Low-Functioning and High-Functioning

"The difference between high-functioning and low-functioning is that high-functioning means that your deficits are ignored and low-functioning means your assets are ignored... Either way, you get ignored."

This sentence, said by a high-functioning autistic woman named Laura interviewed by a low-functioning autistic woman named Amanda Baggs, rings absolutely true. The less autistic my nephew seems the less help the social services and education departments want to give him. Luckily, my sister knows how to get the most out of them, but it isn't easy.

Here's the post in Amanda's blog that introduced me to these video interviews (titled Interview with Laura about Autism Recovery), and here are the videos: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The interview is a response to two interviews with "recovered" autistic kids, which is an odd way to describe them. There's a six year-old with what I call "autistic eyes", that don't seem to be focused. He's a cute kid who underwent chelation therapy, but he reminds me of my nephew who is like that with just ABA. The 14-year old is even more clearly still autistic. He speaks in monotone and still has trouble with abstractions. So why call them recovered? Call them what they are - high-functioning autistics.

Autistic Brother's Keeper

The New York Time Magazine has an interesting article about a 14 year-old girl with two 16-year old autistic twin brothers. Although my nephew seems to be in much better shape than the boys in this article, I can't help but think about my niece's future. It's hard to think of a toddler who can barely speak as being responsible for another person - and she isn't, not yet. As long as she's a child and her parents are still alive she's not responsible for him, but one day she will be.

But even thinking of the nearer future, I wonder what problems having an autistic brother may produce. I'd like to think that since he's very high-functioning, most of the problems mentioned in the Times article won't come up. For one thing, she probably won't even know he's autistic for most of her childhood, and she won't have to cope with what being autistic means for her brother. Neither is he ever violent towards her or anyone else. Right now she adores him and he treats her well. But something will probably pop up that we can't predict.

Thinking of their adulthood, it seems my niece will be my nephew's only sibling, since my sister isn't planning any more children. The responsibility will be hers alone. Sure, I'd like to think my children, her cousins, would help her, but cousins are not as close as brothers and sisters, nor do they feel the same kind of responsibility. Besides, they don't even exist yet and who knows where they'll live (not to mention the fact that they'll be much younger than my nephew and niece). Hopefully, my nephew will be an independent adult in need of minimal assistance. Only time will tell.

New Layout

I've made a few changes to the blog, thanks to upgrades in Blogger's blogging tools. The background is still the same but the sidebar has changed. I like the new expandable and collapsible archive menu and the post labels.

How do you like the new look?

Stop! Police!

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has made a very odd decision. After the findings of a special investigative commission regarding police misconduct and possible corruption led to the resignation of Israel's chief of police, Dicther announced the nomination of Yaakov Ganot, the current head of the prison service and a former defendant in a corruption trial. 13 years ago Ganot, then the head of the northern police district, was acquitted of criminal charges such as bribery, but the supreme court found he acted unethically, in a way unbecoming of a senior police officer. He was suspended for 3 years and later returned to the police.

This is a bad appointment. The public committee in charge of evaluating such nominations (which is not a parliamentary committee, but rather one headed by former supreme court justice Yaakov Tirkel) should reject Ganot. If it doesn't, the government should reject him. After Police Chief Karadi resigned for much less than what Ganot did, and when the police is in need of deep reforms, including ethical ones, a clean figure needs to be appointed.

Sure, Ganot is said to be excellent at getting things done. But if he's so good why was he Dichter's fifth or sixth choice? Isn't there anyone who is both highly qualified and corruption-free?

The Supreme Court has been asked to bar this nomination. I hope it does not do so. Since he was acquitted, his disqualification is moral and ethical, not legal. For that reason, it is the Tirkel Commission and the government which should not allow Ganot's appointment, not the court.

Berlinale's Crystal Bear

The Israeli film "Sweet Mud" (originally, "Adama Meshugaat", meaning "Crazy Earth") by director Dror Shaul has been awarded the Crystal Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. This is the top prize in the contest for films aimed at children and teenagers. I'd say that's an odd, even amusing, category for this film. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it starts with a dairy farmer at a kibbutz getting a blow-job from a calf (apparently this is an in-joke for kibbutzniks: there's a legend in these collective communities that the farmers get gratified by the udder suckling calves).

