JERUSALEM -- The comparisons to Vietnam come easily.
Like the United States three decades ago, Israel is embroiled in a futile war that pits its modern army against a small band of highly motivated guerrillas. And as Israeli casualties mount in Lebanon, popular opposition to government policy grows.Now another parallel has emerged.
The debate over how to bring the boys home unexpectedly became a central issue of the Israeli election this week -- reminiscent of the 1968 and 1972 U.S. campaigns.
The catalyst was a roadside bomb detonated Sunday by the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah in south Lebanon. The blast killed four Israelis, including a general. In response, Israel bombed Hezbollah bases, the nation grieved and the government rehashed proposals of how to untangle the mess.
But then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main challenger, opposition Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, did something unscripted: He pledged on prime-time TV to get the troops home in a year if he is elected prime minister in May.
A surprised Netanyahu struggled for a response, first hinting he would match Barak's offer somehow, then accusing him of making empty promises.
Barak's decision to turn Lebanon into a campaign issue shows how much the Israeli political landscape has changed.
Until recently, Israel's 14-year occupation of a buffer zone in south Lebanon was considered a security matter to be left in the hands of the generals. But as young Israelis kept getting killed in Lebanon, more and more parents demanded to know what their children were dying for.
A watershed came when two army transport helicopters crashed, killing 73 soldiers en route to Lebanon in February 1997.
A grassroots protest movement, the "Four Mothers," was born, followed by other groups. Demonstrators began holding vigils outside Netanyahu's office, chanting "Lebanon is Vietnam" and "We have no children for wars."
The protests were small but effective; politicians began floating new ideas, such as withdrawing troops without waiting for peace agreements with Lebanon and Syria, or narrowing the buffer zone.
After this week's casualties, the protests intensified. One father offered to take his son's place in Lebanon, another took out a newspaper ad to tell Netanyahu he didn't want his paratrooper son to be a hero, just to come home for the Sabbath.
While the momentum is with the protest movement, a poll published Friday suggests 61 percent of Israelis remain opposed to a unilateral troop withdrawal, the fastest but also the riskiest way out of Lebanon.