An editorial in today’s business section of Haaretz, Israel’s most insightful newspaper, gives voice to opinions that are all but missing from the American media. Nimrod Halpern writes:
The sweeping assault on transport, energy and communications infrastructure in Lebanon have caused half a billion dollars’ worth of damage, according to initial estimates. The Air Force bomb raids, which kill dozens of Lebanese and mostly civilians at that every day, have also destroyed Lebanon’s tourism season, which provides some 15% of that nation’s gross domestic product. Israel’s massive show of force against Lebanon – which has been slowly recovering from the two decades of civil war and foreign occupation that halved its domestic product – is as shortsighted as it is cruel. Shattering the infrastructure of battle-torn Lebanon, which is groaning under an external debt of $26 billion (170% of its GDP), may satisfy the militaristic Israeli urge to “show them what’s what”, but it entirely lacks vision and economic sense.
