The Osterley Times: When "Stop" seems to be the hardest word.

The US's unwillingness to ever allow any UN condemnation of any Israeli action - no matter how severe - has been primarily responsible for the escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Hizbullah.

After Israel kidnapped two Palestinians and a Palestinian rebel group responded by kidnapping Gilad Shalit, the Israelis immediately started a bombing campaign in Gaza which included knocking out power stations, an act that many throughout the world condemned as collective punishment.

At this point the UN attempted to censure Israel and the US vetoed that censure.

Only when the international community remained silent in the face of Israel's over-reaction did Hizbullah enter the fray and kidnap a further two Israeli soldiers.

Israel then started the present campaign against the citizens of Lebanon, a campaign of such ferocity that the phrase wanton destruction might have been thought up simply to describe it.

At this point the US defied the wishes of almost the entire planet, by not only failing to allow Israel's actions to be censured, but it also promised to veto any calls for a ceasefire.

Even after the Israelis have bombed a well established UN observation post, which had called the Israelis and asked that they stop attacking them, the US issued no condemnation. Indeed, the silence of the US has been startling.

Especially as Kofi Annan has said that the attack was deliberate:

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon that has killed two UN military observers, with two more feared dead," said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, after rushing out of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."

The Israelis have denied Annan's claims, but others appear to back what he is saying.

But, Sunil Ram, a defence and security analyst, told CTV Newsnet that the Israelis had shelled the base at least 14 times before bombing it with what was clearly a guided bomb.

"UN posts like this are very well marked. The Israelis knew it was there; it's been there for years.

"But then when the Indians tried to send a rescue mission in there, they then shelled the troops who were trying to get to the post. So how much more deliberate do you want it to be?"

Indeed, when one reads the comments of some of Israel's supporters regarding the UN, it is quite obvious that Israel, or at least her supporters, regard the UN with contempt - holding them responsible for many of the attacks that came out of Lebanon. Indeed, the reactions of delight at the killing of four UN observers on many right wing blogs highlights the point.

#56 SlothB77 7/25/2006 06:33PM PDT
and the UN wonders why the peacekeepers get accidentally hit when Israel goes after Hezbollah. I know 4 UN peacekeepers who
will no longer be building roads for Hezbollah.

#2 400lb gorilla 7/25/2006 05:06PM PDT
Kofi the CHOAD

#20 RadicalRon 7/25/2006 05:14PM PDT
Too bad Kofi wasn't there, too.

24 Pro-Bush Canuck 7/25/2006 05:16PM PDT
Annan Says Israel Attacked UN Post Deliberately
Yah. *snort* If only!

#29 big L 7/25/2006 05:17PM PD
a brush-back pitch from the IDF...to let the skanks know that kidnapping assistance from the UN and the Red Cross meat wagons full of RPGs are definitely standing to close to home plate.

#38 baldylox 7/25/2006 05:23PM PDT
I know it sounds a bit harsh, but I wish that it were deliberate, and that Israel came right out and said so.

I have no idea whether or not the Israelis deliberately targeted a UN observation post and would like to think that they did not, but the evidence of eyewitnesses and the fact that it's presence was so well known, makes this either an act of supreme idiocy by an army that is literally firing at everything and anything that moves, or it was a deliberate act. Neither option is a good one.

The Israelis can be assured though, that no action they take, no matter how severe, will ever be severe enough to warrant sanction from this White House.

George Bush, by failing in the traditional US role of acting as a lever of restraint, has allowed this conflict to escalate at each and every turn. His failure to ever condemn has led to the Israeli excesses that we witnessed in Beirut where an entire city was almost reduced to rubble. His failure to ever condemn has led Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon to declare that the world has given Israel a "green light" to continue it's offensive, including the astonishing claim that:

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said.

He said that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in.

He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there could be considered a Hezbollah supporter.

This is the extremism that Bush's lack of leadership is encouraging. And they can be assured that, even if they "flatten" the whole of southern Lebanon, this White House will remain mute.

This is the most disgraceful abdication of responsibility I expect to see by a politician in my lifetime. It is as shameful as it is shameless.

Bush no doubt thinks that he is proving himself a great friend of Israel. He is not. Israel's reputation is becoming severely tarnished here, as a newly elected Prime Minister with little military experience engages his forces in a way that has scandalised people world wide. Nor is Israel's military reputation looking like it is going to survive this onslaught as Hizbullah continue to seem impervious to everything that Israel throw at them.

A good friend would know when to take an ally aside and whisper, "Stop."

Bush is not a good friend.