Sweet Mud tells the tale of a boy in a Kibbutz whose mother is mentally ill. The supposedly supportive community shuns her.

Two other Israeli films screened at the festival were "Beaufort", about the last days of an Israeli military outpost in Southern Lebanon before the 2000 pullout, and "The Bubble", about a homosexual affair between a Palestinian and an Israeli in Tel-Aviv. Later today we'll know if one of these got another prize.

All Wrong in Jerusalem

The whole fiasco over the construction of a bridge near the Mughrabim gate in the Old City of Jerusalem is one of those rare cases where everybody is wrong and nobody is right. The government should have never started the project, because it should have predicted it would be used by extremist Muslims as an excuse for anti-Israel protests. They could have put a different kind of bridge, which can be constructed quickly and without need for any digging in sensitive places.

The extremist Muslims, and others who have played along, are now saying Israel is digging beneath Al-Aqsa with the intention to topple it and construct the third Jewish temple. That's bullshit and they probably know it. Now Sheikh Raad Salakh, an Israeli citizen who is the head of the Northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has called for an Intifada against Israel. The man should be put in jail for the rest of his life for treason and incitement of violence against the state.

Now Jewish religious leaders, including the ultra-Orthodox mayor of Jerusalem, are trying to stop the construction of the bridge. Their main concern isn't safety or Muslim sensitivities. Their problem with the bridge is the fact that it will be used by Jews to enter the Temple Mount, an area where Jews are not allowed to enter according to Halacha (Jewish religious law).

I think the construction should never have started, but now it is too late. We should not give in to religious extremists. The only acceptable way out would be to declare that we accept the requests of Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, and therefore have decided to stop all construction at the Mughrabim Gate. But I don't see Olmert doing that any time soon.

A Religion of the Non-Religious?

From Haaretz:

On Sunday, Haaretz reported on Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin's initiative for the establishment of a secular Judaism lobby, to be comprised of MKs and representatives of secular Jewish organizations. Among the objectives Beilin set forth were civil marriage, secular conversion, separation of religion and state, funding for secular Jewish education and, in the long run, the establishment of a secular Judaism movement alongside the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Movements.

Beilin told Tuesday's conference that the secular should also be able to determine who is a Jew  for instance, deciding that someone with a Jewish father should be considered Jewish. But he admitted that the chances of passing such legislation are minimal.

Therefore, perhaps "what is needed is an institution, a building with pillars in which someone will sit and say that the candidate has learned enough Judaism and give him a [conversion] certificate."

But others said that the lobby should focus on secular Jewish education.

Read the complete article.

I think a secular lobby is a good idea, but it should focus on separation of church (or synagogue) and state and protecting the rights of the secular majority in Israel. But the idea of turning secularism into another Jewish religious movement is absurd. If you want liberal conversion, accept reform and reconstructionist conversions, and not just the Orthodox type. If you want to teach Jewish texts in a non-religious context you don't need to call it a movement.

The greatest thing about secular Judaism is that it isn't institutionalized. There's no hierarchy. We don't need ordained "secular rabbis". We choose who we listen to and respect by their personal merit, not because someone declared them to be luminaries.

So Beilin, lead a political lobby to protect our rights, but don't anoint yourself the Chief Rabbi of the Religion of the Non-Religious.

Predicting Tomorrow's Results

I hope Democrats win big in tomorrow's congressional elections, but I don't expect them to win the Senate. Here are some of my predictions, just for the heck of it. Only the next few days will tell how far off I am.

The Senate: 52 Republicans, 48 Democrats (including the Democratic-leaning independent from Vermont).

The following Republicans will hold on to their seats: Conrad Burns of Montana, Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island and George Allan of Virginia. The "democratically Independent" Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey will be re-elected as well. Republican Bob Corker will also win in Tennessee.

