Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Israel Getting Awfully Twitchy

It's like they're expecting war or something...
Two Iranian warships planned to sail through the Suez canal en route to Syria on Wednesday, Israel said, calling it a "provocation" by the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian naval contingent described by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman would pose no significant military threat to Israel but could spell the closest-ever encounter by the forces of the two old foes, who are geographically distant.

And they're checking out Lebanon again -
Israel ratcheted up its activities close to the Blue Line Monday, violating Lebanese airspace, according to reports from the south.

Reports also suggested Israel was bolstering its border patrols in the region from which two of its soldiers were abducted by Hezbollah in 2006, sparking the devastating month-long war which followed.

“Israeli war drones have been flying over Nabatiyeh, Iqlim Al-Toufah and Khiyam, all in south Lebanon, since 11 a.m. Monday,” the National News Agency reported.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon told The Daily Star that UNIFIL “had not reported any violation” of Lebanese territory by Israeli patrols in recent weeks.
The Real Effect
Trust but verify must be the preferred method of operation in this day and age. There is far too much propaganda flying around in all directions to make snap judgments.

Regarding Israel, yes the warships are close. What would Israel have Iran do? Sail around Africa? Using a global transit route is not an act of provocation anymore than Israel's use of the route would be. Silly me, thinking that people would be reasonable about this.

It would seem that the truth of the matter is that the hyper-nationalists in Israel are like the kid in the back seat of the car screaming about their side of the seat. Funny, those kids are always smacking the other kid as soon as Mom's eyes are turned away...

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