EU Diplomacy with Hezbollah Yields Typical Results; Regional War Possible
Last month, the EU promised that their diplomatic meetings with Hezbollah would work to moderate the group (even though appeasement in the form of persistently not placing Hezbollah on their terrorist list had always mysteriously failed to moderate terrorists). This morning, Hezbollah continued to not moderate by trying to drag the entire Middle East into war:
Following an afternoon of escalating violence along the northeastern border between Israel and Lebanon, residents of the north from the Mediterranean to Mount Hermon were ordered into bomb shelters Monday evening for the first time in years. In the latest development, Hizbullah extended the fighting across the entire northern border, as mortars landed near the towns of Nahariya and Shlomi...
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz, speaking from his headquarters in Tel-Aviv, said the Hizbullah attack on the northeastern border throughout the afternoon was a coordinated combination gunfire, mortar fire and kidnap attempt. "Syrian and Iranian interests are behind this event. Their interest is to escalate the situation in the north to alleviate the pressure off Syria," Mofaz said.
Over the last decade, Israel has done everything the international community has demanded regarding Lebanon: not retaliated with massive force when its soldiers were kidnapped and murdered, not demanded proper retribution when its citizens were kidnapped and held captive, freed Hezbollah prisoners and terrorists, and withdrawn from all Lebanese territory. In return, the United Nations has actively aided Hezbollah in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldiers, the US has demanded that Israel appease Hezbollah by ceding land to the terrorists, and the EU has refused to even identify Hezbollah as terrorists.
Hezbollah is either an extra-national group launching hundreds of bombs at civilians to achieve political ends - in which case they're either terrorists or the label has no meaning - or they're an armed extension of some nation-state. If they're an armed extension of some nation-state, then a member of the United Nations has just committed an open act of war against another member of the United Nations. Unfortunately, there is little doubt that the silence will be deafening - any attack or outrage against Israel short of the explicit invocation of nuclear weaponry seems to be on the spectrum of things countries do in the international community. Some countries will trade goods and services, some will push towards internationalism, and some will launch attacks against Israel. Israel itself, on the other hand, sometimes fails to share said complacence regarding said double standard, and might choose to interpret this act of war as, well, an act of war.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
Following an afternoon of escalating violence along the northeastern border between Israel and Lebanon, residents of the north from the Mediterranean to Mount Hermon were ordered into bomb shelters Monday evening for the first time in years. In the latest development, Hizbullah extended the fighting across the entire northern border, as mortars landed near the towns of Nahariya and Shlomi...
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz, speaking from his headquarters in Tel-Aviv, said the Hizbullah attack on the northeastern border throughout the afternoon was a coordinated combination gunfire, mortar fire and kidnap attempt. "Syrian and Iranian interests are behind this event. Their interest is to escalate the situation in the north to alleviate the pressure off Syria," Mofaz said.
Over the last decade, Israel has done everything the international community has demanded regarding Lebanon: not retaliated with massive force when its soldiers were kidnapped and murdered, not demanded proper retribution when its citizens were kidnapped and held captive, freed Hezbollah prisoners and terrorists, and withdrawn from all Lebanese territory. In return, the United Nations has actively aided Hezbollah in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldiers, the US has demanded that Israel appease Hezbollah by ceding land to the terrorists, and the EU has refused to even identify Hezbollah as terrorists.
Hezbollah is either an extra-national group launching hundreds of bombs at civilians to achieve political ends - in which case they're either terrorists or the label has no meaning - or they're an armed extension of some nation-state. If they're an armed extension of some nation-state, then a member of the United Nations has just committed an open act of war against another member of the United Nations. Unfortunately, there is little doubt that the silence will be deafening - any attack or outrage against Israel short of the explicit invocation of nuclear weaponry seems to be on the spectrum of things countries do in the international community. Some countries will trade goods and services, some will push towards internationalism, and some will launch attacks against Israel. Israel itself, on the other hand, sometimes fails to share said complacence regarding said double standard, and might choose to interpret this act of war as, well, an act of war.
[Cross-posted at IsraPundit]
