For those who doubt

With the Israeli offensive in Lebanon meeting surprising resistance -- despite massive destruction from the air -- the recent publication of photos of Israeli children signing missiles about to be fired into Lebanon, with messages such as "From Israel with Love," have drawn renewed attention.

The Web site of the Jerusalem Post (jpost.com) confirmed that the pictures are real, after they appeared on numerous mainstream news sites and blogs, where they continue to inspire wide feedback.

The Jeusalem Post site explained, "Questions over the photos' authenticity have been put to rest by authorities that were present during the incident, which occurred on July 17 near the northern border. The mostly local children had been brought to see the shells by their parents. Although it remains unclear who encouraged them to write the messages, their colorful scribbles, including a Star of David, hearts, and 'From Israel, with Love'....

The Israeli military said it did not sanction to episode.

For those who would accuse me of simply running unconfirmed ‘propaganda’, I hope this article puts at least one issue to rest.

Mind you, in many ways I would have been just as happy to find they were fake pictures; albeit with the lingering concern that at least some children were being exposed to glorification of war.

This is the sort of PR which makes it difficult to accept any moral authority in Israel’s actions, and seriously lowers the ‘defence’ to the sick level of the terrorists.

On a different note, I keep coming across the spelling Isreal. In fact when you google the misspelling there are about 5,020,000 incidences listed.

It had me confused for a while, that this was so widespread, until it was pointed out that the odd spelling mirrored the alternative pronunciation.

I obviously don’t watch enough American television.