israeli regime argues it must destroy the village to save it

Mr Ramon - a close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - said ... that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in.

He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there could be considered a Hezbollah supporter.

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said.

from Israel says world backs offensive (thanks to glamwhorebunni for the link)

That's a hell of an assumption, isn't it? To assume that anyone who would not, or could not, leave their own home by now, is now by default an enemy sympathizer, is illogical and unethical.

If your neighborhood were attacked by troops of another country, would you flee your own home? Or would you oil up the gun and bunker down? Some of you would do the latter, thinking, to hell with someone else coming in and taking my home by force.

Congratulations! Wanting to save your home makes you a terrorist.

Hmm, this sounds remarkably similar to the tactics used by the US Army in Iraq -- using airpower to soften urban battlegrounds to save troop lives. It was just as wrong then as it is now.

It basically is an admission that the attempt to win the "hearts and minds" of the Middle East has been lost.

It is also an assertion that the Israeli regime has so much more firepower than its neighbors that at this point it does not have to care what anyone else thinks.