Walking the Tightrope of the Middle East

The situation in Israel is nerve-racking . . . to me at least.
I know it's necessary. Israel must stand up for it's rights . . .
but still . . . this is war.

Didn't war start before though? The attacks from Gaza, Qassams, Shahids, snipers . . .
Butthis is different. Israel now walks a fine line. Bush has given a go
ahead (And as of the writing of this article, a CNN Internet poll of
over 270,000 votes had a 62% majority in favor of "the Israeli military
response inside Lebanon") . . . but I fear that as time drags on,
public opinion will sway, in America, in the world . . . and will
arouse greater ire from the Lebanese. Push them to far and they will
crumble. Nature abhors a vacuum . . . Syria and Iran would love to grow
. . . (r"l).

Push to much and we endanger the captured soldiers. Push to much and we provoke them further.
Push to little, and the cycle only begins again.
So push we must . . .
Perhaps Hezbollah is a pimple. Now that we squeeze it, all the puss comes to the front.
Or more likely, a Cyst . . . far deeper entrenched into the skin of the Arab world.

During the Gulf War the Rebbe would oft repeat that Eretz
Yisroel is an "Eretz asher . . . tomid einei Hashem Elokecha ba . . ."

How do we apply that now?

I see the posuk as a cli, a vessel.
It is always there, but action must been done to bring it to it's fullest.
A Nosi can take it and make it applicable.
We can as well, but we must act with wisdom, and prudence.


Illustration by Mark Hess