Is there a tourism/banking component of Israeli targeting in Lebanon?

[HamdenRice]

Obviously we have no knowledge of what is in the minds of Israeli war planners and therefore any question like this is speculative. But we do know precisely what the Israeli Defense Force is targeting in Lebanon, and as they say in the law, res ipsa loquitur -- the thing speaks for itself. We can infer what Israel is trying to accomplish from the targets it has destroyed.

And the most stupefying fact of the destruction of Lebanon by Israel is the amount of damage they are doing that seems unrelated to destroying Hezbollah. Israel has destroyed Beirut airport, the major roads into and out of Beirut, and the road to Damascus. Today the internet is full of reports that as a result of the bombing of a power plant, and the spillage of fuel oil, Lebanon is facing the worst environmental crisis in the history of the Mediterranean. We have images of Lebanon's utterly ruined beaches. Beaches?

One of the most fascinating insights I gained about Lebanon and Beirut at the beginning of this war, is just how beautiful, hospitable, cosmopolitan and tolerant the formerly war torn country had become. The reporting consistently stressed that Beirut was fast on its way to becoming the number one tourist destination in the middle east. Tourism is a multi-billion dollar business that foreign governments take very seriously as a source of foreign exchange. Beirut was also poised to resume its position as the banking center of the middle east as well. Now the 1980s image of Lebanon as war torn, and Beirut as the ultimate free fire zone has been revived.

By contrast, the image of Israeli tourism over the last few years has been dismal. The only two big news stories about tourism coming out of Israel were: First that tourism had declined dramatically because of the random terrorism of the second intifada. And second the increasing intolerance of the ultra orthodox in Jerusalem, manifested by young ultra orthodox men spitting on Christians. This was not some freak bias incident, but a seemingly coordinated campaign, that provoked a lot of discussion and introspection in Israel. The Armenian Christians were bearing the brunt of the spitting campaign -- their arch bishop was a target -- but anyone wearing a crucifix in Jerusalem was subject to this disgusting attack. And obviously, after the Jewish community, the second most important tourism market for Israel is devout Christians on "holy land" tours.

So I wonder, is there a secondary strategic objective in this indiscriminate bombing to prevent Lebanon from overtaking Israel as a financial and tourism center of the eastern Mediterranean? If not, how else can we explain the strange targeting being carried out by the IDF?

[adriennui]

1. the banking interests?

here we go again. of course banks here in the US have major interests held by mid-eastern countries the UAE, saudi arabia, oman. then we have asians in the mix and our friends in the EU.

what i am saying is the banks are multinational. islamic countries because of their petro-dollars have a stake in every bank and financial institution in the US.

[Joanne98]

2. Bushco keeps calling the Kurdish territory in Iraq, the Switzerland

of the ME. Maybe there are mulitiple interests in destroying Lebanon. Also watch for the "contractor" SCUM to come in like vultures. For "reconstruction" projects and get ready to DEFEND the US taxpayers AGAIN from the criminal maggots.