Hezbollah and the U.N. - Big Big Forums

Jolie Rouge · 07-26-2006, 05:24 PM

Hezbollah and the U.N.
By Michelle Malkin · July 26, 2006 02:38 PM
http://michellemalkin.com/

A picture worth a thousand words:

The U.N. flag and the Hezbollah flag fly side by side.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/i...hezlove002.jpg

Jed Babbin explains: http://www.opinionjournal.com/federa.../?id=110008672

"The U.N.'s years-long record on the Israel-Lebanon border makes mockery of the term "peacekeeping." On page 155 of my book, "Inside the Asylum," is a picture of a U.N. outpost on that border. The U.N. flag and the Hezbollah flag fly side by side. Observers told me the U.N. and Hezbollah personnel share water and telephones, and that the U.N. presence serves as a shield against Israeli strikes against the terrorists."

Kate at Small Dead Animals http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/004340.html

Since 1978, the UN has had UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) set up. And since 1978, they have not lifted a single finger to stop rocket attacks towards Israel.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger to stop Hizbollah from building a full army under their noses.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger when Hizbollah built military posts right next to UNIFIL posts.

***

Meanwhile, Charles Johnson spots something in today's UNIFIL press release about Hezbollah's firing positions that you ought to know about, "but aren’t hearing about on the nightly news." http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...Positions&only

Quote:

Another UN position of the Ghanaian battalion in the area of Marwahin in the western sector was also directly hit by one mortar round from the Hezbollah side last night. The round did not explode, and there were no casualties or material damage. Another 5 incidents of firing close to UN positions from the Israeli side were reported yesterday. It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Alma ash Shab, Tibnin, Bra****, and At Tiri. All UNIFIL positions remain occupied and maintained by the troops.

***

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters recaps Hezbollah's recent track record and notes: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/...ves/007625.php

Quote:

One might ask what the UNIFIL forces did during this time. Apparently, not a lot. They didn't act as a deterrent, nor did they do much to stop it. That might come up for discussion at the UN Security Council very soon, because UNIFIL's mandate expires next Monday:

Quote:

According to Security Council resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978) of 19 March 1978, UNIFIL was established to:
* Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon;
* Restore international peace and security;
* Assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area.

Most recently the mandate of UNIFIL was extended until 31 July 2006 by Security Council resolution 1655 (2006) of 31 January 2006.

I doubt seriously that anyone will support its extension, given the complete failure of this mission to provide any sort of protection against terrorism in the region.

Jolie Rouge · 07-26-2006, 05:27 PM

Hezbollah Uses Mass-Kill Rockets on Isreal
Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, July 25, 2006

HAIFA, Israel -- The rockets Hezbollah is raining down on Haifa and much of northern Israel are distinctly different from the Soviet-built katyushas of earlier wars, Israeli officials say.

Instead of standard military fragmentation warheads – deadly enough – Hezbollah's rockets are packed with thousands of tiny ball-bearings, which burst out from the warhead in every direction like so many bullets. "This kind of rocket gives no one a chance," Haifa police chief, Commander Nir Meriash, told NewsMax today.

Haifa is Israel's third-largest city, and since the rocket attacks began on July 12, nearly half its roughly 270,000 population has fled for safety to Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel.

More than 1,200 rockets have hit northern Israel over the past thirteen days, killing 17 civilians and wounding another 410, according to the Israeli police. Another 609 people have been treated for shock and minor injuries and released, said regional police commander, Maj. Gen. Ronen Dan.

At least 60 of the Hezbollah rockets have slammed into Haifa over the past two weeks. Most of them have been 220 mm Katyusha-type rockets, made in Syria. Each rocket carries 40,000 deadly ball bearings, packed into a warhead with 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of high explosives.

In addition, around a half-dozen of the larger FAJR-3 rockets have hit the Haifa area, including a deadly strike on July 16 that killed eight railway workers in a train maintenance depot.

