Israelis oppose the accepted UN resolution and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finds himself in political trouble:

“The war was backed by a consensus spanning everyone but the far-right and far-left. The opposition, apart from the Arab parties, was at it’s most loyal and the public, despite almost a quarter of it’s members being forced to live in mortal danger, was stoically supporting its leaders.

And the nation didn’t waver, even when the war turned out to be a far cry from the quick and elegant air operation that had been envisaged at the start. There was not as much as an protest, even when serious question marks began to arise about the strategic wisdom directing the campaign. Israelis accepted that they had to make terrible sacrifices, even pay for their leaders’ mistakes, for the greater good. That we seemed to have Uncle Sam’s full support made the choice even easier.

Now the feeling is that while the public was prepared to grin and bear it, it was the politicians, especially Olmert, who weren’t able to go the extra mile. The cabinet’s decision on Wednesday to extend the operation by at least two more weeks and to make an all-out push for the Litani, with the evident casualties that would be part and parcel, was supported, according to all the opinion polls, by a wide majority. But the order to halt the troops pending a diplomatic solution in New York was already too much for an overpatient public.”

The problem, of course, is that Israelis are feeling that their mission was not accomplished. Hezbollah remains operational, and now defiantly so, while Israeli civilians remain a target. What did Israel win, exactly?

“….many Israelis, including those who sat for a month in stifling bomb shelters, reservists who dropped everything and reported to their units and the families who anxiously awaited a telephone from their sons in Lebanon and dreaded the knock of the local IDF liaison are feeling that their sacrifice has been betrayed.

After years of dismissing the UN as an ineffectual and anti-Israel organization, how can Israelis believe that of all the possibilities, it will be the one to make sure that Hizbullah never again threatens our northern towns and villages. “

It’s interesting to apply this lesson to the Iraq war: if we leave too early, without finishing the job, and the country is once again turned over to thugs and terrorists, how can we tell the families of dead American soldiers that they fought with good reason, that their sacrifice was not in vain, that the cause was noble, but we just couldn’t stomach seeing it through to completion?

UPDATE 1:17am: The calls for Olmert’s resignation have begun.

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