Israelis Spar Over Troops in Lebanon
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TEL AVIV — Israeli lawmakers lashed out at one another Monday about Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon, where mounting troop casualties have stirred national debate.
Yossi Beilin of the opposition Labor Party, who advocates a unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon, said leaving troops there means “certain death” for young Israeli soldiers. He charged Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai with “gambling with their lives.”
Mordechai, a former army general, ruled out removing his soldiers despite the fact that seven have been killed in the last two weeks.
“I am gambling with the lives of Israeli soldiers. I fought my whole life here,” Mordechai said after the two men walked out of a heated session of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the issue.
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