Keep the claws sharp

Israel's enemies so often destroy their claims of victimhood by launching unprovoked attacks on the Jewish state that any neutral observer would have a hard time accepting their allegations. However, if there's one thing Israel has no shortage of, it's critics, and the incident instigated by Lebanon along Israel's northern edges last week is unlikely to sway them.

Last Tuesday, a maintenance squad was engaged in routine work along the country's frontier, cutting down a tree that was blocking observation of the tense border area, when nearby Lebanese troops opened fire. An Israeli officer manning an observation post died and the Israeli army returned fire, killing two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist.

Lebanon, home to the terrorist Hezbollah movement, was quick to dump the blame on Israel, insisting that the Israelis had breached the Blue Line which divides the two. This is false. The Israelis were using a hydraulic lift to perform work over the bor -der fence, which does not demarcate the official border. Israeli land runs for dozens of metres farther north, meaning the squad was fully within its rights to operate there.

The United Nations, usually in no hurry to agree with Israel, has, for once, recognized that the latter was in the right. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which helps maintain peace in the region, has confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces were working on Israeli territory. The Lebanese government reacted by stating that it disagrees with the orientation of the Blue Line and said it considers the place where the incident occurred to be Lebanese. This illustrates the basic philosophy of so many of Israel's enemies: Follow the rules until they inconvenience you and then break them. If Israel retaliates, scream injustice and blame the Jews.

It seems to work. Israel is forever being urged, by friend and foe alike, to shrink itself and allow its enemies more room. This, so conventional wisdom goes, will encourage them to live alongside the Jewish homeland in mutual peace and security. Yet somehow, it never turns out that way.

Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 and from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but has had several major dust-ups with forces in both places since and nothing like permanent peace. When the authorities who took over weren't actively attacking Israel (as in the latest incident), they were standing by and letting others do it for them (as in Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel).

Israel needs to keep its cool, as war with a rival state is about the last thing it and the volatile Middle East need. However, the Jewish state was certainly within its rights in carrying out a carefully calibrated response to the Lebanese provocation. Israel needs to keep its claws well-honed because its innumerable enemies are ready and willing to send it into oblivion, with force, if words will not suffice.