This is another Interview that Elliot gave on the Mike Fleming show at 600WREC, Memphis, on July 27th. The Interview comes after a week of war on the northern border, while Elliot was serving in reserve duty after being called up as a result of the events:

After yesterday’s catastrophe at Kfar Kana in south Lebanon where civilians were mistakenly killed in an IAF bombing, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah’s popularity has soared to new heights in the Arab world.  After having fortified terrorist positions inside south Lebanese villages, Nasrallah then initiated the conflict with the full knowledge of endangering the same villagers along Israel’s northern border.  Furthermore Hezbollah continues to launch rocket attacks from within those villages in an effort to hide behind the human shield of civilians.  The idea is to enjoy the best of both worlds; either Israel will not bomb the launchers and rocket arsenals and Hezbollah can continue firing unhindered or eventually there will be civilian casualties.  For Nasrallah both options are excellent, as the first affords him freedom to fire at Israel and the second gives him a media victory.  Furthermore the second option brings Lebanon (and Hezbollah) world sympathy due to civilian suffering.

Jews in Israel and the Shi’ite Moslem supporters of the Hezbollah have few cultural commonalities and virtually no understanding of each other’s value systems.  The lack of knowledge “abyss” on the Israeli side is particularly worrying since Hezbollah sat on Israel’s northern border for more that six years planning an eventual war of destruction.  Some examples below:

From Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning it was the turn of the anti-war activists to get into the act with demonstrations in Tel Aviv involving about 1,000 people.  Most were from the Communist Party (Arab and Jewish membership) and Arab Lists.  The basic message is, “We want peace and an immediate cease-fire.  In the end there will be negotiations so let’s begin now and save all the human suffering.”  Sounds very reasonable, supposedly – until everything is put into context.

Israel has finally decided that enough is enough, and that Hizbullah must be removed from the military equation.  Unfortunately, the decision has come six years too late, and the IDF troops who will be called upon to do the job will face a well-trained and equipped force that has had years to dig in and prepare for the Israeli offensive.

This is a 2nd Interview that Elliot gave on the Mike Fleming show at 600WREC, Memphis, on July 18th. The Interview comes after a week of war on the northern border, while Elliot was serving in reserve duty after being called up as a result of the events:

Limited, but intensive Israeli ground attacks are destroying the Hezbollah infrastructure of arms caches, rockets, katuysha launchers and bunkers in south Lebanon since yesterday while the air force continues its bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds in the Beirut region.  In the past few days many are pointing out the deep Syrian involvement in arming the Hezbollah, especially in light of the munitions convoy sent by Damascus and destroyed by Israel.

Veteran followers of the Middle East have been somewhat surprised by the vocal support show by the US, G8 and EU for the Israeli military actions against Hizbullah and Hamas.  Even Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have made statements officially condemning Hizbullah's actions' dragging Lebanon into a bloody conflict.

As of mid-day yesterday Israeli forces began a massive artillery barrage on south Lebanon in an attempt to destroy all Hizbollah infrastructure in the border region.  The air force continues to pound the Hizbollah command center of Dekhiah in south Beirut and is seeking out katuysha rocket squads as they prepare to fire at northern Israel.  In Haifa yesterday morning, eight railway workers were killed when a long range rocket landed on the Israel Railways maintenance garage.  Since Wednesday Haifa and the Galilee have absorbed some 1,500 rockets and shells.

Wars are all too often started as a result of a minor miscalculation, and the current violence in the Middle East provides an excellent example of this fact.  Wednesday's Hizbullah attack on an IDF patrol that left three soldiers dead and two captured was an attempt by the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization to achieve a number of strategic objectives at a limited price.

  With one assault, Hizbullah hoped to improve its position in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world, show its support for Hamas as it battles the IDF in Gaza, and divert attention from Iran as the world pressures that country to cease its efforts to develop a nuclear arsenal.  In order to accomplish all of the above, Hizbullah executeded a bold ambush on the Israeli side of the border, with a quick escape back to Lebanon with its IDF captives.