At the beginning of the last Lebanese war, I was one of the enthusiastic supporters of Hezbollah and the revival of the resistance option that it displayed. But as the war went on, I started to hear fierce criticism of Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasr Allah, and because most of this criticism came from Lebanese friends that I respect, I took it seriously and I felt desperate to know the truth about Hezbollah motives for triggering this war, but I couldn’t find any argument that I felt was unbiased regarding this issue.
Anyway, today I ran into a report referring to head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad testimony to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Dec.18.
In his testimony Meir Dagan said that “Israel’s deterrence was damaged in the war… as a result Assad’s self-confidence grew. They are prepared to take more risls than in the past”.
Dagan's testimony marked the first time that a senior Israeli official reported a decline in deterrence. Over the past few months, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his aides have asserted that Israel defeated Hezbollah and bolstered deterrence.
Although I recognize the role of Hezbollah’s regional affiliations with Syria and Iran and its own political interests behind its actions during the last war, I also think that “damaging Israel’s deterrence” is an aim that deserves sacrifice, especially at a time when our governments still insist on promoting the idea that Israel is a enemy that we can never beat.
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