Why is CNN portraying the Israel has lost?

Question

I know they didn't rescue their captured soldiers, and I know they didn't completely disarm Hezzbolah, but CNN is reporting and interviewing Israelis that the military effort in Lebanon has failed. This protest comes from many Israeli citizens as well as high ranking military officers. I was under the impression that Israel has just about bombed everything in Beirut, and pushed deep into their territory. If Israel is this weak, why do we support them so much?

Answer 1

It went worse than expected, that's all. They bombed only the Shiite section of Beirut. The Christian, Druze, and Sunni sections are intact.

Why support Israel? consider:

Christians have a Biblical connection with Israel

America and Israel have shared strategic interests:
1) Israel has missiles capable of reaching as far as the former Soviet Union
2) Israel has cooperated with the U.S. with R&D for new jet fighters and anti-missile defense systems
3) Israel's intelligence service has assisted the U.S. in intelligence gathering and covert operations.
4) Israel's frequent wars have provided battlefield testing for American arms, often against Soviet weapons.
5) Israel has kept Syria, for many years an ally of the Soviet Union, in check.

Compelling moral imperatives to support Israel are:
1) Israel is the only true democracy in the region. Arabs are represented in Israel's Parliament.
2) Fair play: Jews are not terrorists (according to American standards) while ALL terrorists are Muslims
3) Jews have never declared war on American values while some Muslims have
4) What is the alternative to Israel, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah/Hamas?
5) Palestinians and other Muslims supported Saddam Hussein and celebrate terrorist triumphs over the west.

Answer 2

The reason why that CNN has portraited Israel as the loser it is because as an independant country and because of the pressure that Hezzbolah had managed to put on Tel Aviv.

The ultimate goal (Israel) did not materialize and the big question: Is Hezzbolah going to be disarmed (the organization)?

Answer 3

I have read several accounts declaring a victory for each side. The best was by the Christian Science Monitor (which is not a Christian paper for those who don't know this already)

Here is a link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0817/p09s02-coop.html

Great article! It basically says this:

The degree to which one side is able to achieve long-standing goals should therefore be the ultimate barometer as to the outcome of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Overall, Israel was the winner because Hezbollah's main goal in kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in July was to cause Israel to release Lebanese and Palestinian terrorists being held in its prisons, thereby boosting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's significance in the region. But because of the subsequent Israeli response, Hezbollah wasn't able to achieve its aim. So, if winning means achieving your goal - they failed.

So, on balance, despite its somewhat lackadaisical performance, Israel achieved the bulk of its goals (reducing Hezbollah rocket arsenals, removing Hezbollah from the border area, and turning Lebanese public opinion against Mr. Nasrallah's organization) while Hezbollah can point to few accomplishments

By the way, the person who wrote this article is chair of Political Science and previously served as a senior director at the Israeli National Security Council in the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

So, I have a feeling he is a little more informed than most of us posting here!

Answer 4

For Israel to win, they had to have a strict decisive victory.

However, in this war Hizbollah has won, because they managed to stand out long enough against the Israeli's to win. Right now Hizbollah has become stronger than ever, has gained more influence, and has effectivly injured the Israeli reputation.

Hizbollah also reflects a dent in the, "Invinsible," Israeli force morale.

Not to say that I think Israel lost. Had Israel gone all out, Hizbollah would have been dead. Along with many, civilian casulties and a very tarnished reputation.

Answer 5

Because Israel could not stop Katyusha rockets of Hizbollah. There was only one way to stop them, destroy every house and city completely, so that terrorists do not have any civil base. But the whole world would not like it. And thats why they could not do that. They are OK with terrorists killing of innocent Jews but not OK when Israelis defend then with their full force, they say not proportional. I gues the world wanted them to play like one rocket vs one rocket.
Israel is being judged with respect to the last war when they were in control. But now terrorists have access to sophisticated weapons sold by Russia and China and some European countries.
The western world acts a little week with Muslim countries because they are not united. France, Russia and China do business with all evil Muslim countries and the countries which America does not do business with. And the world economy is quite dependent on Oil coming from that region. So they act a little diplomatic with Muslim countries and try to be balancing out.

So I guess this problem would remain till Oil is relevant in world economy.
And by the way CNN and BBC are kind of pro-Arab media.

Answer 6

Military experts say that Israel lost because Hezbollah wasn't destroyed (an impossible task). Since Hezbollah stood up to the best Israel had to offer (its command structure is still in place; it fired more rockets on the last day of fighting than any other) it "gains new respect" in the Arab world. That makes them a winner even though Lebanon was demolished.

Answer 7

First of all, CNN stands for the Communist News Network, or when Clinton was in office, the Clinton News Network. If you are looking for anything positive about George Bush, the war on terror, Iraq, Israel, whatever, you are not going to find it on CNN. They, like any other liberal network, and libs in general, are invested in this country's defeat and failure. That's the way they were during Vietnam, and that is the way they are now. They are not happy unless our troops are dying by the busloads every day and we are failing miserably. So if you are looking for positive reporting that is truly fair and balanced, I suggest Fox News.

Answer 8

they lost because they caused so much utter destruction and loss and life which resulted in even more disdain in the world's eyes. They once again lost the most important battle, which is for the hearts and minds of the world.
And they did not accomplish their goals; to destry hezzbolah

In this situation, Israel is like an elephant in a small room full of glass trying to step on a mouse and the elephant trips all over itself and keels over and crashes everything around it while the mouse got away. It should have just left a trap instead

Answer 9

Because in a war you either win or lose. Israel did not win, therefore it lost. Indeed, what did Israel accomplish from its invasion of Lebanon, that is other than cause many families (both Israeli and others) a lot of grief. Indeed, there was no aforethought for this war, i.e. there was no exit strategy. Sound familiar?

Answer 10

1. It is nearly impossible to win a gorilla war.
2. The people of Israel are calling for the resignation of their leader.
3. CNN sucks. They will always flow to the hyped report rather than give us actual news.