The FAJR rockets, made in Iran, carry a 110 pound warhead. But what made the July 16 strike so deadly were the tiny ball bearings packed inside. "Haifa has never been attacked like this," Meriash said. "These attacks are meant to kill civilians."

Even as Haifa police tried to attend to the wounded and clear the scene of any unexploded ordnance, three more rockets struck elsewhere in the city.

Although the rockets are relatively small, they have smashed through the tile roofs and the soft cinderblock walls of apartment houses and other dwellings, killing and wounding people on several floors.

When they explode out in the open, anyone within a fifty meter radius will be seriously wounded. "I found a woman lying in the street with one of her legs beside her, detached from her body," Meriash said. That attack occurred last Friday, July 21.

In attacks here just yesterday, one man was killed while driving to work. Another was struck by the deadly ball-bearings while running to reach a shelter after the air raid siren went off. He also died.

Most of these rockets are highly inaccurate, wandering off their aim point by anywhere from two to seven percent over distances up to 75 kilometers (45 miles). That can mean missing their target by half a mile or more.

But Haifa is an enormous target-rich environment, with a sprawling city center that climbs up a mountain directly across from Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. Vast industrial areas in low-lying areas along the port contain sprawling chemical plants and a refinery. The police have taken special measures to protect those sites, they said.

North of here, closer to the Lebanese border, Hezbollah is using extended-range katyushas known as "Raed" rockets. These also are packed with the deadly ball bearings, and have killed and maimed civilians in dozens of Israeli towns and agricultural settlements along the Mediterranean and in the Galilee.

The Chinese-made Raed rockets were supplied to Hezbollah by Iran. "You won't see this kind of weapon in the arsenal of any civilized country," the deputy head of the police bomb disposal unit told Newsmax. "Certainly not with Israel or the United States."

British-born Michael Cardash said his bomb disposal teams had physically handled debris from 444 of those attacks, but has rarely been called upon to disable live munitions. "These weapons were all made in factories. So they work," he said.

His teams have gathered pieces of the different rockets and put them on display at police headquarters, near the port of Haifa.

They include:

122mm Grad rockets. These are the classic, Soviet-built katyusha rockets used in 1982 by the PLO against Israel. They carry a standard fragmentation warhead, with 6.33 kilograms of high explosives. Range: 20.4 km range.

122mm improved rockets, also known as "Raed." These Chinese-built rockets carry the same 6.33 kg explosive charge, but are packed with hundreds of ball bearings. Range: 30-35 km.

220 mm rockets, made in Syria. These are the rockets that have been used mostly against Haifa. A large, 40 kilogram explosive charge shoots out an estimated 40,000 tiny ball bearings. Range: 65-70 km range.

240 mm rocket, Katyusha family. 10.5 km range. 18 kg HE.

FAJR 3. This is an Iranian-made 240mm rocket that carries a large, 50 kg (110 pound) warhead, packed with tens of thousands of ball bearings. Range: 43 km range.

Hezbollah is also known to have two longer-range weapons, which they have yet to use successfully: the Iranian-made FAJR 5, a 75-km range rocket carrying a 90 kilogram warhead; and the Zelzal-1 missile, which can reach targets over 200 kilometers away with a 400 kilogram warhead – several times larger than the SCUD missiles Saddam Hussein launched against Israel in 1991.

The regional police commander, Maj. Gen. Dan, confirmed reports that Israel has deployed Patriot missiles in northern Israel, but said they were not effective against the rockets now being fired against the city. "We have deployed these missiles for a more serious type of war than we have at the moment," he said.

Israeli military sources said he was referring to the Zelzal missiles, which Hezbollah has not fired since Israeli jets struck a Zelzal launcher last week.

The Israeli air strike made the missile misfire and hit Beirut. The explosion was so big that Hezbollah initially claimed it had downed an Israeli fighter jet.

Israeli intelligence sources have said that several Iranian military advisors have been killed in the recent fighting alongside Hezbollah missile units, but their bodies have been sent to Syria in civilian convoys and repatriated to Iran.

