The situation is worsening in the political sense. The entire world, including all European nations and Russia, is condemning Israel for its defensive actions. They waited a day or two and decided, in their idiotic psuedo-intellectualism, that Israel, being the stronger party, should not be responding as harshly as it is being hit. After all, the strongest party has to back down, correct? No, that's incorrect. When a weaker party attacks a stronger one, the stronger one can use its position of military superiority to defend itself to whatever extent it deems necessary. This is such a simple fact that to have the international community deny it can no longer be interpreted as anything other than pure anti-Semitism. The international community hates Jews, hates the State of the Jews, and wants Israel to fail as a state. That is the only explanation for their siding with the Arabs, who clearly struck first.

To those who care, I am doing fine. Hizbollah has been striking northern Israel, at the cost of two killed and about 150 wounded thus far. All northern communities, including Haifa, are under threat, and about a million people were ordered to go into bomb shelters last night. That's not to say that they all went, as Israeli civilians have a fatalistic attitude about war, and I think the majority stayed in their homes. But that doesn't diminish the fact that a million Jews in northern Israel are under missle threat, even if that threat isn't the most accurate or the most sophisticated.

According to people who know the inner workings of the IDF, a large-scale call up of reserve combat units is being planned. The IDF is planning on taking the war into the mountains of southern Lebanon, and the only way to kill Hizbollah operatives is to hunt them down with tank and infantry units. Unfortunately, Hizbollah is a large, well-armed and well-trained force, probably the most professional Arab force out there. With all the ongoing commitments of the IDF in the West Bank and Gaza, there are not enough troops to hold the line, do all the arrests and raids and fight Hizbollah all at the same time. Hence, it is almost certain that reserves will be called up soon. As usual, they will be called up, each unit for a month at a time, and reserve battalions will be rotated in and out of the war zone. Since the enemy operates in remote terrain and in built-up urban areas, only infantry can do the actual work. Luckily, the IDF has been planning for a large-scale conflict and has been increasing the number of infantry units in both the active and reserve components. This has included not only sending many more draftees into infantry, but also converting tank units into infantry units.

I encourage you all to pray for the safety of our civilians and soldiers. Pray for those who have been killed so that they may rise to lofty levels closer to our Creator. Pray for those that have been injured so that they may be healed swiftly by the hands of our amazingly talented medical personnel, through whose abilities flows the power of Hashem. Finally, pray for those under missle threat and for soldiers going into combat that He may keep them safe and allow for a victory at as small a cost as possible. Hashem has been working miracles through the actions of the IDF for generations, and we must all pray that He stays close to us and brings us to victory.