Senator James Talent will lose to Democrat Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania will also lose to Democrats.

The House: 226 Democrats, 209 Republicans.

Democrat Tammy Duckworth will take over Henry Hyde's old district in Illinois. Mark Foley's Florida district will also go to the Democrats. Christopher Shays of Connecticut will lose his seat.

Governors: 29 Democrats, 21 Republicans.

PS: I know nobody cares what my predictions are, this is mainly for my own use.

Tags: Politics, Congress, Elections, Senate, 2006, Democrats, Republicans

Presidential Rape

It is a disgrace that Moshe Katsav is the president of Israel. Who would have ever thought that the head of our state would be a suspected rapist?!? Back in 2000, I was very sorry he was elected president, defeating Shimon Peres - I just thought he was nothing more than a petty politicians without the stature needed to serve as president.

It's hard to believe, but now even former Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, a horrible choice, would be an improvement. I hope that someone who isn't a member of the Knesset is elected president next: someone like writers Eli Amir or Amos Oz, or former Chief Justice Meir Shamgar.

Tags: Israel, Israeli Politics, Moshe Katsav, Moshe Katzav

Autism Politics

I've only seen clips of Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Benefit for Autism Education", hosted live by Jon Stewart. They didn't talk much about autism in the footage I've watched, and I wonder how they represented it in the whole show. Anyone care to opine on it?

A charity event for autism sounds great, doesn't it? Well, it's more complicated than that. I doubt that any of the stars in Sunday's show even know about this complexity.

Other than the whole debate about whether or not vaccines are to blame for this condition, there's a debate between those who want to find a cure and those who advocate the acceptance of autistics as they are. This debate is about almost every aspect of autism:

• Should autism be cured? Or if autism is just an alternative form of neurological wiring, maybe there should only be intervention and treatment to make autistics' lives easier, like speech therapy and teaching certain social skills.
• What do you call autism? Many would find "disease" to be offensive. Even the term "developmental disorder", which I think is the most accurate, is unacceptable to some of those who see autism as part of humanity's "neurodiversity". According to this view, autism is different, but there is nothing wrong with it. "Condition" is probably the least controversial description.
• People with autism or autistics? Both terms seem the same to me, but there are certain groups who have a preference. By the way, on this issue, the divide is not always along the neurodiversity/cure line.
• Who should speak for autism? Parents of autistics or the autistics themselves? Yes, indeed, some autistics can speak for themselves, whether verbally or through writing. Autism Speaks, one of the organizations receiving money from the show, claims to speak for autism despite the fact that they aren't autistics themselves. Autism Speaks has distributed a video that pretty much shows autism as hell. I'm not sure people with autism would appreciate that.

Tags: Autism, Neurodiversity, Charity, Vaccines, Entertainment, Jon Stewart

Say No to Lieberman (Avigdor, Not Joe)

The Labor Party must block the entrance of Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Beytenu (Israel Our Home) into Ehud Olmert's coalition government. Lieberman, who has different ideas with the underlying intent of taking away Israeli Arabs' citizenship, is the Israeli equivalent of Austria's Jurg Heider and France's Jean-Marie Le Pen. If Labor sits in the same government with him, it means the party only cares about its seats and not its principles.

Lieberman also wants to change Israel's parliamentary system into a presidential system. That would be a bad idea. We certainly need reforms in our government, but we should strengthen our parliamentary democracy. This can be done by doubling or tripling the size of the Knesset, raising the electoral threshold for entering Parliament, as well as possibly creating a second legislative house, among other things.

Tags: Israel, Labor Party, Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Politics, Politics

Investigating What Went Wrong

Now that the war is over, all the Israeli media is talking about is the need for an investigation into what went wrong. The two main options are a commission led by a supreme court justice or a parliamentary commission. Both have their flaws. The former focuses on legal matters and the latter would just become a stage for politicians to make themselves heard.