Israeli military intelligence believes Hezbollah will run out of missiles and rockets to fire at Israel within a month, unless it gets resupplied through Syria. "That is why we have cut all the roads from Syria to Lebanon," a senior Israeli military official, Brig. Gen. Ido Nekushan, said here today.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2...4609.shtml?s=lh

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 02:00 AM

So, UN chief Kofi Annan is accusing Israel of deliberately targeting the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) observer post. The NY Post editorial page rightly excoriates Annan. You'll hear Annan's hysterical charges embraced and echoed in the MSM throughout the day. http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/ed...editorial_.htm

KOFI BLAMES THE VICTIM

July 26, 2006 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in high dudgeon last night after at least three U.N. observers in Lebanon were killed by what he said was "apparently deliberate targeting" by the Israelis.

Israel expressed regret, but denied deliberately firing on U.N. forces.

But wait a minute.

Who started this fighting? And which side is defending itself from unprovoked aggression?

In fact, Hezbollah's No. 2 in Lebanon made a telling admission earlier in the day: The terrorist group, he said, never thought Israel would react as it has to the kidnapping of its soldiers and the shelling of its northern cities.

"The truth is - let me say this clearly - we didn't even expect [this] response . . . that [Israel] would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's secretariat.

Indeed, Komati told The Associated Press, Hezbollah's leaders expected only "the usual, limited response" - i.e., some small commando raids against Hezbollah strongholds, followed by negotiations through a European mediator to effect release of the terrorists' hostages.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had a different message in mind: Not this time. And never again.

The Israeli onslaught in Lebanon came about from the firm conviction that "the usual, limited response" was nothing more than a prescription for more terror, more kidnappings and more Katyushas fired across the border.

With its unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, Israel showed a clear willingness to move toward a genuine, lasting peace. Yet Hezbollah - and its sponsors, Iran and Syria - instead interpreted it as weakness, to be exploited. Which is just what Hezbollah tried to do.

But Israel - with the backing of the Bush administration - is doing more than trying to free its soldiers, still held hostage in Lebanon. It's out to eliminate Hezbollah as a threat.

So far, it seems to be succeeding: Israel is clearing an area of about 15 square miles, has destroyed a significant portion of Hezbollah's rocket-launching infrastructure and yesterday killed one of the group's senior commanders.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, wrapped up her diplomatic activity in the region yesterday, making clear yet again that an immediate cease-fire, as demanded by Arab and some European states, would not be sustainable.

And even as the outlines of a political deal began to take shape, she also made clear that America would not press Israel to halt its drive against Hezbollah until all legitimate sides had signed onto an agreement that is both "urgent and enduring" and "can deal with the causes of extremism that began this crisis."

The plan she outlined to Lebanese and Israeli leaders would install an international force, under either NATO or U.N., of 10,000 Egyptian and Turkish troops, supplemented by up to 30,000 soldiers, to enable Lebanon's government to take control of its south.

That's hardly an ideal solution, of course, especially if it involves the U.N.

But the fact remains that the terrorists and their sponsors in Damascus and Tehran have been sent a powerful message: Israel will no longer serve as a punching bag for terror.

If Annan doesn't get it quite yet, he will in due time.

Richard Fernandez at The Belmont Club has the must-read post of the day, with analysis you won't find from the pro-Hezbollah press. Fernandez examines the press releases of the last several days issued by UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. His conclusion: http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/...-carnival.html

Quote:

[T]he UNIFIL is running a kind of ambulance service on the Lebanese side of the border. That is not its official mission; it has failed in its official mission but its men are obviously performing with considerable perseverance and bravery. UNIFIL are able to run convoys in an area where the Hezbollah are shifting squads around while the IDF doing its best to kill the Hezbollah.

Yet until July 26 the UNIFIL had not suffered any fatalities from IDF fire. Their sole serious injury to that date had actually been caused by the Hezbollah, and the injured UN trooper was evacuated by the IDF to an Israeli hospital.

