QANA BODY COUNT FALLS

Qana Bombing Body Count Falls Sharply - Yoav Stern (Ha'aretz)
Additional questions arose yesterday about the Israel Air Force's strike on a building in Qana on Sunday, even as the number of fatalities in the incident appeared to be much lower than originally published. The Red Cross announced yesterday that 28 bodies, including those of 19 children, had been found at the site.

SEE ALSO: DOUBLE STANDARDS (HonestReporting)
The Qana incident is likely to be a defining incident in this current conflict, aided by a media that lacks context and prefers to judge Israel by different standards to other nations involved in military actions. It is, for example, interesting to examine the record of NATO forces that bombed the Serb military in Kosovo in the late-1990s. In the face of an estimated 500 civilian deaths, NATO admits that: "Strikes were also complicated by the cynical Serb use of civilian homes and buildings to hide weapons and vehicles, the intermixing of military vehicles with civilian convoys and, sometimes, the use of human shields. In this way, NATO's concern to avoid civilian casualties was exploited by the Serbs."

Those Who Cry for Ruins of Hizballah Building Remain Silent over Destruction in Haifa - Rafi Ginat
What's wiser: To suffer the slaughter of our best fighters to prevent the slaughter of civilians in south Lebanon and be the most moral army in the world, or to erase villages used as Hizballah terror motels, save the blood of our sons, and be considered less moral? What's wiser: To act with limited forces and in doing so extend the war's duration, the number of rockets being fired at us, and the number of civilian casualties, or to use lethal force, feel less moral, and establish deterrence? Is it right to pay a massive price, in blood and money, in order to be the most moral while the enemy and its supporters don't give a damn about morality considerations?

I have no problem considering myself less moral if it will save the life of one Israeli soldier. For him I am ready to wash the Hizballah terrorists with fire. I am ready to do the same to their helpers, their collaborators, the ones who turn a blind eye, and all those in contact with Hizballah. We are in the middle of a war, and this war must be won while crushing Hizballah and all that it represents. We need to strike hard - and we should be allowed to feel good about it. The writer is editor in chief of Yediot Ahronot, Israel's largest-circulation newspaper. (Ynet News)