Israel’s defense secretary humiliates himself

The chips are still falling from Israel’s summer war with Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Lebanese group. Whatever the military facts, the Israeli public overwhelmingly believes the fighting was handled incompetently.

Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has already been held accountable, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz will probably be the next to go. He already faces a no-confidence motion in the Knesset, and he’s no doubt reeling from embarrassing photographs published in the Israeli press on Friday that show him looking through binoculars with the lens caps still on. Apparently he made the same mistake three times, underscoring his military inexperience and giving his critics the final nail to drive into the coffin that is now his political career.

With the Times‘ Nicholas Blanford reporting that Hezbollah is building new defensive positions north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, and given the mood of the Israeli public and Iran’s aggressive stance in the region, it’s not hard to imagine another war breaking out in the next year or so. Hezbollah, at least, is planning for such an eventuality, but the organization will probably face a smarter opponent next time.