07.20.2006

On July 17, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed the Knesset, Israel's legislature. "There are moments in the life of a nation when it is compelled to look directly into the face of reality and say: No more!" he thundered. "And I say to everyone: No more! Israel will not be held hostage – not by terror gangs or by a terrorist authority or by any sovereign state." Israel, Olmert stated, is fighting for "everything that everyone in the enlightened world takes for granted and never imagined that they would have to fight for – the right to a normal life. … We have no intention of giving up our desire to live a normal life. We will not apologize for this desire, and we do not need anyone's approval to defend ourselves."

Israel will have to maintain that sense of moral backbone if it is to emerge victorious from this latest Arab attempt to obliterate it. It cannot expect the world's support or approval. For once in its short life, Israel will have to abandon its ridiculous commitment to the "community of nations" – a community of nations that wishes to see Israel eviscerated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Israel's defensive incursion into the Gaza Strip and Lebanon unacceptable, involving as it does the "use of full-scale force." "All the sides that are involved in the conflict must immediately cease military action," says Putin. This from the likes of a ruthless former KGB agent whose country is historically responsible for gulags, pogroms, unceasing expansionism and mass extermination of political opposition.

Pope Benedict XVI equated Israel's response with the actions of Hezbollah and Hamas, explaining, "neither terrorist acts or reprisals, especially when they have such tragic consequences on the civilian population, can be justified." The Vatican should have little moral authority in the realm of international politics, especially when it comes to Israel. No long-standing organized religious institution promotes the sort of international moral relativism the Vatican espouses. And in light of its history, the Vatican hardly has the standing to condemn a Jewish right to self-defense.

President Jacques Chirac of France says that Israel's response to the kidnapping of its soldiers and the coordinated terror attacks on its homeland has been "totally disproportionate." Of course, one would not expect a French president to know that the point of war is a completely disproportionate use of force culminating in victory. For the French, a proportionate response is, presumably, surrender.

While the world complains, Israel is busy doing the kind of necessary dirty work from which the world benefits. In 1956, Israel, along with Britain and France, temporarily prevented Egypt from nationalizing the Suez Canal and thereby monopolizing one of the world's most important trade routes. In 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear power plant in Osiraq, setting back Saddam Hussein's attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction. In 1982, Israel's invasion of Lebanon destroyed a good deal of terrorist infrastructure in an area that was one giant terrorist training camp. If America is the world's policeman, Israel is the Middle East's custodian.

Now, Israel may have to do what the world secretly wishes: It may have to dismantle both the Syrian and the Iranian regimes, the true sources of terror in the Middle East. If Israel decides to finally do what it must to assure its long-term security, it will attack those regimes. America can and should provide support; thankfully, President Bush seems quite willing to do so. Meanwhile, the world will doubtless shed a few tears and stamp its feet at Israeli aggression while it quietly pops champagne.

World Net Daily

 Lebanon: The Only Exit Strategy

07.20.2006

There is crisis and there is opportunity. Amid the general wringing of hands over the seemingly endless and escalating Israel-Hezbollah fighting, everyone asks: Where will it end?

The answer, blindingly clear, begins with understanding that this crisis represents a rare, perhaps irreproducible, opportunity.

Every important party in the region and in the world, except the radical Islamists in Tehran and their clients in Damascus, wants Hezbollah disarmed and removed from south Lebanon so that it is no longer able to destabilize the peace of both Lebanon and the broader Middle East.

Which parties? Start with the great powers. In September 2004 they passed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, demanding that Hezbollah disarm and allow the Lebanese army to take back control of south Lebanon.

The resolution enjoyed the sponsorship of the United States and, yes, France. As the former mandatory power in Lebanon, France was important in helping the Lebanese expel Syria during last year's Cedar Revolution, but it understands that Lebanon's independence and security are forfeit so long as Hezbollah — a lawless, terrorist, private militia answering to Syria and Iran — occupies south Lebanon as a rogue mini-state.

