UNIFIL: WE SUCK. WE TOTALLY, TOTALLY SUCK

When UNIFIL members are condescendingly deigning to address the Israeli public, they're full of patronizing bluster:

Here's the UNIFIL field commander talking about how well UNIFIL is doing its job... "In my area of operations there is no open hostile activity and we also do not see a rearmament happening," he said. "We are physically patrolling every corner of southern Lebanon.

But when they can't even stop what seems to be a fly by night group of thugs from bombing Israeli cities - well, they're... still full of patronizing bluster, but this time it's in the service of explaining how hard their job is:

Khaled Aref, a senior official with the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement in the southern Lebanon refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, said he had no knowledge of the group. He said Palestinians had agreed not to use south Lebanon to attack Israel because "we don't want to put more pressure on Lebanon."... The UNIFIL officer rejected criticism by the IDF that the peacekeeping force should have prevented the attack, claiming that even "100,000 peacekeepers were not capable of preventing a couple of people from firing a crude rocket."

No? What happened to physically patrolling every corner of south Lebanon? They sure sounded awful confident a couple weeks ago. And for that matter - if they can't stop people from bombing Israel, then what exactly are they doing? Potential answers: (1) providing tens of thousands of human shields for Hezbollah (2) carelessly letting slip the occassional UN license plate, which Hezbollah then uses to lure in and kidnap Israeli soldiers.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

PREDICTION: TO DISTRACT THE UN AND USA, IRAN WILL INSTIGATE ANOTHER ISRAELI-HIZB'ALLAH WAR

I think these two news items from the ME are QUITE related:

Israel: Lebanon Cease-Fire in Jeopardy -

Israel's defense minister told the head of the United Nations on Saturday that the U.N.-brokered cease-fire in southern Lebanon is endangered by Hezbollah militants, who continue to hold two captured Israeli soldiers and receive arms shipments from Syria.

U.N. Unanimously Approves Iran Sanctions -

The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to impose new sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium - a move intended to show Tehran that defiance will leave it increasingly isolated.

The moderately tougher sanctions include banning Iranian arms exports, and freezing the assets of 28 people and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

About a third of those are linked to the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.

The United States is ``very pleased by the strength of this resolution'' after two years of diplomacy, said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department.

As we crank up pressure on Tehran, they will crank it up on the Lebanon-Israeli border and in Baghdad. Fasten your seat belts...

The fact is there cannot be peace between Israel and Lebanon and Syria - and Hamas - until we neutralize Iran.

Whether we neuter them militarily or cause them so much economic trouble the evil mullah regime collapses matters not. It only matters that we topple the tyrants of Tehran BEFORE they get nukes.

AND BEFORE THE DEMS TAKE THE WHITE HOUSE!

US STATE DEPARTMENT JUSTIFIES FUNDING HAMAS'S UNIVERSITY BY SAYING... IT HAS NO CONNECTION TO TERRORISM

As part of its ongoing effort to explain how US funds got into Hamas coffers, the US State Department has rolled out what is maybe the worst argument ever:

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said US officials concluded after a review that neither institution - the Islamic University of Gaza and al-Quds University - engages in terrorist activities.

The Islamic University of Gaza was founded by Hamas spiritual leader Yassin in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords, in order to create a base for terrorist attacks on Egyptian pro-peace forces and Israelis (see also Levitt at NRO). It has counted among its faculty such arch-terrorists as Abdul Rantissi, the head of Hamas until Israel put a stop to him.

But McCormack insists it was OK to pour US funds into there because... it has no connections to terrorists. It's the intellectual and sometimes military stronghold of Hamas - but sending students there and funding it in no way benefits Hamas. That's the official position of the United States State Department.

Take some time to mull that over.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

Relipaundit adds: Good post Omri, and welcome aboard! DOS has long been a pro-Arabist institution, undermining Israel whenever it can. Congressman Ackerman promises to investigate, and make sure US taxpayers funds are NOT reaching terrorists or heir supporters.