I'm very pro-Israel. After reading Rep. Chris Van Hollen's letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the current subject of Lebanon, I found a few things with which I disagreed but nothing that puts him in the camp of people hostile to Israel. Columnist Robert Novak described Rep. Van Hollen yesterday as a "critic" of Israel. While not inaccurate, Van Hollen is certainly a very friendly critic of Israel. I doubt the following paragraph in his letter would very much please opponents of the Israel's actions:
The killing and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah precipitated the current crisis in the region. Those actions were followed by Hezbollah rocket attacks that have fallen indiscriminately in Haifa and other Israeli population centers. Like any sovereign country, Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself. The people of Lebanon understand that Israel did not initiate these hostilities. By all reports, the majority in Lebanon strongly resent Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into this conflict and recognizes that Israel has a right to target the military apparatus employed by Hezbollah to launch its attacks on Israel.Indeed, the entire letter is writen in the tone of someone concerned for Israel, concerned both that its strategy is not working and is alienating potential allies and concerned for its security.
Nonetheless, I do have some disagreements with Rep. Van Hollen's conclusions, or at least I find some of Israel's actions more explicable than he does. Specifically, he states:
The Israeli response, however, has now gone beyond the destruction of Hezbollah's military assets. It has caused huge damage to Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, resulted in the large loss of civilian life, and produced over 750,000 refugees. Hezbollah is undeniably the culprit, but it is the Lebanese people -- not Hezbollah -- who are increasingly the victims of the violence.Civilians are certainly sufferring in Lebanon and one should recognize it. At the same time, one should realize that Hezbollah's tactics make it inevitable. It is a terrorist movement that locates military assets and leaders among the civilian population. It is more than willing to sacrifice civilians to protect its weapons and because dead civilians make for good media propaganda for a movement that shows no compunction about killing Israeli civilians.
However, Rep. Van Hollen's criticism is certainly within bounds. I too have wondered whether Israel's attacks should be more focused on Hezbollah controlled areas even though I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Moreover, most critics of Israel's war program have expressed far less concern with Israel's security and far more interest in decrying the Jewish State.
