Political policy

What Max said.

...Israel was unable to extirpate Hezbollah after a previous, extended occupation of Lebanon. I suspect that there is no chance of success in that objective today, given a much stronger Hezbollah and a more limited occupation. So Israeli policy devolves to retaliation and punishment.

In principle, some of that in response to attacks would be justifiable. But we are way past "some." Like Bush after 9-11, Israel squandered its moral authority in about 48 hours.

The unified Democratic response of support for Israel points up the limitations of the uncritical anti-war "netroots." You can't be serious about politics if you're not serious about policy, particularly in the realm of potential problems percolating in the ME.