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.

The organisation was at the forefront of protests after Israel launched a large-scale invasion of its northern neighbour in 1982.

Israeli forces, under frequent attack by Hezbollah fighters, pulled out of Lebanon in 2000.

Back in 1982, many Israelis felt there were other options besides a war, which sharply divided the nation. This time, many believe Israel is fighting for survival, and polls show upwards of 80% of Israelis supporting the campaign.

“Everyone justifies the war. The position of Peace Now is this war is just and that Israel has every right to defend itself,” Mr Oppenheimer said.

Hezbollah has rained hundreds of rockets on northern Israel, killing 26 people so far. Another 41 soldiers have been killed in battle.

The Israeli casualty toll is far less than in Lebanon where at least 520 people have been killed and 750,000, or a quarter of the population, driven from their homes.

The intensity of Hezbollah rocket strikes, reaching unprecedented distances into Israel, has rekindled fears of a group many Israelis had hoped would cease to pose a threat after their army withdrew from Lebanon to a UN-sanctioned border six years ago.

Many look anxiously beyond Hezbollah to its regional backer Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

Tehran has been the target of a concerted international effort to curb its nuclear programme, based on fears it could produce atomic weapons, though Iran denies such a plan. Israel is believed to be the region’s only nuclear power.

Sam Lehman-Wilzig, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said: “Katyusha rockets are really a pain, but they don’t threaten to destroy the state. Iran getting nuclear weapons could lead to the destruction of Israel.”

Compounding Israeli anger at Hezbollah is that it attacked the Jewish state as its army was embroiled in another battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, who had also captured a soldier in a cross-border raid.