Journalist and historian Tom Segev of Haaretz says there should be a committee of historians who will investigate the matter. He says it is first and foremost a social and cultural issue more than a military issue. I agree with him, but I don't think historians are enough. This commission needs to have political scientists, sociologists, psychologists and experts from other relevant social sciences, as well as military experts.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East

Conflict Resolution

Israel needs its leaders to have conflict resolution advisors, not just military advisors. They need someone who can relate to the other side and who will understand the consequences of actions not militarily, but on the human level. This way, not only will leaders enter less battles, but also when there is a war, our leaders will speak and act in ways that will open up opportunities for negotiations. We should not insult Arab leaders, not even the ones we are trying to kill, and must minimize the amount of hatred our actions instill in Arab populations.

Here's an article from today's Haaretz on this subject. I agree with the central premise but not with all parts of the op-ed.

Thinking in terms of the other side By Yitzhak Laor The Israel Defense Forces is not only the biggest local player in the economy and the economy of images, but it also has learned over the years how to become the Israeli "ego ideal." Thus, the army is not only "just like us," like the neighbor across the way, whose intentions are good and who takes his dog out once a day; it is also our best, what we would like to be if we were really good. Not only is it ready to sacrifice its life; it thinks rationally, intellectually, logically, efficiently, and most of all, it has the rare ability to predict the future. In fact, if not for the army, we wouldn't be what we are. It cannot be that it is waging war for no reason and bombing villages in which people and babies are hiding in basements, and destroying the economy of the north and perhaps the whole economy, just because its honor has been tarnished. After all, it is our very self, flesh of our flesh. And we would not endanger our lives for the sake of extraneous interests. When this image goes awry, we move on, as if there is no difference, to the "ordinary soldier." He too is part of the "ego ideal." Injured, sweating, rescuing his comrade from the battlefield, the eternal David fighting the Shiite Goliath. Thus the army takes upon itself - with the assistance of the media (the behavior of most of whom raises the suspicion that they could also serve a totalitarian regime) - the roles of both hero and victim. Anyone listening closely to the broadcasts can discern the grammar immediately: only "we, "us" and "ours." The enemy has no faces or names, except of course for Nasrallah. Thus, we are the victims and we are the heroes. That is the meaning of unilateralism, Israel's battlefield password for many years. Never mind what's happening around us, we have the power: we will fence; we will close; we will block; we will bomb. Otherwise we have no chance. During wartime this national egotism, beyond its moral implications, becomes part of the process of the spectacular suicide of the State of Israel. That is the great trap of military thinking, the Israelis' only way of thought regarding the conflict: not only belief in the need to be superior, right or wrong, able or not able, but especially the inability to think in terms of the other side, not as an object translated and interpreted by the Intelligence Corps, but as human beings. In the army the other side is understood in terms of "war games" (in the day-to-day racist jargon, it sounds like this: "This is the Middle East, here they understand only force"). But what, in the end, does the military logic say? We are an army, they are the enemy. They want to kill us; meaning, we must kill them. An army cannot think otherwise. It exists to think of the enemy as to be killed. Therefore, given the chance, it will fulfill its own prophecy. Casualties on the home front or the battlefield only "affirm the expectations," the intelligence predictions. The rain of Katyushas on the north following the bombing of Lebanon, after the kidnapping? We told you so, the military thinking says. They are dangerous. Good thing we went to this war; better late than never. From this perspective, military thinking is Israel's real trap. Everything moves within it in a circle. There is no way out, except in a fantasy of total destruction and killing all around. "After all, they want to annihilate us." The tragedy of Israeli society is that it has no other organized way of thinking. The impotence comes to the fore in the lack of ability to answer the question posed to opponents of the war: "So what do you propose?" That question implies another: "What do you propose now that the war has started?" There is of course only one answer: Stop immediately. Any other answer allows the army to continue using its blank check. Any other answer means "right now there is an enemy and a response must be dictated to him from a position of superiority. Later on, we'll see." Later on never comes, because when everything is all right, everything is, after all, all right. While our lives - and not only the lives of the Lebanese - are being destroyed, we must not speak because there are funerals, or bombings, and worst of all, heaven forbid, Nasrallah will have a propaganda achievement. And that would really be suicide. And as for power of deterrence: What kind of deterrent power will Israel have left after this war, even if it wipes Lebanon out? As long as the army is not suspected of being an interested party, one of many in the region and the country, as long as it is not suspected of preferring the military option because that is its purpose, as long as the peace movement is ad hoc and not an opposition to the Israeli way of life and thinking, we have no chance of extricating ourselves from the vicious cycle of bloodshed into which we bring forth our children.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, Conflict Resolution

Kidnapper Nabbed

Hooray!

