>Well, that is technically true (if you listen to Middle East news >outlets (or Reuters)). > >Every adult in Israel has to do mandatory service, and then are in the >reserves for years. So, they are all soldiers (even while out of the >service for 20 years, and cooking dinner).
Untrue. Israeli Arabs (Israeli citizens) are not required to serve. The Bedouin population does serve almost to a man even though they are not required. Religious students have exemptions due to Torah study. Women are not required to serve in the military but are required to perform national service. The children of many left wing politicians (including the current prime minister) are all 'missing' from the mandatory service for reasons of their own. And the mandatory service is only for Israeli citizens under a certain age. If I moved to Israel now and became a citizen I would be exempt. My children would not be though. Point is, mandatory service is a myth propagated by Arabs and Journalists to make it easier to say that every Israeli is a soldier and lessen the impact of a terrorist attack. "We're only attacking future soldiers when we bombed that school bus" >The Hezbollah militants in Lebanon are not part of an official state >army, and do not wear uniforms, so the are civilians (even when >manning a rocket launcher, and armed) By that context, yes they are. Heavily armed, fanatical civilians but civilians none the less. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:214150 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
