A photograph of an Iranian missile test used by media outlets all over the world Wednesday was apparently altered to add a missile that wasn’t actually there. This close look by The New York Times shows how a fourth missile was added to the photograph.

Before

After

The real missiles reportedly have a range to reach Israel.

Two years after the Second Lebanon War, Israel is suddenly waking up and pressing for implementation of the U.N. resolution that ended the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, 1701.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Security Cabinet convened a hastily arranged discussion about the lack of implementation of the resolution, which called for stemming the flow of arms to Hezbollah. Now the Israelis are trying to press UNIFIL, the U.N. force in southern Lebanon, to make sure Hezbollah falls into line.

Too little too late?

The Jerusalem Post writes:

The war’s most urgent lessons, the adoption of which might prevent another round of fighting, remain regrettably unlearned.

First, due to its stubbornly misplaced faith in the UN, Israel has continued to turn a blind eye to the rearming of Hizbullah.

The Post reserves its harshest critique for Israel’s political leadership:

The broadest unlearned lesson from the war concerns Israel’s political culture itself. From the days of the Muslim conquest of Andalusia to today, it is impossible to recall Arab expressions of guilt or remorse over military victory. In contrast, Israel’s political echelons have typically been prompted to hand-wringing self-examination less by defeat than by victory. Yet healthy self-examination - of the kind so lacking in the wake of the latest war - requires precisely the opposite.

Could it be that both an underlying cause, and an effect, of the failures of the Second Lebanon War is that those steering this country no longer believe in the justice of its cause as utterly as used to be the case?

Ha’aretz’s Israel Harel also lays the blame for the failure of 1701 with Israel’s leadership:

The cabinet yesterday discussed “Hezbollah’s missile arsenal.” But what is such a discussion worth when there is no leadership in Israel today capable of making security decisions - even if the dangers and means of dealing with them are defined correctly? What is it worth when there is no leadership capable of insisting on decisions being implemented in full, even in the face of a public opinion with little patience and low endurance for suffering? The kind of public opinion that represses the central threats to the state’s existence and is not prepared to pay the necessary price for Jewish sovereignty.

After all, the main reason we do not escape the cycle of endless war is that every time we are on the edge of victory we stop the battle one step too soon - two years ago in Lebanon, and now with Hamas. This allows the enemy to recover and claim victory, continuing the struggle, justifiably from his point of view, until the Zionist Jewish entity comes to an end.

We have a brief up on the announcement that Israeli President Shimon Peres will participate in the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

Here’s the statement sent out by Prime Minister Olmert’s office …

The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, will participate in the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics together with Presidents and Heads of State from all over the world, including the President of the U.S.A., the President of France, the Prime Minister of Russia, the President of Turkey and the Prime Minister of South Korea

The Office of the President today officially informed the Chinese Olympics Committee that the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, has accepted the invitation of the administration and will participate in the opening events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as President of the State of Israel.

It should be noted that the Chinese administration and the Olympics Committee invested great efforts in making the participation of the President in the Olympics possible, after having been informed by the President’s Office that the President would not be able to be present at the opening event in the stadium due to desecration of the Sabbath. The Chinese did not give up and decided, in an unprecedented step, to separate the President of Israel from the other Heads of State and to accommodate him in a special hotel which was built within the Olympics compound at a walking distance from the event arena.

The President’s Office staff, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Olympics Committee, together with the Chinese Embassy in Israel, are now working on the details of the visit which is due to take place around the opening ceremony of the Olympics on the evening of 8th October, 2008.

In a letter sent to the Office of the President by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was stated: “The Government of China places great importance in the participation of Heads of State and of outstanding personalities in the festive event which its leaders are holding to mark the opening of the games.”

In addition the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted, “The presence of President Peres in the Olympics opening event has an additional symbolic significance, as President Peres is the Honorary President of the Israel-China Friendship Association and among the architects of the important relations between the two countries.”

In the message conveyed by the President of Israel to the Chinese Administration, President Peres said that “the Beijing Olympics is an international sporting event which is meant to promote the fraternity and peace between peoples and that he sees great importance in the strengthening of the relations between Israel and China and in promoting the economic, cultural and security ties.”

