Less than 24 hours after Israel was created as a nation it was attacked by the combined armies of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. This most current round of middle eastern violence started in 1948, not 2006.

Under a UN resolution, Syria agreed to leave Lebanon, and Lebanon agreed to police its interior and rid itself of terrorist groups, most notably Hezbollah. Syria complied with the resolution, and left Lebanon in 2004. (They had no choice, they were getting hammered in the news because they got caught assasinating the Lebanese Prime Minister) Lebanon failed rid itself of hezbollah. Two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, one on the northern border and one near Gaza, and numerous Katyusha rockets were fired into Israeli territory from Lebanon. The last Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas came back to his family in pieces.

Lebanon failed to police itself, and Israel was attacked from Lebanese soil. No nation can sit idly by while it is being attacked, and Israel has taken action.

Hezbollah has used civilians as shields, and continues to do so, as shown in numerous photographs smuggled out of the war zone by various correspondents. Israel, like the US, has not DELIBERATELY targeted civilians. Hezbollah has deliberately put civilians in harm's way.

The UN outpost that was hit by Israeli aircraft was being used by hezbollah as a shield, and was broadcasting troop positions on an unencrypted channel, thus giving hezbollah intelligence information on where the Israeli troops were. Israel has lodged numerous complaints with the UN on this issue in the past, and the complaints have gone unheeded. No commander in their right mind can allow their troops to be compromised. The UN forces are supposed to be neutral, and encryption is readily available. They could have complied with Israels requests, they didn't. The UN put their own forces in harm's way by failing to practice what any soldier could tell you is basic operational security.