In the midst of the tough battles, some Israeli Army reservists fighting on the front decided to commission a public opinion poll on the IDF’s activity in southern Lebanon.

In wake of the IDF’s many losses, the combatants and their relatives approached the Dahaf Polling Institute under the management of Dr. Mina Tzemah and asked to hold a poll that examines only one question: should the IDF strike Hizbullah infrastructure in southern Lebanon from the air before it brings in more ground forces-or should the ground operation be expanded without a preliminary aerial attack. “We are a battalion that has suffered quite a few losses in the fighting,” one soldier told Yedioth Ahronoth. “We asked ourselves a number of times, why bring in infantry soldiers instead of flattening the area from the air. We prefer for empty houses to be taken out from the air instead of we being the ones who are taken out. Among the fighters in Lebanon there is a consensus on this and this could spare many lives, without harming our purity of arms and morals. These are abandoned villages and, therefore, these houses should be demolished and the infrastructure of the Hizbullah terrorists should be struck. This is not a question of morality. The Lebanese civilians were given warnings, flyers were dropped and they know this is a firing zone.”

He said that the soldiers at the front feel great frustration over how the war is being managed: “We asked our commanders several times why were are going on foot into an area teeming with terrorists. They replied that world public opinion would not tolerate demolishing the houses from the air. We have nothing against the fighting. We are motivated and we do whatever missions are given us, but the mood is that we could be doing it differently. The families of those killed asked us why their sons died, but I have no answer to give them.”

Attorney Shmulik Yanai, a reserve officer in IDF Intelligence, was one of those who commissioned the poll. A few days ago, he received an emergency call-up order and is serving in Lebanon. “I don’t understand the considerations of the decision-makers,” said Yanai. “It is a disgrace that these villages are not bombed from the air. Do we have to continue to pay the price every day in people’s lives just so it will be said of us that we are moral? If we put soldiers into the area, then first the area should be pounded or weakened from the air.” One of poll’s organizers said that the idea came up after the reservists reached the conclusion that the cabinet ministers are influenced by polls on the war. “A few days before the security cabinet decision, there was a poll that examined the percentage of support for expanding the ground operation in Lebanon. 80% of the public supported expanding the military activity and immediately afterwards, the security cabinet decided to go into Lebanon. Polls have enormous power.”

Last night, when the poll’s results were released, it became evident that the majority of the public shares the feelings of these soldiers. Among the Jewish respondents, 91% supported demolishing the Lebanese villages from the air -and 8% preferred for the ground operation to continue.

POLL Question: How should the IDF act against Hizbullah infrastructures in southern Lebanon? Destroy the villages from the air: 91% Send in ground forces: 8% The poll was held last night and questioned 506 people. The margin of error is 4.4%.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR