It is not even a challenge any more to find daily examples of the international community’s hypocrisy when it comes to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Today we hear that Lebanese military forces have razed a Palestinian “refugee camp” in their country and killed an untold number of people. The world’s response? Nada. Continue reading »

Lebanon’s military forces have for the past week been pounding Islamic terrorists operating out of a Palestinian “refugee camp” in the north of the country. Not wanting to risk large military casualties, the Lebanese army has primarily been using tank fire and artillery to target their enemies.

According to numbers presented by the media, at least 50 terrorists have been killed, along with untold numbers of civilians.

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Michael Williams, special advisor on the Middle East to the new UN chief, assured the world on Tuesday that during his recent visit to Jerusalem he “forcefully” let Israel know that its violations of Lebanese airspace are unacceptable.

But I wonder if the UN has employed equal force in insisting that Lebanon comply with its obligations under the truce deal that ended last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah?

Of course, I know the answer to that one.

Apparently, these nitwits are more concerned about Lebanon’s sovereignty over the air than they are about another war erupting because still-heavily-armed Hezbollah can’t keep its missiles in its pants.

As if its first two reports regarding the summer’s Lebanon war were not enough, Amnesty International this week released a third report making sure everyone is clear that it believes Israel is guilty of war crimes.

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested following talks with her Saudi counterpart on Tuesday that the Arab world has come to a concensus on the need to recognize Israel’s right to exist as the Jewish state.

Either Rice is visiting a Middle East in some parallel universe, or she is severely out of touch with the will of the Arab street.

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Reading through the news today on the arms embargo Israel and the international community are trying to implement against Hizb’allah, it struck me how naive the world’s relations with the Arab Middle East remain to this day.

Germany has sent a team of border police and customs experts to advise the Lebanese on how to most effectively keep their borders shut to illegal terrorist arms shipments. The very misguided assumption is that Beirut wants to and will deny terrorists such as Hizb’allah the arms they need just as vigorously as Germany, Britain or the US would.

For some reason, the world continues to ignore the fact that a large portion of the Lebanese vote for Hizb’allah in national elections, the group has two ministers in the Cabinet, Lebanon’s president publicly praises Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as a national hero, and the army openly admits that it views Hizb’allah as a strategic military asset.

Imagine if following the 9/11 attacks on the US the international community decided to take Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at its word that no more arms or funds would reach the Al Qaeda killers in its midst. I doubt that would have been acceptable to most Americans.

Now, Lebanon is a country deeply divided down religious lines, and some sects and religions truly do want Hizb’allah gone. Some even take Israel’s side and openly support the Jewish state.

But those who genuinly oppose terrorism, even against Israel, are most definitely the exception in the Middle East, and are not the majority in Lebanon. Though Hizb’allah is Shi’ite and most of the Arab world is dominated by Sunni Islam, the maxim “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” forms the basis of most relations in this region, and few could care less about a group’s background so long as it is killing Jews and advancing the greater Arab cause.

And so, while the world believes that Hizb’allah’s minority base of direct support in Lebanon will equal success for the embargo, we can expect the terror group to begin taking delivery of Syrian and Iranian arms again in the very near future.

There is a lot of whining going on about those poor Lebanese civilians whose lives Israel shattered for no apparent reason (if the mainstream media is to be believed). This excellent editorial helps to put the whole situation in perspective.

I want to just post a few of the points here, though you really should read the whole thing.

The author makes the point most of the media is ignoring as it shows the scenes of “wanton Israeli destruction” - that is if the Lebanese, or any nation for that matter, allow a major terrorist organization to set itself up as a virtual army and then attack a neighboring state, there can be no claims of ignorance, surprise or innocense when the aggrieved come roaring back with their own military response.

But, he goes on, the media is purposely ignoring this aspect of the conflict, purposely ignoring the cause and only looking at the effect, knowing full well that scenes of pitiful Lebanese families will cause most to forget about everything but the Israeli bombs that created this situation. He uses this analogy to illustrate:

Seeing television snippets of wounded or dead Lebanese with people sitting on the ground crying and calling them all “innocent civilians” is the same as looking at a photograph of the armpit of Christie Brinkley and saying, “Here is the photo of a supermodel. Isn’t she beautiful?”

The armpit picture is only a part of the story. When human beings see babies or mothers hurting, no matter what, we feel the pain. If we saw baby pictures of Charles Manson, we would want to cuddle him.

The bottom line for the Lebanese:

You sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas. You sleep with missiles, you wake up dead.

The world has entrusted the success of a ceasefire, the basis for peace and stability between Israel and Lebanon, to the Hizb’allah terrorist organization. No one should have to explain why this is a bad idea, especially after a similar decision to put regional stability in the hands of Yasser Arafat and his PLO failed so miserably.

Everyone recognizes that the conditions for a future flare-up will exist until Hizb’allah disarms, and UN Security Council Resolution 1701 seems to acknowledge that. But it seems the terror group has been left to decide for itself whether or not to lay down its arms and allow peace to prevail.

No one - not international peacekeepers and not the Lebanese army - wants to actually confront Hizb’allah militarily in order to make sure it disarms.

Hizb’allah says its disarmament is an internal Lebanese issue, and so the government of Fuad Siniora tried to hold a government meeting on the matter Monday morning. But Hizb’allah refused to even discuss laying down its arms, and, unsurprisingly, Siniora immediately folded and called off the meeting. Will that be the end of the charade? Will the international community view that as a legitimate attempt to implement UN resolutions regarding Hizb’allah’s arms, and simply throw up its hands in defeat?

There is one force willing to do the job, but apparently the world will not countenance having Israel actually defeat an Arab Muslim entity.

The Lebanese government, in what news agencies described as an “extraordinary” event, decided unanimously Monday to deploy up to 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon, provided Israel withdraw its forces first. That decision is also certain to cause excitement in Washington and the capitals of Europe, as well as the halls of the UN. Continue reading »

Israel needs to wake up and declare war on the nation of Lebanon, rather than focus its military efforts solely on the Hizb’allah terrorist organization. The reasons are many, but the more important ones include the fact that successive Lebanese governments, including the current democratically-elected one, have allowed Hizb’allah to arm, flourish, take control of parts of the country and launch attacks on a neighboring state.

Lebanon is still officially in a state of war with Israel, and according to comments by Lebanon’s president and official statements by its armed forces, Hizb’allah is an invaluable strategic asset in that war. Continue reading »