MIDDLE EAST: Tim Dormain of Black Kettle (my favorite Canadian blogger)

... has two excellent links up today.

First, one on John Bolton's CNN interview ...

Against escalating and unreasonable criticism that Israel's response to Hezbollah attacks is "disproportionate," Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended Israel's use of force on Sunday:

"I think it's important that we not fall into the trap of moral equivalency here," Ambassador John Bolton told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"What Hezbollah has done is kidnap Israeli soldiers and rain rockets and mortar shells on innocent Israeli civilians. What Israel has done in response is act in self-defense. And I don't quite know what the argument about proportionate force means here. Is Israel entitled only to kidnap two Hezbollah operatives and fire a couple of rockets aimlessly into Lebanon?

Second, one on an article by ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ, from the Jerusalem Post ...

Simultaneously, the critics ignore their own dissembling and duplicity by ignoring the unclothed kings of Islam ...

The Hizbullah and Hamas provocations against Israel once again demonstrate how terrorists exploit human rights and the media in their attacks on democracies.

By hiding behind their own civilians the Islamic radicals issue a challenge to democracies: Either violate your own morality by coming after us and inevitably killing some innocent civilians, or maintain your morality and leave us with a free hand to target your innocent civilians.

This challenge presents democracies such as Israel with a lose-lose option, and the terrorists with a win-win option.

Both pieces are helpful in understanding why we support Israel in this effort.

If you've not read Tim before ... give him a go, he's prolific and informative (and a staunch Christian) ...

HT: The Back Kettle

TAGS: GWOT, Hezbollah, Islam, Israel,
Lebanon, Middle East, Religion, Terrorism, War