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