The IDF has for its part avoided hitting UNIFIL or their civilian convoys despite its widely publicized use of artillery and air. Far from being random, the IDF is apparently able to create safe corridors in active battle zones through which UNIFIL can pass until the recent incident in Kiyam. There are probably very few military organizations in the world which can accomplish this. Nevertheless, the danger of friendly fire naturally remains.The two IDF personnel probably killed and five wounded from friendly fire is proof of that...

...No one -- yet -- has accused Israel of deliberately firing upon itself. Considering the fact that UNIFIL peacekeeping mission was a dead-letter it should naturally be asked why Kofi Annan, as their ultimate commander has seen fit to keep them in a position of danger where their only chance of safety actually depends on accurate targeting by the IDF. Their positions are manifestly so close to the Hezbollah; their convoys so at risk at being confused with mobile Hezbollah forces that only by the grace of God and the accuracy of the IDF have fatalities been avoided until now. They were willing to take the risk. Annan was willing to make the hay. You be the judge of Kofi Annan's competence both in the care of his men and with respect to the accusation he has made against the IDF.

Bryan Preston: http://hotair.com/archives/the-blog/...mourning-kofi/

Quote:

Annan is playing a moral equivalence game that’s all too typical of the transnational progressive set these days. In this line of thinking, national defense is suspect even when it’s mounted against non-state actors like Hezbollah, a terrorist group that is attempting to seize control of Lebanon even as it mounts what can best be described as a war of extermination against Israel, a sovereign nation recognized by the UN. The UN was founded to keep peace and promote democracy, but by elevating the Hezbollahs of the world onto the same moral plane as its own member states, the UN ends up fostering conflict and war. Under Annan’s corrupt and incompetent watch, the UN has become even more a part of the world’s problems than it already was.

Ed Lasky: http://americanthinker.com/comments....mments_id=5652

Quote:

Annan seems more exercised by this accident than the truly deliberate kidnapping and killing of Israeli soldiers and the indiscriminate mass rocket attacks Israel is being forced to endure because the UN was pusillanimous in refusing to enforce its resolutions regarding terror forces in Southern Lebanon.

Annan, as the world’s chief diplomat, is charged with the responsibility of good judgment and temperate, well-considered remarks. He seems to have a penchant for violating this obligation when it comes to issues involving Israel. He also was quick to claim a few weeks ago that Israeli shelling caused the deaths of Palestinians on a Gaza beach.

He made that claim immediately after the event. Subsequent events, of course, proved him wrong. Annan does not seem capable of learning from his own mistakes. After all, his own failures led to the Rwandan genocide but that did not motivate him to act to stop the later genocide in Yugoslavia or the current one in Sudan or the anticipated one in the state of Israel.

Pajamas Media's news and blog round-up is here. http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/07/mideast_war_xliv.php

Best quip on misplaced media priorities in the Middle East comes from FNC boss Roger Ailes, speaking to a confab of hostile media critics, via Glenn Garvin at The Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...g/15122821.htm

Quote:

Other cable news networks seem less interested in reporting the complicated politics of the crisis in Lebanon than in trying to embarrass the U.S. government, Ailes said. ''One of my competitors spent three days on Cyprus trying to find somebody who didn't like the government because the plane was four hours late and they didn't get a candy bar in line,'' he said, jabbing at a lengthy report by CNN's Soledad O'Brien on the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Beirut. [b]``I thought that was not where the story was.''[/b[

tngirl · 07-27-2006, 07:29 AM

The UN is the devil. Oh, I learned something new yesterday. Hezbollah is responsible for the bombing of the barracks in Beirut that killed over 200 of our marines back in 1983. I had not even heard of Hezbollah until this with Israel and find it amazing the things that I am now learning.

And the one about them being suprised that Israel hit back so hard. You can only poke at a dog for so long before they bite you.

nightrider127 · 07-27-2006, 12:58 PM

You know, (this is just my opinion) I don't understand why we are still a member of the UN. It seems to me that they are always against us.

