World
ANALYSIS
Your Cellular Superstore/
As tl
Expert
Recalling 2006
The unlearned lessons of the war against Hezbollah.
Question: I want to bring
in a used phone that a friend gave
me and get service started. Is that
possible?
Uriel Heilman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Aft$Wer: It's best to begin
a new service contract with new
equipment to get the most value
out of the service and equipment.
If you want to use a phone some-
one gave you, we must inspect
the phone and research its history
before activation. Carriers place
certain restrictions on the re-use
of their phones, so it would be
best if you came to one of our 40
locations with the phone for more
information.
F
Question:
I signed up with
a local plan and now I need to
travel across the nation without
getting hammered with roaming
charges. Am I allowed to change
my plan?
Answer:
Yes you can change
your plan when needed. Carriers
want you to experience the best
in customer service along with a
phone plan that meets your all of
your lifestyle needs. Visit any of
our locations and we can change
your plan for you.
Email Questions to:
asktheexpertz@wirelesstoyz.corn
and visit the nearest
locations at
Taking Stock
According to Israeli assessments, Hezbollah now has 40,000
missiles, with ranges of up to 185 miles. That puts most of
Israel's population within range of rocket attack, including Tel
Aviv, Jerusalem and possibly even Dimona, the site of Israel's
nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert.
During the 2006 war, Hezbollah's missiles reached no more
than 45 miles inside Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni both have spoken up about the failure of U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006
Jennifer Babby
12 Mile & Northwestern
248.945.0090
Elizabeth Pride
10 Mile & Evergreen
248.948.5000
Sandy Maizi
Orchard Lk. & Telegraph
248.253.1400
Advertisernent
A20
July 24 • 2008
or many Israelis, the timing of last week's prisoner
swap with Hezbollah served as a bitter reminder of
the failings of the Second Lebanon War.
Two years since the 34-day conflagration — sparked by
Hezbollah taking two Israeli soldiers captive in a cross-border
attack — the war's ostensible goals appear to be unrealized.
Rather than suffering a long-term blow, Hezbollah has
managed to rearm and refortify itself in Lebanon. The Iran-
backed group has gained veto power over Lebanon's govern-
ment and more than tripled the number of missiles in its
arsenal from before the war, according to Israeli estimates.
Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, rather than being
cowed or damaged by the war, has emerged as a popular hero
in the Arab world, inspiring confrontation with Israel from
Gaza to Tehran.
And Israel, rather than recovering its two captive soldiers in
the war, was reduced to negotiating with Hezbollah to bring
its boys, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, home.
Two years on, there is a sense in Israel that the war's lessons
have not been internalized by a government distracted by
other things, from the profane to the profound.
"Reading the newspapers this week, on the eve of the sec-
ond anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, you don't know
whether to laugh or cry;'Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz last
week.
Marcus cited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's legal
troubles, accusations of embezzlement against former Finance
Minister Abraham Hirchson, Deputy Prime Minister Haim
Ramon's sexual harassment affair and ex-President Moshe
Katsav's demand for perks, including a new office and a car
and driver, while still under indictment for sex crimes.
"Flip another page and you discover that the government
debate on the Haim Ramon affair was two hours longer than
an urgent Cabinet meeting this week to discuss the arms
race being carried out by Hezbollah and Iran:' Marcus wrote.
"Instead of holding symposia on the past, which nothing is
going to change, we need to focus on the immediate future"
Chief among those concerns is the threat of a nuclear Iran,
which is inextricably connected to the Hezbollah problem. If
Israel carries out a strike against suspected nuclear sites in
Iran, the Jewish state must expect a retaliatory attack from
Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon.
1386590
An Israeli military convoy carries the bodies of Ehud
Goldwasser and Eldad Regev from the Israel-Lebanon bor-
der on July 16.
war. The measure called for Hezbollah's disarmament and
a beefed-up U.N. presence in Lebanon, UNIFIL, to prevent
Iranian and Syrian arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah.
"Resolution 1701 is being violated:' Barak told a Labor
Party meeting. "Hezbollah continues to get stronger with the
ongoing and intimate assistance of the Syrians.
"The delicate balance that exists on the northern border
should not be violated on the two-year anniversary of the
Second Lebanon War. We should make an explicit statement:
Resolution 1701 did not work, it is not working, and all indi-
cations are that it will not work in the future. It is a failure'
What many Israeli pundits want to know is why govern-
ment officials only now are complaining of the failure to
implement the U.N. resolution.
The government's lack of action in the face of the growing
Hezbollah threat raises questions about whether the govern-
ment has a clear plan for how to confront the more complex
and multifaceted Iranian threat.
Professor Yehezkel Dror, a key member of the Israeli panel
that reviewed the government's performance in the 2006 war,
created a stir earlier this month when he said that Olmert's
lack of a coherent defense strategy is harming the country.
Dror added that he regretted not calling explicitly for
Olmert's resignation in the final report by the Winograd
Committee.
"The current state of affairs worries me greatly; I would not
trust this government with making critical decisions:' Dror
told Israeli reporters. He called on Olmert to resign.
Dror's call has been echoed in the Israeli media. A recent
editorial in Ha'aretz called on Olmert to go on vacation imme-
diately and let someone else steward the country while he
sorts out his legal troubles. The Jerusalem Post urged Olmert's
political party, Kadima, to elect a new leader.
If there is a silver lining to Israel's failures vis-a-vis
Hezbollah, it is that the 2006 war served as a wake-up call for
the Israel Defense Forces.
In 2006, the army found itself ill prepared to fight the war
in Lebanon due to its almost exclusive focus on Palestinian
terrorism over the preceding five years. Now, military analysts
say, the IDF has resumed intensive training for battles of the
sort it saw in Lebanon. Li