Michael Ignatieff clarifies his Israel position in today’s Star.

For the record, he wouldn’t have called for a cease-fire a week or two ago and is doing so now because he feels the conflict could soon each it’s tipping point.

Ignatieff said it would have been too early to push for a ceasefire last week because “it was very important for Israel to send Hezbollah a very clear message” that kidnapping soldiers and firing rockets on Israel will not be tolerated.

“A ceasefire on the Israeli side becomes logical for Israel when it has achieved its military objectives and when it reaches the point of diminishing returns, and that is the point we’ve reached now,” he explained.

He was asked if a turning point came when Israel bombed the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday, with 54 civilian deaths, 37 of them children.

“It wasn’t Qana,” replied Ignatieff, formerly head of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. “Qana was, frankly, inevitable, in a situation in which you have rocket-launchers within 100 yards of a civilian population. This is the nature of the war that’s going on.

“This is the kind of dirty war you’re in when you have to do this and I’m not losing sleep
about that.”

Now, however, the combatants are on the verge of tripping “escalation thresholds” and creating extreme danger.