The Israeli army has arrested one of the Hizbullah operatives who was involved in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12. If it doesn't help in finding the soldiers, it at least will help Israeli morale.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East

Autism Speaks Petition

I signed this a while back: Autism Speaks: Don't Speak For Me

Tags: Autism

Unpatriotic Thoughts

This war has made me reconsider my future here in Israel. I always thought I would spend most of my life in Israel. I'd perhaps live a few years in the States, and later return to my place of birth. But now I'm pissed at my government. It does not seem to be able to protect its citizens. Soon enough the Hizbullah missiles will reach my area too, and I am not willing to live in fear.

I am still an avid Zionist, but I am also avid in my belief that a country exists for its citizens and not the citizens for their country. If Israel will not be able to protect my family and myself, I will not stay here. Do I want to live in a shelter for unending days? Do I want to live in a country where at some point, I will have to send my children off to the army?

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not packing my bags yet. I still believe we can win this war (or at least not lose it) and achieve some kind of peace with our neighbors. But in a way, the State of Israel is on probation.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, Zionism

Don't Give Shabaa to Hizbullah

The Shabaa Farms are of no value to Israel. No strategic value. No sentimental value. Nothing. Despite this, we must not hand this territory over to Lebanon. Not yet, anyway. Doing so would allow Hizbullah to claim victory - their fifth defeat of Israel (the other four being kicking Israel out of Southern Lebanon, the kidnapping of 3 soldiers in October 2000, the deal to return their dead bodies and an Israeli criminal to Israel, and the kidnapping on July 12).

After a period of calm, we should start direct negotiations with Lebanon to hand over the Farms. I don't care that Syria claims they are their own. We should get rid of Hizbullah's last excuse for existing, and let Syria and Lebanon argue about the area amongst themselves.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East

The Draft Resolution

The new American-French draft ceasefire resolution is full of holes, but it's still worth taking into consideration. I doubt Hizbullah will accept it. UNIFIL, which will stick around till a new international force arrives in the probably very distant future, isn't going to be any more effective or useful than it has been. Eventually hostilities will re-ignite.

The biggest question is whether an international force will be able to disarm Hizbullah, or at least prevent it from receiving new arms from Syria and Iran. If the ceasefire will only allow the re-arming of this terrorist organization then it will be a grave mistake for both Israel and Lebanon.

