Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are political parties, not just military/terrorist groups. Citizens of Lebanon and Gaza have voted for Hamas and Hezbollah. Does Israel's response -- making life for those citizens very difficult, in direct response to Hamas and Hezbollah attacking Israel -- create any political pressure on Hamas and Hezbollah to stop?
In the next elections in Lebanon, will Lebanese voters consider that maybe voting for Hezbollah -- a political party that maintains a private army, that attacks and provokes Israel but is incapable of protecting civilians on the territory it controls -- is a mistake? Will Palestinians reconsider the wisdom of voting for a party that insists on annihilating a vastly stronger adversary?
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1. Calling Hezbollah a political party is a little misleading, since the political parties in Lebanon are based on religion. Hezbollah is more like a state within a state.
2. Maybe it creates pressure to stop, but maybe it creates solidarity and rage at those doing the bombing. Proponents of aerial bombing often hope that it will cause civilian populations to throw in the towel -- usually it has the opposite effect (see, e.g., Britain, 1940; Germany, 1944; Vietnam, 1970, etc.).
3. I understand the logic of bombing Lebanese civilians to pressure them to see Hezbollah differently. I don't think it's a whole lot different from attacking civilian populations with other kinds of bombs to pressure them to, e.g., support a withdrawal from Northern Ireland or Iraq, etc. It might work, but it seems wrong.
