Not About Two Kidnapped Soldiers.

The question has been recently asked; "Is all this Israel is doing in Lebanon worth it, over just two kidnapped soldiers?" Anyone paying attention, and possessing any common sense, can see that this conflict is about far more than that. Hezbollah has been attacking Israel off and on for the entire six years since Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon. Key in the agreement leading to that withdrawal was a condition that the UN and the Lebanese Army disarm Hezbollah and take control of the area. But the UN and the Lebanese government allowed Hezbollah to train their fighters, build fortifications, stockpile weapons, shoot the occasional rocket into Israel and launch hostile incursions into Israel from southern Lebanon. What did they think the end result of this build-up by Hezbollah would be?

Israel, since pulling out of Lebanon and Gaza, has endured regular kidnappings, suicide bombings and rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet some would be so shallow as to say this is all about just two soldiers? In the act of kidnapping the two soldiers Hezbollah actually killed several other IDF troops. Suggesting this conflict is about two kidnapped soldiers ignores history and Hezbollah's stated objectives, and, at the very least, implies that dead Israelis don't count at all.

Hezbollah's leadership has admitted underestimating the Israeli response to their aggression. They thought they could kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers, who were minding their own business in Israel, and then negotiate the release of a number of their people from Israeli jails. The Hezbollah loyalists in jail in Israel were not innocent civilians or fighters randomly captured in covert raids into Lebanon; they are individuals tried and convicted of crimes against Israel, including but not limited to, planning and/or participating in the killing of Israeli citizens.

For a list of attacks on Israel by Hezbollah since May 2000, click here.