UNITED NATIONS - Following is the text of a draft UN resolution on the Middle East conflict negotiated by the United States and France and presented to the full 15-nation Security Council Saturday. The Security Council PP1. Recalling all its previous resolutions on Lebanon, in particular resolutions 425 (1978), 426 (1978), 520 (1982), 1559 (2004), 1655 (2006) and 1680 (2006), as well as the statements of its President on the situation in Lebanon, in particular the statements of 18 June 2000(S/PRST/2000/21), of 19 October 2004 (S/PRST/2004/36), of 4 May 2005 (S/PRST/2005/17) of 23 January 2006 (S/PRST/2006/3) and of 30 July 2006(S/PRST/2006/35), Advertisement PP2. Expressing its utmost concern at the continuing escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hezbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006, which has already caused hundreds of deaths and injuries on both sides, extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, PP3. Emphasizing the need for an end of violence, but at the same time emphasizing the need to address urgently the causes that have given rise to the current crisis, including by the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers, PP4: Mindful of the sensitivity of the issue of prisoners and encouraging the efforts aimed at settling the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel, OP1. Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations; OP2. Reiterates its strong support for full respect for the Blue Line OP3. Also reiterates its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized borders, as contemplated by the Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement of 23 March 1949; OP4. Calls on the international community to take immediate steps to extend its financial and humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people, including through facilitating the safe return of displaced persons and, under the authority of the Government of Lebanon, reopening airports and harbours for verifiably and purely civilian purposes, and calls on it also to consider further assistance in the future to contribute to the reconstruction and development of Lebanon; OP5. Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty and authority; OP6. Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements:- strict respect by all parties for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Israel and Lebanon;- full respect for the Blue Line by both parties;- delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including in the Shebaa farms area;- security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Lebanese armed and security forces and of UN mandated international forces deployed in this area;- full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006) that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state;- deployment of an international force in Lebanon, consistent with paragraph 10 below;- establishment of an international embargo on the sale or supply of arms and related material to Lebanon except as authorized by its government;- elimination of foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government;- provision to the United Nations of remaining maps of land mines in Lebanon in Israel's possession; OP7: Invites the Secretary General to support efforts to secure agreements in principle from the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel to the principles and elements for a long-term solution as set forth in paragraph 6 above; OP8: Requests the Secretary General to develop, in liaison with key international actors and the concerned parties, proposals to implement the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), including disarmament, and for delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including by dealing with the Shebaa farms, and to present those proposals to the Security Council within thirty days; OP9. Calls on all parties to cooperate during this period with the Security Council and to refrain from any action contrary to paragraph 1 above that might adversely affect the search for a long-term solution, humanitarian access to civilian populations, or the safe return of displaced persons, and requests the Secretary General to keep the Council informed in this regard; OP10. Expresses its intention, upon confirmation to the Security Council that the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel have agreed in principle to the principles and elements for a long-term solution as set forth in paragraph 6 above, and subject to their approval, to authorize in a further resolution under Chapter VII of the Charter the deployment of a UN mandated international force to support the Lebanese armed forces and government in providing a secure environment and contribute to the implementation of a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution; OP11. Requests UNIFIL, upon cessation of hostilities, to monitor its implementation and to extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the safe return of displaced persons; OP12. Calls upon the Government of Lebanon to ensure arms or related materiel are not imported into Lebanon without its consent and requests UNIFIL, conditions permitting, to assist the Government of Lebanon at its request; OP13. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council within one week on the implementation of this resolution and to provide any relevant information in light of the Council's intention to adopt, consistent with paragraph 10 above, a further resolution; OP14. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, United Nations

Where is Lebanon's Government?

The Israeli government has repeatedly said that our war is not with Lebanon, only with Hizbullah. At first, I thought this was correct and that it was important to emphasize that. But maybe I was wrong.

This is a weird war we are fighting. We are inside Lebanon, but its government is just a bystander. It makes all kinds of statements, but takes no real action. In that respect, it is exactly the same as the UN, France, Italy or any other outside party. As retired Major General Giora Island, former head of Israel's National Security Council, said today: the world should make Lebanon take responsibility for what's going on. It must decide: who is the sovereign - the Lebanese government or Hizbullah? If the government decides that it is the sovereign, it must take immediate action against Hizbullah - and if it can't, it must ask for assistance. If it recognizes its own lack of power and the sovereignty of Hizbullah, than the war is an all-out war between the two countries.

The question of sovereignty must be made clear so it will be known who is accountable on each side.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East

The Civilian Death Toll

Six Israeli civilians have died today as a result of Hizbullah rocket attacks aimed to kill innocent civilians.. This follows the death yesterday of a man who was just riding his bicycle with his dog in a Kibbutz. So far, 25 Israeli civilians have died. Hizbullah is very sorry about that - 25 isn't enough for them.

The Lebanese government has said that so far 900 civilians have died in Lebanon. That is a startling, tragic number. While I'm sure we aren't targeting civilians, there is something horribly wrong with the way we are conducting the war. Some of the Lebanese civilians have been killed because Hizbullah operates from residential areas, but that cannot be the only explanation for the high toll. Our military must be much more careful than it is.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East