By Klaus Rohrich
Friday, august 11, 2006
The recent violent confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah leaves Israel in a precarious position, as its ultimate resolution will be a loss for Israel, no matter what happens. Hezbollah has cleverly manipulated Israel into causing civilian casualties in Lebanon, knowing that the trained seals of most of the world's media will react with knee-jerk precision in condemning Israel for retaliating against an enemy that fights while hiding among civilians. Hence a large number of media outlets are colluding with Hezbollah in attempts to make the Israelis look like bloodthirsty savages, with Reuters going so far as to run retouched photographs to make the carnage appear worse than it actually is.
In the process of defending itself, Israel is causing death and destruction among a large part of the civilian population of Southern Lebanon, many of whom are now becoming sympathetic to Hezbollah because that group is Israel's avowed enemy.
These civilians do not see or understand the dynamics that created this conflict as they are too consumed with their personal suffering to be able to take an objective view. as far as they are concerned they are Muslims and Hezbollah are Muslims while the Israelis are Jews. and most Muslims in the Middle East understand that the only good Jew is a dead Jew, hence Hezbollah is now able to recruit large numbers of new fighters to replace those the Israelis have killed.
While Hezbollah's recent signal that it would look favorably upon a cease-fire is an indication that they are losing the current war, it is also yet another trap for Israel, designed to make the Israelis appear more bellicose. Naturally Israel is not interested in a cessation of hostilities until such time that it can guarantee the security of its northern borders with Lebanon. So long as Hezbollah remains in tact, that guarantee remains elusive and consequently the Israelis will continue to take the war deeper into Lebanon until they have achieved their objectives.
The only way that Israel can "win" this war is to completely and utterly destroy Hezbollah and ensuring that the current top Hezbollah leadership is also completely wiped out. That will buy Israel some time, while it will not endear it to the arab states, the Europeans, or the UN for that matter. But then, the only way that Israel could gain favor from those entities is if it were to self-destruct and wipe itself completely off the face of the earth.
Israel has learned that it cannot rely on the good will of the world to ensure its survival. Certainly the UN has taken sides against Israel and will do so no matter what the circumstances, as the powerful pan-Islamic lobby has in effect hijacked that organization. additionally, the EU and particularly France have nothing to gain by supporting Israel and everything to lose. Recently, French foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy went so far as to praise Iran for being a stabilizing influence in the Middle East. This is the same Iran that vowed to "wipe Israel off the map" and the same Iran that is currently in the process of being sanctioned for its development of a nuclear weapons program. Why would Douste-Blazy go to that length? Hard to say, but if I were a wagering person, I'd wager that France is probably providing the Iranians with parts for their nuclear weapons program in exchange for cheap oil.
If Israel manages to destroy Hezbollah completely it will only be a temporary victory as the number of Islamic nutters ready to jump into the fray is growing on a daily basis. But a temporary victory against an implacable enemy like Hezbollah is better than a cease-fire imposed upon Israel by the UN's pan-Islamic cartel and their captive Western appeasers. Israel's worst-case scenario is a new contingent of UN "peacekeepers" that would supposedly ensure Israel's security. Given the history of the previous UN peacekeeping missions in the area, this force would neither be able to guarantee Israel's security nor keep the peace.
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