The Front for the Liberation of the Golan?

I'm not sure I believe this. It comes from a right wing news organization and they site an unnamed source. But if Syria is recruiting Syrian citizens, looking to create an analog of Hezbollah, then that would probably be about the worst thing they could do. Unlike Lebanon, Syria cannot claim that they don't have any way to control this group. Any action it takes will result in the destruction of Syrian military and infrastructure. It would give Israel the perfect excuse to do exactly what they should have done a long time ago.

Then again, just because it is a stupid idea doesn't mean the Syrians aren't considering it.

How should Israel prepare for the next round?

Efraim Inbar has sage advice in the Jerusalem Post on what Israel should do to prepare for the next round. Here it is, plain as day.

SUBDUING SYRIA is the key to managing the Lebanese crisis, to rolling back Hizbullah, and to weakening Iran and its radical Islamist influence in the Middle East. In order to attain victory in the next military engagement, Israel should target Damascus.

Just to be clear, nobody is talking about mounting a surprise attack on Syria. But it is perfectly reasonable for Israel to deliver an ultimatum to Bashar Asad, "stop shipping weapons to Hezbollah or we will strike your country." This would be particularly effective if backed up with a security council resolution against Syria supplying terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Putting this kind of pressure on Syria would be a huge win for the United States in Iraq as well as for Israel. And far from being without precedent, this move would be almost a mirror image of the 1998 campaign by Turkey to stop terrorists attacking their country from operating out of Syria.

Hannah Begelman-Sevsay writing in the Turkish Daily News says that this should have been Israel's strategy from the beginning.

The biggest problem with this strategy is that currently it is Iran and their meddling in Iraq and nuclear ambitions, not Syria that is perceived as the greatest threat to American policy in the region and at this critical juncture I would think that the security council would be loathe to take up this matter and would not welcome the distraction if Israel pursued it on their own.

So for now, this plan probably goes on the shelf. This is another good argument for dealing with Iran quickly rather than allowing them to continue to stall.

Censorship in Israel

I have had friends suggest that the news in Israel is heavily censored, that they only print the Israeli side of every issue and suppress all opposing views.

Quite frankly I don't think these people have ever read an Israeli newspaper.

Case in point: Today, Haaretz (one of Israel's leading newspapers) published an opinion piece calling on Israelis to "pack up and go". I don't agree with the sentiment, but you've got to admit, that sure makes accusations of Israeli censorship look silly.

Can you imagine the New York times printing that the United States should just give California back to Mexico?

The headline tells it all

Check out this headline "Rockets hit Lebanon despite cease-fire". Now someone who just read that headline and skipped the article would probably think that the Israelis had violated the cease-fire and were firing rockets at Lebanon. Of course, as the article states, the rockets were actually fired by Hezbollah, not Israel. The headline certainly gives the wrong impression which seems either incredibly sloppy or incredibly dishonest.

That should be the new slogan of the MSM: "We're not biased, just incredibly sloppy"

Can anyone site an example where it went the other way? Where a headline gave the impression that the article was positive towards Israel but the facts of the article were actually negative? I looked but the best I could find was: "Iranian Biologists: Israelis may not be the offspring of apes and pigs afterall".

Israel using humanitarian bombs?

Peace loving people everywhere are hailing the UN brokered ceasefire because it will save the lives of innocent civilians.

Nonsense!

Consider this: on August 7th we were told "Over 1000 killed in raids on Lebanon". Despite that, the Israeli offensive continued for another week. The results of 7 days of bombing? Now there are 815 killed. Apparently negative 185 people died. That's right, the Israelis bombed 185 people back to life. I say let them continue the bombing. At that rate all of Lebanon should be restored in no time.