The Israeli government has repeatedly said that our war is not with Lebanon, only with Hizbullah. At first, I thought this was correct and that it was important to emphasize that. But maybe I was wrong.
This is a weird war we are fighting. We are inside Lebanon, but its government is just a bystander. It makes all kinds of statements, but takes no real action. In that respect, it is exactly the same as the UN, France, Italy or any other outside party. As retired Major General Giora Island, former head of Israel's National Security Council, said today: the world should make Lebanon take responsibility for what's going on. It must decide: who is the sovereign - the Lebanese government or Hizbullah? If the government decides that it is the sovereign, it must take immediate action against Hizbullah - and if it can't, it must ask for assistance. If it recognizes its own lack of power and the sovereignty of Hizbullah, than the war is an all-out war between the two countries.
The question of sovereignty must be made clear so it will be known who is accountable on each side.
Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East
Farewell to Steve Silberman
2 days ago
You don't seem to understand the influence that Hesbollah has at all levels of Lebanese life with their commercial arms and charity arms. They have a national reach and lots of respect for throwing the Israelis out in 82. Lebanon is a democracy - the government is not going to alienate itself from the people so they are not going to talk badly of Hesbolah. Also the Lebanese gov't. knows they can't defend against Israel and Hesbollah can - so they don't stop Hesbollah, exp since they are Lebonese themselves
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly the point. If most of Lebanon supports Hizbullah, then this is a war against Lebanon, not just Hizbullah.
ReplyDelete"Lebanon is a democracy - the government is not going to alienate itself from the people so they are not going to talk badly of Hesbolah."
It's a sad paradox. Lebanon is a democracy, yet it still has a militia in it that undemocraticly decides things the government has no say in (like starting a war, or even ending it).
The extension of your logic is that Hesbollah then should not be made a terorist group.
ReplyDeleteHesbollah kicked the Israelis out of Southern Lebanon last time, something the Lebanese army can't do, hence it's popularity among the people of Lebanon and thus making it a minor political player prior to the Israeli invasion.
What Israel has done is ensure the Hesbollah will be more wildly popular than ever before in Lebanon's politics. The only way way they will agree to disarm now will be if they became absorbed in the Lebanese military.
"The extension of your logic is that Hesbollah then should not be made a terorist group."
ReplyDeleteIf they are the real rulers of Lebanon it doesn't mean they aren't terrorists. It's like the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"Hesbollah kicked the Israelis out of Southern Lebanon last time, something the Lebanese army can't do, hence it's popularity among the people of Lebanon and thus making it a minor political player prior to the Israeli invasion.
What Israel has done is ensure the Hesbollah will be more wildly popular than ever before in Lebanon's politics. The only way way they will agree to disarm now will be if they became absorbed in the Lebanese military."
While Hizbullah kicked us out of Lebanon, it's also the one that dragged us back in. Had it not attacked the IDF patrol on the Israeli side of the border we would not be there now.
On July 12, it was a Catch-22 situation for Israel. Respond, and Hizbullah's popularity will rise. Don't respond, and its popularity will still rise because it has heroicly attacked the Zionist Enemy without any consequences.
While Hizbullah kicked us out of Lebanon, it's also the one that dragged us back in. Had it not attacked the IDF patrol on the Israeli side of the border we would not be there now.
ReplyDelete==
You poor victims. Hmmm, really fell for that one, didn't you.