Spider Web Of Hate

Hezbollah has opened a museum in Lebanon. They say it documents their "great victory" over Israel in last year's war. They call it "The Spider's Web" after a speech by Hassan Nasrallah that said that, "military might was flimsy and weaker than a spider's web".

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A replica of a long-range missile greets visitors, and posters mock Israel and the United States.

Welcome to "Spider's Web," a museum south of Beirut that has become Hezbollah's latest propaganda tool — showcasing what it says was a divine victory over Israel in last summer's war.

The museum exhibits war souvenirs — helmets, boots, ammunition and armored vehicles captured from the Israelis or left on Lebanon's battlefields. And it has gruesome photos of Lebanese civilians killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The exhibit has drawn condemnation from Israel. In Lebanon, there has been no overt criticism, although the war deepened divisions among Lebanese, many of whom opposed Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers that set off the conflict on July 12, 2006.

The museum opened last month in the Dahieh district, a Hezbollah stronghold pounded to rubble by missiles during the war, and runs until Sept. 10.

Its name was inspired by a speech in which Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Israel's military might was flimsy and weaker than a spider's web — staple rhetoric from a militant group facing an enemy armed with a powerful air force and thought to hold nuclear weapons.

The idea is to "commemorate Hezbollah's historic, strategic and divine victory in an honest and artistic way," Ali Ahmed, a spokesman for Hezbollah's media activities unit.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the exhibit "glorifies hatred, extremism and violence, and should be condemned as such."

If Israel were to open such a museum touting their victory over Hezbollah, how great would the howling from the left in the West be? Ever stood next to a 747 warming up its engines? Kid stuff. But that aside, maybe someone should educate the thoroughly ignorant Hassan Nasrallah on one little detail: Spider silk is ounce-for-ounce much, much stronger than steel.

Spider silk is an extremely strong material and is on weight basis stronger than steel. It has been suggested that a pencil thick strand of silk could stop a Boeing 747 in flight.

Hassan Nasrallah, scientifically ignorant as he is, better hope Israel continues to restrain itself.