It should be noted that recently the President of China sent invitations to a special conference he is holding for world leaders. Among those who have confirmed their participation are the President of the U.S.A., George W. Bush; the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy; the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül; the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin; the Prime Minister of Korea, Myung-sook Han; the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; the Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda, and the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Michael Rudd.

During his stay in China the President of Israel will hold a wide range of political meetings with world leaders and will take the opportunity to disseminate extensive information on Israel. On the arrival of the President in China the traditional hoisting of the flag by the Israeli Olympics delegation in the Olympics village will take place with the participation of the heads of the Israeli Olympics delegation including all the sports people and their trainers, representatives of the Olympics Committee and dignitaries including the Mayor of Beijing. On this occasion the President will wish the members of the Olympics delegation success.

It should be noted that the President of Israel will leave on a regular flight and will be accompanied by a small delegation.

The IDF must find a way to inspire fear in Israel’s enemies, as in days past, laments Dov Weisglass, a former aide to Ariel Sharon, in Ynet:

Once upon a time, when our founding fathers were in power, that same Mossad which [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah now disparages would have eliminated him a long time ago. However, Israel today is not the Israel it used to be.

Hamas too realizes that it is dealing with current-day Israel. It fires rockets and mortar shells with no fear; it forced Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip; it holds on to abducted soldier Gilad Shalit and keeps fooling those negotiating on his release.

Despite its misery and inferiority, Hamas is talking to Israel as an equal. Its leaders threaten us, make demands, and present conditions. They conduct themselves as though they know Israel has no other choice except for negotiating in line with their rules. And they’re right.

Also in Ynet, former Yitzhak Rabin aide Eitan Haber offers a lament of his own about next week’s second anniversary of the start of the Second Lebanon War. There will be no festivals to mark the occasion, only memorial prayers, Haber writes:

Indeed, in almost every possible way, the decision to embark on the Second Lebanon War was a case of completely flawed judgment.

In any case, the damages caused to the State of Israel and to the Israel Defense Force in this war are immense; most certainly, the 158 bereaved families who lost their loved ones paid a terrible price. And what for? And why?

A recent poll commissioned by Peace Now showed that 73 percent of Israelis have not visited any settlements in the last five years. Peace Now’s reaction? Bus more Israelis to West Bank settlements.

In other news from the wild West Bank, a Ha’aretz editorial calls on the Israeli government to do more to ensure the rule of law in the territory — particularly when it comes to violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.

It’s going to take time for the Hamas-Israel cease-fire to take hold, which is why Israel’s military hasn’t responded to the firing of Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip over the last three weeks, Ha’aretz writes in an editorial. Hamas is trying, Ha’aretz says:

Hamas’ public effort to fully keep its commitment is evident. The Hamas mufti has called anyone who fires a Qassam a “criminal,” and its leadership is declaring that the Qassams damage Palestinian interests…

This does not mean Israel must sit on its hands and do nothing for six months, absorbing Qassams with no response just so the cease-fire will be observed on its part. However, it must allow the Palestinians the opportunity to enforce the agreement, without playing into the hands of gangs or splinter organizations, thereby crushing the responsible party in Gaza at the moment.

Meanwhile, Ynet’s Alex Fishman writes that Israel has failed to take advantage of the relative lull in the fighting to improve defenses in Israel’s Gaza-adjacent communities to prepare for the next round of rocket attacks:

The ceasefire is the first lull in Hamas’ “war of independence” since it took over Gaza. The group uses every moment in this lull in order to better organize and build up strength ahead of the next round of fighting. And what do our leaders do in order to take advantage of the lull ahead of the next round? Nothing. We’re on vacation…

If the homes are not fortified people will be leaving…

Seemingly, the lull came at the right time. Residents could have expected to see their communities flooded by contractors and laborers the moment quiet prevailed, with secured rooms being constructed at a dizzying pace. After all, this is what was decided; this is precisely what the government promised.

Moreover, it is clear to everyone that the relative quiet brought by the lull is only temporary, and that every day that passes without it being used for building fortifications and improving our anti-rocket alert system is a wasted day. Yet for the time being, nothing has changed on the ground. Not one brick has been laid, and no wall has been moved.