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Oh, I learned something new yesterday. Hezbollah is responsible for the bombing of the barracks in Beirut that killed over 200 of our marines back in 1983. I had not even heard of Hezbollah until this with Israel and find it amazing the things that I am now learning.

Ynetnews reports that the UN doesn't have enough evidence that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,...3278318,00.html

Quote:

No sufficient data to include Hizbullah in terror organizations' list

The United Nations High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Javier Solana said during a press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni that the UN has no sufficient data to determine whether the Hizbullah can be included in the list of terror organizations. He also added that the issue at hand is legal, not ethical.

Because, you know, this isn't enough:
Major Hezbollah Acts of Terrorism and Violence

* Bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia killing 19 U.S. servicemen (1996)

* Bombing of Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires killing 96 (1994)

* Bombing of Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killing 29 (1992)

* Abduction, torture and death of CIA Station Chief in Lebanon (1985)

* Hijacking of TWA Flight 847 killing one U.S. Navy diver (1985)

* Bombing outside U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut killing 24 (1984)

* Car bombing of U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut killing 241 U.S. servicemen (1983)

*Car bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut killing 63 people, including 17 Americans (1983)

* Car bombing of French military barracks in Beirut killing 58 French paratroopers (1983)

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 05:03 PM

It's U.N. man! Circa 1972:

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/i...terrortoon.jpg

Thanks to reader Giles Babb for sending me this decades-old Oliphant cartoon he clipped from the December 1, 1972, issue of Stars and Stripes. http://www.geocities.com/eingedi.geo/terrorism.html

Babb writes: "You could just as easily run the cartoon in tomorrow's paper, and no one would know that it had run nearly 34 years earlier."

***

Debbie Schlussel has more U.N./terror pictures worth a thousand words. http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archi...s_worth_1.html

Fausta remembers another instance of U.N./terror coziness.
http://faustasblog.com/2006/07/dan-s...nwhile-at.html

Anti-Mullah has more. http://noiri.blogspot.com/2006/07/un...hezbollah.html

Michelle Malkin wrote on the ambulances-for-terrorists scandal in June 2004.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/mic...errorists.php3

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 05:08 PM

One more image, kind of apropos of this report on Hezbollah refusing to allow civilians to leave their village and using mosques in their ambush on IDF soldiers at Bint Jbeil Wednesday:

http://michellemalkin.com/archievs/i...hezlove003.jpg

Hizbullah Used Civilians, Mosques in Attack on IDF
10:19 Jul 27, '06 / 2 Av 5766
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Hizbullah refused to allow civilians to leave their village and used mosques in their ambush on IDF soldiers at Bint Jbeil Wednesday. Names of the nine fallen soldiers were released. Morale is high.

Hizbullah stored ammunition and weapons in mosques, knowing that the IDF does not attack religious sites. Civilians were not allowed to leave so that Hizbullah could use them as cover. IDF officers said they ordered pilots not to strafe Bint Jbeil in order to spare civilian casualties.

A United Nations peace keeping officer from Canada told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that Hizbullah used the same tactic to draw fire on the UNIFIL post which resulted in the death of four U.N. observers. "This is their favorite trick," he said. "They use the U.N. as shields."

Morale of the Golani soldiers was extremely high after the bitter battle, the fiercest in many years. One of the soldiers injured in Bint Jbeil said from his hospital bed Wednesday night, "I want to go back and fight with my comrades. Morale is totally high. [The battle] was complex, and there is fear, but we have to take the fear and turn it around."

IDF officers are trying to cool down the soldiers' enthusiasm to take over Bint Jbeil. The troops marked the Hizbullah terrorists with an "x." "Tomorrow will see their death," they said. "Tomorrow they will pay the price."

