Meanwhile, back in the Holy Land...

From Drudge:

Israel Hits Beirut for 1st Time in 2 Days...
Saudi King Fears Full-Scale Middle East War...
Israel: 'There Can No Longer Be a Hezbollah'...
PAPER: Nations Reluctant to Commit Troops to Lebanon...
Olmert: Israel Has Stamina for Long Fight...
'Iran will protect Syria'...
'Russian roulette' with rockets in northern Israel...
Jewish, Israeli targets in USA put on heightened alert...


From Israelinsider:

Report: Army requests all residents of Metulla to evacuate
Channel Two reports that Israeli defense officials are recommending that residents of northern border town of Metulla, in the northernmost tip of the Galilee panhandle, evacuate their houses for fear that shooting and rocket attacks on community may intensify. Municipal representatives are going door to door to pass on the recommendation to residents. The army later denied the report.

Sharon's condition worsens, but life not in immediate danger
The condition of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a stroke in January, has deteriorated though there was no immediate danger to his life, hospital officials and former aides said Sunday.

Israeli warplanes strike communications towers in Lebanon, taking out TV
Israeli warplanes hit TV transmission towers on Saturday in Lebanon, knocking the nation's leading private network off the air and cutting phone links to some regions.

IDF stops Hezbollah infiltration attempt near Metullah
IDF forces prevented a Hezbollah cell from crossing the Lebanese-Israeli border near Metullah on Wednesday evening. Hezbollah cells north of Metullah launched Katyusha rockets at Israel's northernmost town as a diversion, while two groups of terrorists attempted to sneak up to the border and cut the fence. 3 terrorists were killed.

Israelis overwhelmingly support army operation in Lebanon
Nearly nine out of 10 Israelis say the army's week-old operation against Hezbollah is justified and nearly 60 percent say Israel should fight until the Lebanese terror group is destroyed, according to an opinion poll published Tuesday.


Who's Going to Win?
Moshe Feiglin
Soon, Iran's nuclear arsenal will be ready for action. The lesson that we must learn now is that a pistol that appears in the first act shoots in the third act.

Wartime Rhetoric and the Failure of Israeli Leadership
Aryeh Tepper
For great leaders crises are also opportunities. The present crisis presents a great opportunity for Israeli leaders to clarify for the nation of Israel who we are.

The Price of Complacency
Elliot Chodoff
Israel has decided that enough is enough: Hizbullah must be removed from the military equation. Unfortunately, the decision came six years too late.

The First War, All Over Again
Dr. Daniel Gordis
In the last war, when they blew up buses and restaurants and sidewalks and cafes, Israelis were enraged, apoplectic with anger. This time, it's different.

Let This Be A Lesson
Yehuda Poch
Will Olmert go back to his ill-conceived notions of withdrawal and "convergence", behaving as if this war never happened and thus destroy our unity?

Let us fight a holy war, too
Orit
Their heroism and valor should ensure that our people not only live in peace, but in freedom to flourish and expand -- yes, expand! -- forever...

Here's more from the unbelievably hot Orit:

Yes, I want my soldiers to fight -- but to fight a real fight. These are the men of Israel -- our future. They are handsome, strong, and smart. They have wives, girlfriends, and children. I don't want them to die as glorified security guards who go into Lebanon just to ensure the status quo, only to give terrorists more time to re-arm and replay the same situation a few months or years from now. It's unfair to the soldiers and their families.

I want them to go in not as soldiers of the government of Israel, which shows signs of a dictatorship, but as soldiers of Israel, in its best sense, fulfilling a sacred moral duty not only to save Jewish lives, but to expand Israel and spread the ethical values encoded in the Hebrew Bible which guard the inviolable freedom of man. I don't want them going in to get Hizbollah out so that our borders are quiet enough for other soldiers to implement the Convergence plan.

This War Must Not Be in Vain
Steven Shamrak
Israel must regain full control over Jewish land and remove terror-infested, hostile populations. Israel must not miss this opportunity. We must act now.

IDF Casualties In Context
Dr. Aaron Lerner
When one considers thousands of IDF soldiers scouring Southern Lebanon for Hezbollah weapons caches, the IDF casualty figures are miraculous.


If you think we have leadership issues in this country, check out this quote from the genius running Israel:

"We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want to be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies."

-- Ehud Olmert in a June 2005 address to the Israel Policy Forum in New York