On Sunday, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff of Ha’aretz wrote that captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has turned into a hostage of the crisis over Gaza’s border crossings, which Israel has been closing in response to rocket attacks from Gaza.
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Gilad Sharon pens an angry Op-Ed in Ynet delivering Israeli Arabs an ultimatum: “Do you wish to enjoy all the good Israel bestows upon you? Then be completely loyal to it. If you cannot do it, be prepared to pay the price.”

Sharon’s missive was prompted by last week’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem by a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem who carried an Israeli ID card. Though not an Israeli citizen, the terrorist lived within Israel’s borders. Sharon, a son of the former prime minister, writes:

The repeated terror attacks carried out by Arab terrorists possessing Israeli ID cards highlight the need for a frank and open discussion regarding relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel and the future of these ties…

This pretention must stop: You shall stop pretending that you are loyal to the State the way it is, and the State will stop pretending that it does not discriminates against you, because it does. It has no choice, as you come out against its essence as a Jewish state and are working to turn it into something else. For example, how can we not discriminate against an elected representative such as Azmi Bishara or Ahmad Tibi, who served as an advisor for Arafat the terrorist, when it comes to sharing sensitive security information?

This juggling act, whereby on the one hand Arab Israelis enjoy the State’s health and welfare services and freedom of expression unlike anywhere else in our region, while on the other hand their representatives condemn and attack Israel at every opportunity, and particularly in enemy states, must end.

Decent points, maybe, but the hole in this argument is that the converse can be argued just as easily. Israeli Arabs can say to Sharon and the Israeli government: When you stop discriminating against us, when you treat us like equals, when you craft a national anthem and flag that speaks of us, then we will be loyal to the state.

It’s a complicated situation.

A day after the second major terrorist attack in four months by a Jerusalem-area Palestinian, the Jerusalem Post’s Calev Ben David asks how Israel can protect its people against terrorists among the 200,000 Palestinians who live on the west (i.e. Israeli) side of the West Bank security fence. It’s not so easy.

Sascha Baron Cohen narrates “the running of the Jews” in Borat.

The serious-minded former director of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Yossi Alpher, who also is co-editor of Bitterlemons.org, a Palestinian-Israeli Web site, writes about a close encounter of the Bruno kind in his latest column in the Forward.

In an editorial Thursday, the L.A. Times argues against U.S. acquiescence to an Israeli attack on Iran. The editorialists write:

There are a dozen reasons why “If you want to whack them, we’ve got your back” is the wrong message for the U.S. to send Israel, publicly or privately.

One is the increase in oil prices as a result of the war talk, which only enriches Iran. But here are two better ones: The consequences of an Israeli war with Iran are unpredictable, and it is nearly impossible to assess Iran’s ability to make good on its threats to retaliate against the United States, presumably through its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. The last thing the U.S. needs now is more instability, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael G. Mullen said Wednesday. And while the odds may be low that diplomacy will solve the problem, we can’t know for sure because we haven’t tried it. Only the Europeans have. If bilateral talks with nuclear North Korea were acceptable to Bush, then why is it still anathema to talk with Iran?

The consequences of an Israeli war with Iran may be unpredictable, but the consequences for Israel of a nuclear-armed Iran are less unpredictable.

Sure, Iran might go nuclear and not attack the Jewish state, but is that a risk Israel can afford to take? Even if Iran held off from attacking Israel — which may be the likelier scenario, were Iran to go nuclear — the Islamic Republic would be able to brandish its nuclear threat over Israel like a mobster with a baseball bat. Is that something with which Israel would be able to live?

As for the oil reason, what’s worse: Expensive gas, or a nuclear-armed Iran? The warmongering serves the free world well, because it’s one more method to get Iran to quit its nuclear program that doesn’t involve actually bombing the place. Thus, regardless of whether or not President Bush actually would give Israel the green light to bomb Iran, it’s helpful that it appears as if he would.

For more on the degree to which rising oil prices are related to Iran-Israel tension, stay tuned for Ron Kampeas’ piece on the subject in JTA (coming out later today).

Meanwhile, Ha’aretz’s Avi Shavit writes that the scenario of Israel attacking Iran in the sunset of Bush’s presidency (which our Ron Kampeas wrote about here), may be far-fetched, but there’s so much at stake that Israel needs to get its ducks in a row just in case. The conclusion: Israel needs new elections now.