The names of the fallen soldiers who fell at Bint Jbeil are:
Corporal Ohad Kleisner, 20, of Beit Horon
Lt. Alex Shwartzman, 24, of Acre (Akko)
Corporal Shimon Adega, 21, of Kiryat Gat
Sgt. Shimon Dahan, 20, of Ashdod
Corporal Asaf Namar, 27, of Kiryat Yam
Lt.-Col. Ro'i Klein, 31, of the Samarian community of Eli,
Lt. Amichai Merchavia, 24, also of Eli
Sgt. Idan Cohen, 21, of Jaffa.

Lt. Yiftah Shrier, 21, of Haifa, was killed in a separate incident when Hizbullah terrorists fired an anti-tank missile between Bint Jbeil and Marun A-Ras late Wednesday.

Three soldiers still are in serious condition, and 19 suffered light-to-moderate injuries in the ambush battle, which occurred around 5 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT) when dozens of Hizbullah terrorist guerilla fighters ambushed their hilltop position.

The IDF had maintained that the army was in control of the village, which is considered the capital of Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah has been building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in the six years since the IDF withdrew from the area, which they know thoroughly. The Hizbullah terrorist guerillas were well-equipped with Iranian- and Syrian-made rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank and mortar shells, Lau missiles and rifles.

Several troops were injured while trying to rescue others, in an evacuation that took more than six hours. Helicopter rescue pilots endured enemy fire, and several soldiers carried stretchers more than one mile.

Northern Command Head Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said that despite the heavy loss of soldiers, the army recovered valuable intelligence information, and that large amounts of communication equipment, weapons and ammunition also were taken by the IDF. "The soldiers displayed sangfroid, bravery and professionalism after they came under fire," he said. "We estimate that at least 15 Hizbullah guerrillas were killed in the village. There are also assessments that put the number of casualties on the Lebanese side at 40 to 50 dead fighters," he added.

Published: 06:51 July 27, 2006

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108477

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 05:12 PM

The NY Sun reports this morning that Kofi Annan's smear against Israel is threatening to "unravel:"

http://www.nysun.com/article/36860

Quote:

An apparent discrepancy in the portrayal of events surrounding the deaths of four unarmed U.N. observers in Lebanon threatens to unravel Secretary-General Annan's initial accusation that Israel "deliberately" targeted the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A Canadian U.N. observer, one of four killed at a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam on Tuesday, sent an e-mail to his former commander, a Canadian retired major-general, Lewis MacKenzie, in which he wrote that Hezbollah fighters were "all over" the U.N. position, Mr. MacKenzie said. Hezbollah troops, not the United Nations, were Israel's target, the deceased observer wrote.

Jolie Rouge · 07-27-2006, 05:15 PM

Gene at Harry's Place links to this story, which features the photo of the side-by-side U.N. and Hezbollah flags at the UNIFIL outpost that you won't see printed on the front page of the NYtimes. ( seen above ) http://www.cjnews.com/pastIssues/02/aug15-02/main.asp

The story reports:

Quote:

Beyond experiencing the uncertainty felt by ordinary Israelis, [Roy ]Rempel found the trip illuminating in a broader, strategic sense. During a visit to Israel's northern frontier, a trip that only took a few hours, he witnessed for himself the pre-1967 borders and "the security dilemma Israel faces up there." Hills in Lebanon overlook the northern town of Metulla and "you get a sense of how vulnerable those communities are. Hezbollah positions look down on a child's wading pool at [Metulla's] Canada Centre," he noted.

[Tanis] Gilbert, who was quite familiar with the Israeli scene because of her work in [Montreal Liberal MP Irwin] Cotler's office, said she was scared during the visit to northern Israel, when the group toured an Israeli military outpost and came "face-to-face with Hezbollah."

The Shiite terrorist group has erected a billboard facing Israel on which it placed enlarged photos showing mutilated Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon. "Hezbollah taunts the soldiers on a daily basis," she said. "The fact they [Israeli soldiers] see this every day and managed to stay restrained was amazing to me," Gilbert said. "The resilience of the Israeli people was amazing to me, that they go with normal lives even though things are blowing up around them. They have amazing resilience," she said.