How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part II: Hezbollah Not Really So Much Included
In 1984, George Orwell famously defined doublethink as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them". For instance, the State Department could state unequivocally that the government of Lebanon is not a party to the war...
Fernandez rebuk[ed the Israeli] position toward the Lebanese government. He specifically said: "If it gets me in trouble, it gets me in trouble. I don't care. The Israeli Government has said 'we hold the Lebanese government responsible.' The US Government has not said that, and we don't believe that."...
... and a week later insist that this conflict is only the government of Lebanon and Israel:
BLITZER: Well, what about Hezbollah? Is there any indication that this group that you characterize as a terror group will go ahead and play ball, will cooperate? RICE: Well, let's remember that the parties to this cessation of hostilities will be the Lebanese government and the government of Israel. Hezbollah, of course, has ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet, and we've been working with the government of Lebanon, and assuming that the government of Lebanon is making sure that all parties represented in its government will abide by the cease-fire. But let's remember that we have a democratically elected government of Lebanon whose territory is at issue here, and the democratically elected government of Israel whose territory is at issue here. And when they accept this, we expect that there's going to be adherence to the cessation.
Orwell went on to explain that doublethink involved the need "to tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies" - so for instance, sometimes the US State Department needs to insist that the Prime Minster of Lebanon is an innocent bystander to Hezbollah's recklessness (even though he made Hezbollah part of the Lebanese government, ignored their use of human shields, and defended their attacks on Israel) - during those times, it's important that the government of Lebanon have nothing to do with the war. But other times, the US State Department needs to pretend that a deal that humiliates Israel can actually work - and during those times, it's critical that they forget what they already the fact that Hezbollah has announced that its committed to the complete eradication of the Jews in Israel. So suddenly, this is a conflict between the governments of Israel and Lebanon. How creative of them.
How stupid is the idea that Hezbollah isn't involved? Let's look at the text of the draft itself:
Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements: - full respect for the Blue Line by both parties
The government of Lebanon... wait for it... isn't the party that violated the Blue Line! That was Hezbollah. So the actual party that crossed the Blue Line into Israeli territory - the party that started the war - is literally (literally (!!)) not even called upon to stop doing so.
Fernandez rebuk[ed the Israeli] position toward the Lebanese government. He specifically said: "If it gets me in trouble, it gets me in trouble. I don't care. The Israeli Government has said 'we hold the Lebanese government responsible.' The US Government has not said that, and we don't believe that."...
... and a week later insist that this conflict is only the government of Lebanon and Israel:
BLITZER: Well, what about Hezbollah? Is there any indication that this group that you characterize as a terror group will go ahead and play ball, will cooperate? RICE: Well, let's remember that the parties to this cessation of hostilities will be the Lebanese government and the government of Israel. Hezbollah, of course, has ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet, and we've been working with the government of Lebanon, and assuming that the government of Lebanon is making sure that all parties represented in its government will abide by the cease-fire. But let's remember that we have a democratically elected government of Lebanon whose territory is at issue here, and the democratically elected government of Israel whose territory is at issue here. And when they accept this, we expect that there's going to be adherence to the cessation.
Orwell went on to explain that doublethink involved the need "to tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies" - so for instance, sometimes the US State Department needs to insist that the Prime Minster of Lebanon is an innocent bystander to Hezbollah's recklessness (even though he made Hezbollah part of the Lebanese government, ignored their use of human shields, and defended their attacks on Israel) - during those times, it's important that the government of Lebanon have nothing to do with the war. But other times, the US State Department needs to pretend that a deal that humiliates Israel can actually work - and during those times, it's critical that they forget what they already the fact that Hezbollah has announced that its committed to the complete eradication of the Jews in Israel. So suddenly, this is a conflict between the governments of Israel and Lebanon. How creative of them.
How stupid is the idea that Hezbollah isn't involved? Let's look at the text of the draft itself:
Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements: - full respect for the Blue Line by both parties
The government of Lebanon... wait for it... isn't the party that violated the Blue Line! That was Hezbollah. So the actual party that crossed the Blue Line into Israeli territory - the party that started the war - is literally (literally (!!)) not even called upon to stop doing so.
