The War That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Remember that dust-up between Israel and Hizballah last summer? For the longest time, the Israeli government couldn't decide what to call that little fracas. Israeli officials referred to it, mumblingly, as "an operation" or a "campaign". Never mind that it lasted over a month, that 1,200 Lebanese and 156 Israelis were killed, or that thousands of rockets and bombs rained down on both sides of the frontier.

If the Israelis had done more than lightly singe Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's beard, they might have indulged in a bit of chest thumping and called it a 'war' from the outset. After all, Hizballah calls the conflict "The Divine Victory", and all they managed to do was survive the Israeli firestorm and crawl out of their bunkers.

It took the grieving parents of 116 Israeli soldiers who died in the conflict to force the issue. At the start, they were told that the tombstones of their sons should read either "killed in action" or "fell in battle in Lebanon". For some parents, quoted by the daily Ha'aretz, this smacked of "an attempt by the military and political establishment to repress the public memory of the war".

And that memory was bitter.

A few weeks ago, Israelis had an 'Ahah, I thought so' moment about the war. Defense Minister Amir Peretz, hugely unpopular, was shown in a photo during a military display staring raptly through a pair of binoculars. The lens covers were still on the binoculars and the man couldn't tell the difference. With top brass like him, thought Israelis, it's a wonder that Hizballah fighters aren't opening Nasrallah poster shops on the cobbled streets of old Jerusalem.

As the angry parents gathered publicity for their cause, one Israeli internet website, Ha'aretz, started a contest asking readers to select a name for the conflict. None were flatttering. To name a few: "The Big Shame", the "Idiots' War" and "Operation Failure".

Today, finally, cabinet ministers at last decided to give the conflict that dare not speak its name an actual, official name.

It's: The Second Lebanon War.

This prompted some Israeli wags to ask, does this mean there will be a Third or a Fourth Lebanon war, like some ghastly Hollywood sequel?

Sure hope not.

--by Tim McGirk/Jerusalem