Beirut airport and beyond
The attack by the IDF on the Beirut International airport was trumpeted in the media as the sign that Israel had (already) gone too far. After all, why should Israel punish Lebanon and destroy its newly rebuilt infrastructure just because of an attack on its soldiers miles away in the south. But, with the insoucience of ignorance none of the clever anchors or reporters seemed to know two things.
First, the airport is the hub whereby Syria tranships material and munitions from Iran to Hizbollah, and has been doing so for years. Every week a series of flights come into Beirut from Damascus carrying rockets and newly trained terrorists. What country, knowing that this is going on on its doorstep, and that it is a direct threat to the lives of its people and to its existence would sit by and do nothing - only Israel! Only Israel is intimidated by the vicious reaction of the media against any action that Israel takes, even in elementary self-defense. Hizbollah claims that it has 10,000 Katyushas (!), and today they hit Zefat (Safed) ca 12 km south of the border and Haifa ca. 30 km from the border - this is considered a major escalation. Today I saw a former Army Chief-of-staff interviewed on TV and he said that Israel should never have allowed this situation to develop, but he was CoS at the time and he did nothing!
Israel cannot tolerate such attacks, and this is presumably what Pres. Ahmedinejad has been warning when he announced that a "storm" would be inflicted on Israel. Already two Israelis have been killed and 120 wounded in a barrage of rockets on northern Israel, and up to 1 million people are now considered to be within range. In fact one theory as to why Hizbollah unleashed its attacks now (in the tourist season) is that Iran wanted to preempt the summit meeting of the "G8" leading countries that is due to take place in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
The second issue is the fate of the two kidnapped IDF soldiers, who are being held in Lebanon. There are credible reports that Hizbollah, that is funded and supported by Iran with Syrian involvement, wants to transfer the hostages to Iran. They no doubt feel that once there they will be beyond Israel's grasp, and an exchange can be dangled in front of Israel's eyes, as the soldiers are kept in custody and tortured. To prevent this happening Israel has put a blockade on Lebanon. So to those who think that Israel has "gone too far" as usual, think again.
Now that Israel has been forced into a two-front war by the deliberate aggression of the Islamist terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizbollah, the Israel Government must define its military and political aims. The military aims are fairly obvious, to release the kidnapped soldiers, and to stop the firing of Kassam and Katyusha rockets into Israeli territory.
The political aims are less clear-cut. One of them should be to eliminate Khaled Mashaal, who is the Hamas leader in Damascus responsible for the attacks in Gaza, and Sheikh Nasrallah, who is the mastermind behind the Hizbollah aggression. But, these actions must be delayed until the fate of our hostages is known, so that the terrorists holding them do not kill them in retaliation.
In more general terms, it should be Israel's aim to disarm Hizbollah and have the Lebanese Army take over responsibility for southern Lebanon and the border area, as envisaged in UN resolution SC1559 (it is unusual that in this situation Israel has the UN officially on its side. Ironically we might do for Lebanon what it cannot do for itself. If this is not accomplished we will be back again in Lebanon as we were 20 years ago.
Similarly we should aim to topple the terrorist Hamas Government of the PA. Have you noticed how Pres. Abbas and Fatah have been playing no role in the current crisis. Ironically, instead of Fatah eliminating Hamas as PM Rabin originally envisaged when he allowed Arafat to return from Tunis (one of the biggest mistakes Israel ever made), Fatah/Abbas are leaving it to the IDF to accomplish that goal. After we have done their dirty work maybe Fatah would then be ready to actually negotiate with us.
The defeat of Egypt and Jordan in several wars finally resulted in their negotiating peace treaties with Israel. Only once the Palestinians are forced to recognize that they cannot defeat the IDF and that they are much more likely to achieve their goals by peaceful means will there be a chance for a negotiated settlement. Until then it is the survival of the fittest.
First, the airport is the hub whereby Syria tranships material and munitions from Iran to Hizbollah, and has been doing so for years. Every week a series of flights come into Beirut from Damascus carrying rockets and newly trained terrorists. What country, knowing that this is going on on its doorstep, and that it is a direct threat to the lives of its people and to its existence would sit by and do nothing - only Israel! Only Israel is intimidated by the vicious reaction of the media against any action that Israel takes, even in elementary self-defense. Hizbollah claims that it has 10,000 Katyushas (!), and today they hit Zefat (Safed) ca 12 km south of the border and Haifa ca. 30 km from the border - this is considered a major escalation. Today I saw a former Army Chief-of-staff interviewed on TV and he said that Israel should never have allowed this situation to develop, but he was CoS at the time and he did nothing!
Israel cannot tolerate such attacks, and this is presumably what Pres. Ahmedinejad has been warning when he announced that a "storm" would be inflicted on Israel. Already two Israelis have been killed and 120 wounded in a barrage of rockets on northern Israel, and up to 1 million people are now considered to be within range. In fact one theory as to why Hizbollah unleashed its attacks now (in the tourist season) is that Iran wanted to preempt the summit meeting of the "G8" leading countries that is due to take place in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
The second issue is the fate of the two kidnapped IDF soldiers, who are being held in Lebanon. There are credible reports that Hizbollah, that is funded and supported by Iran with Syrian involvement, wants to transfer the hostages to Iran. They no doubt feel that once there they will be beyond Israel's grasp, and an exchange can be dangled in front of Israel's eyes, as the soldiers are kept in custody and tortured. To prevent this happening Israel has put a blockade on Lebanon. So to those who think that Israel has "gone too far" as usual, think again.
Now that Israel has been forced into a two-front war by the deliberate aggression of the Islamist terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizbollah, the Israel Government must define its military and political aims. The military aims are fairly obvious, to release the kidnapped soldiers, and to stop the firing of Kassam and Katyusha rockets into Israeli territory.
The political aims are less clear-cut. One of them should be to eliminate Khaled Mashaal, who is the Hamas leader in Damascus responsible for the attacks in Gaza, and Sheikh Nasrallah, who is the mastermind behind the Hizbollah aggression. But, these actions must be delayed until the fate of our hostages is known, so that the terrorists holding them do not kill them in retaliation.
In more general terms, it should be Israel's aim to disarm Hizbollah and have the Lebanese Army take over responsibility for southern Lebanon and the border area, as envisaged in UN resolution SC1559 (it is unusual that in this situation Israel has the UN officially on its side. Ironically we might do for Lebanon what it cannot do for itself. If this is not accomplished we will be back again in Lebanon as we were 20 years ago.
Similarly we should aim to topple the terrorist Hamas Government of the PA. Have you noticed how Pres. Abbas and Fatah have been playing no role in the current crisis. Ironically, instead of Fatah eliminating Hamas as PM Rabin originally envisaged when he allowed Arafat to return from Tunis (one of the biggest mistakes Israel ever made), Fatah/Abbas are leaving it to the IDF to accomplish that goal. After we have done their dirty work maybe Fatah would then be ready to actually negotiate with us.
The defeat of Egypt and Jordan in several wars finally resulted in their negotiating peace treaties with Israel. Only once the Palestinians are forced to recognize that they cannot defeat the IDF and that they are much more likely to achieve their goals by peaceful means will there be a chance for a negotiated settlement. Until then it is the survival of the fittest.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home