This can’t be an enviable position for him and he squirms through this interview, but Tony Blair tells it like it is to the BBC—this is not about Israel’s “disproportionate” response:

JON SOPEL: Do you think Israel is using excessive force, as the Russians clearly think?

TONY BLAIR: You see I think - we’ve got to understand how this began with Israel, it began by Israeli soldiers being killed, some of the soldiers being kidnapped, rockets being fired from the Lebanon by Hizbollah, in to Israel, and though this is a difficult thing to say, I think it has to be said, I don’t think anybody really believes that this is just about Hizbollah and Israel. We are very worried about the influence of both Syria and Iran in respect of this and the, the only way we are going to get a calming down, a cease fire, restraint shown on all sides is if we deal with the underlying conditions, which are the reason why this conflict between Israel and Hizbollah has come about. …

The truth is, there is an arch of extremism right across that region, that wants to disrupt the process towards democracy and freedom, whether it’s in Iraq or in Lebanon or down in the Palestinian territory, that arch of extremism is being supported by countries like Iran and Syria, and the only way we are going to get peace in this situation, we can condemn Israel, we can condemn, erm, those elements of the Palestinian authority that are reacting badly, we can do all the condemnation we like. If we don’t resolve that basic issue and put ourselves as an international community firmly on the side of moderates, whether they’re in the Lebanon, Palestine or Israel, then we will rue the consequences of it.