It’s a cycle of violence!
he UN humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah late Monday of “cowardly blending” among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel… Jan Egeland spoke with reporters at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus after a visit to Lebanon on his mission to coordinate an international aid effort… During that visit he condemned the killing and wounding of civilians by both sides, and called Israel’s offensive “disproportionate” and “a violation of international humanitarian law.” On Monday he had strong words for Hezbollah, which crossed into Israel and captured two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on July 12, triggering fierce fighting from both sides. “Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending … among women and children,” he said. “I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don’t think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.
We agree! So it’d be really nice if the United Nations – the body that’s supposed to be the highest monitor of humanitarian crimes – placed the blame for this situation on Hezbollah. That’s not an unreasonable suggestion – after all, it’s Hezbollah that’s putting up all the roadblocks to keep civilians trapped in their villages. But of course, the UN is way too busy condemning Israel to really notice that other “Arabs are trying to commit genocide” stuff.
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