I'm beginning to feel like a yo-yo. And I see I'm hardly the only one.
Our sage Hillel famously said:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? And if not now, when?
Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), 1:14
The importance of this concept to us, today, simply can't be overemphasized. And it's beginning to sound as if Prime Minister Olmert is, in fact, getting it.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the IDF on Friday to send additional ground forces into Lebanon up to the Litani river, some 30 kilometers from Israel.
Hours later, France and the United States announced that they had reached a deal on a final draft resolution aimed at ending the month-long conflict. A vote on the cease-fire draft will take place at 1 a.m. IST. Israel has yet to respond to the draft, and the government is scheduled to vote on the cease-fire resolution at its weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning.
Before news broke out that an agreement has been reached, Olmert's spokesman, Asaf Shariv, told The Associated Press that the expanded incursion had already begun. According to Shariv, the emerging cease-fire fails to meet Israel's basic requirements, such as stationing robust international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws.
"Yesterday we were very optimistic, but they (the Security Council) took the wrong turn," Shariv said.
May their mission be a success, and may they return home safely and soon. I have a suggestion for the UN Security Council, too, but not tonight.
Shabbat Shalom.
