But Hezbollah? Seriously. This is a political party which actually sits in the Lebanese parliament. Let's imagine for a second that their wild excuse that Israel is still occupying parts of Lebanon was even colorable - in that case, they should still go to the UN instead of launching armed attacks. But Hezbollah is willing to act on what the rest of the world only silently acknowledges: international law works a little different in Israel's case. Israel does not have to be afforded the same deference that other countries do. And so now we have this passage, where the phrase "in the midst of massive shelling" is a description of the landscape, not a news item in and of itself. We've reached a point that we've been tending towards for many years now: the notion that Israelis will occasionally be shelled for no other reason than their existence has now become part of the background.
UPDATE 9: Still can't find anything definite about casualty figures, but the best guess based on everything we've read is that Hezbollah hit a tank and then went in to grab what they could - living hostages or, failing that, bodies (which is what they did last time). Three soldiers are confirmed dead in the attack.
UPDATE 8: Small reference in aYNet article from a couple hours ago said that Hezbollah was claiming to have destroyed an Israeli tank. It seemed like bluster, but now there are reports in Israeli media that attack helicopters are clearing out an area for an extraction team.
UPDATE 7: Hey, do you think that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is now going to get to write a column for the Washington Post like Hamas Ismail Haniyeh just did? That's the deal right - kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers, get a column? Or do you think that the WaPo won't take Nasrallah because his thugs didn't manage to murder any Israeli soldiers in their attack like Haniyeh's managed to do? That might be the question: Is Nasrallah not a successful enough terrorist for the Washington Post to turn over column inches to him?
UPDATE 6: When U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch just told Hezbollah to give back the kidnapped soldiers and stop bombing houses, do you think that they didn't take him seriously because he's currently scheduled to visit the Palestinian territories (which, some of you will recall, are actually controlled by a government that kidnaps Israeli soldiers and bombs Israeli houses?) And if you answered no to that question, was it because you think that Hezbollah already didn't respect Welch because he's become State's go-to guy for weasley back-tracking on US anti-terrorism stances?
UPDATE 5: In the least shocking news ever, Hezbollah continues their "hey, if the world will make absurd excuses for Hamas's acts of war..." routine by calling for a prisoner exchange. Yeah but you know, this probably has nothing to do with many media outlets' surprisingly crude and heavyhanded opposition to Israel's campaign to get Shalit back.
UPDATE 4: Is there anyone actually in charge of the New York Times Middle East section? Or is it just a ferret on meth, randomly jumping on combinations of sentences that all somehow come out misrepresenting things in exactly the way that downplays the depth and breadth of anti-Israeli hatred in the Arab world. Headline on the Hezbollah attack: Lebanese Rebels Seize 2 Israeli Soldiers at Border. Rebels? Seriously? Hezbollah is Lebanese political party, recognized as totally legitimate by the state. And even if they weren't, they still wouldn't be rebels: rebels fight their own governments, not the enemies of their governments. But we suppose that "Lebanese / Syrian / Iranian proxy army seizes 2 Israeli soldiers" wouldn't really have that sophisticated "cycle of violence" oomph. And they say there's no culture of mentorship any more at the Times any more...
UPDATE 3: The EU has asked Hezbollah to please return the Israeli soldiers they just kidnapped. You know what we think? We don't think that Hezbollah really believes that the EU actually impose consequences against groups that kidnap Israeli soldiers and bomb Israeli towns. And the reason Hezbollah won't really believe that Europe cares about those things might have something to do with several EU countries' odious coddling of Hamas - a group that promised to and did kidnap Israeli soldiers and bomb Israeli towns.
UPDATE 2: English version confirming that a unit of reserves has been activated.
UPDATE 1: And there's the callup of reserves. Story is from 6:43am EST, with a blind quote from a military source that the callup will "change the rules of the game on the northern front".
