Mere Rhetoric: UNIFIL Pretends Not To Know How Those Big Bombs Got To The Border

This is becoming a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

Very often, Israel will criticize diplomats or international organizations for being absurdly anti-Israel. In the past, those diplomats or international organizations at least went through the motions of responding to Israel's claims - at the very least, they would issue absurd denials. But lately, we've been seeing total disregard for Israel's concerns even by people who are supposed to pretend that they know better. So Israel will make a claim, and the response will be so obviously beside the point as to signal open disdain. When Israel accused Britain a couple days ago of violating international norms by funding anti-Israel studies, Britain assured Israel that it respects Israel's right to self defense. That's a great FYI, but we fail to see how it answers "but, um, you're interfering in Israel's domestic affairs".

Yesterday we wrote about the total disgrace that is UNIFIL. Hezbollah managed to plant several bombs - presumably to be used in another kidnapping attempt - right under the "peacekeepers''" collective nose. Today UNIFIL responded:

Deflecting criticism from Israel, sources in UNIFIL cast doubt Tuesday on claims made by the IDF that it had failed to properly perform its duties after five explosive devices were planted along the Israeli-Lebanese border in recent days by Hizbullah... "What evidence do they have that the bombs were laid recently," asked one senior official in UNIFIL, who claimed that while the IDF alerted the force to the bombs, it had not transferred any material concerning the legitimacy of the claim that they were planted in recent days.

There's not even the gesture of taking Israel's concerns seriously (as, say, UNIFIL's mandate implies they should do). Diplomats don't talk that way. Children on the playground talk that way. "Oh yeah, well how do you know that this totally absurd thing isn't what happened?" Well, because that doesn't seem very reasonable.

The only potentially good thing to come out of this:

Following the discovery of the bombs, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot clarified the rules of engagement for units serving along the border. "Soldiers are allowed to open fire at anything that is suspicious on the other side of the border," explained a source in the Northern Command.

Thousands of armed Frenchmen? That seems pretty suspicious to us... (kidding, kidding... kind of)

Previously: The Dumbest Idea You Will Hear About / Sentence You Will Read This Week - Israeli Trust In UNIFIL, UN Peacekeepers Begged Hezbollah to Stop Using Them As Human Shields. UN, LA Times Blame Israel Anyway., The UN Should Stay the Hell Out of Israel's Way