Support for war unites Israel’s doves and hawks

ISRAELI public support for the war on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon has been so overwhelming it has become hard to tell the doves from the hawks in the Jewish state’s generally fractious society.

One of the strongest examples of the wide consensus Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has mustered for the three-week-old offensive has been the surprise backing of Israel’s premier anti-war group, Peace Now, for the military campaign.

Peace Now spokesman Yariv Oppenheimer says the group has no plans to demonstrate against the fighting in Lebanon that followed a Hezbollah cross-border raid on July 12 in which eight soldiers were killed and two kidnapped.