Then there are the Arabs, beginning with the Lebanese who want Hezbollah out. The majority of Lebanese — Christian, Druze, Sunni Muslim and secular — bitterly resent their country's being hijacked by Hezbollah and turned into a war zone. And in the name of what Lebanese interest? Israel evacuated every square inch of Lebanon six years ago.

The other Arabs have spoken, too. In a stunning development, the 22-member Arab League criticized Hezbollah for provoking the current crisis. It is unprecedented for the Arab League to criticize any Arab party while it is actively engaged in hostilities with Israel. But the Arab states know that Hezbollah, a Shiite militia in the service of Persian Iran, is a threat not just to Lebanon but to them as well. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have openly criticized Hezbollah for starting a war on what is essentially Iran's timetable (to distract attention from Iran's pending referral to the Security Council for sanctions over its nuclear program). They are far more worried about Iran and its proxies than about Israel. They are therefore eager to see Hezbollah disarmed and defanged.

Fine. Everyone agrees it must be done. But who to do it? No one. The Lebanese are too weak. The Europeans don't invade anyone. After its bitter experience of 20 years ago, the United States has a Lebanon allergy. And Israel could not act out of the blue because it would immediately have been branded the aggressor and forced to retreat.

Hence the golden, unprecedented opportunity. Hezbollah makes a fatal mistake. It crosses the U.N.-delineated international frontier to attack Israel, kill soldiers and take hostages. This aggression is so naked that even Russia joins in the Group of Eight summit communique blaming Hezbollah for the violence and calling for the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty in the south.

But only one country has the capacity to do the job. That is Israel, now recognized by the world as forced into this fight by Hezbollah's aggression.

The road to a solution is therefore clear: Israel liberates south Lebanon and gives it back to the Lebanese.

It starts by preparing the ground with air power, just as the Persian Gulf War began with a 40-day air campaign. But if all that happens is the air campaign, the result will be failure. Hezbollah will remain in place, Israel will remain under the gun, Lebanon will remain divided and unfree. And this war will start again at a time of Hezbollah and Iran's choosing.

Just as in Kuwait in 1991, what must follow the air campaign is a land invasion to clear the ground and expel the occupier. Israel must retake south Lebanon and expel Hezbollah. It would then declare the obvious: that it has no claim to Lebanese territory and is prepared to withdraw and hand south Lebanon over to the Lebanese army (augmented perhaps by an international force), thus finally bringing about what the world has demanded — implementation of Resolution 1559 and restoration of south Lebanon to Lebanese sovereignty.

Only two questions remain: Israel's will and America's wisdom. Does Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have the courage to do what is so obviously necessary? And will Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's upcoming peace trip to the Middle East force a premature cease-fire that spares her the humiliation of coming home empty-handed but prevents precisely the kind of decisive military outcome that would secure the interests of Israel, Lebanon, the moderate Arabs and the West?

Jewish World review

Israeli Air Force Strikes Nasrallah's Bunker

07.20.2006

IAF fighter jets dropped over 20 tons in bombs late Wednesday night on a Hizbullah bunker, possibly the hiding place of the group's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in southeast Beirut. It was still unclear who was in the bunker at the time and what their fate was, but IDF sources said the bunker was totally destroyed and that all that was left was a crater.

The IDF obtained intelligence information late Wednesday night that Hizbullah leaders possibly including Nasrallah had taken refuge inside the bunker. A wave of aircraft immediately took to the air and dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker.

IDF sources would not confirm that Nasrallah was in the bunker at the time, but said that high-ranking Hizbullah leaders were inside, and that it appeared that the attack was successful.

Hizbullah has said none of its "leaders or members" died in the IAF strike.

"The truth is that the building targeted by the enemy warplanes with 23 tons of explosives is just a building under construction to be a mosque for prayers," said the statement, issued on the group's Al-Manar TV and faxed to The Associated Press.

"It seems that the enemy wants to cover up its military and security failures with lies and claims of imaginary achievements," it said.

The IDF said the strike occurred between 8 and 9 pm but refused to give further details. Reporters in Beirut said they heard a huge explosion around 8:30 p.m.

Hizbullah has a headquarters compound in Bourj al-Barajneh that is off limits to the Lebanese police and army, so security officials could not confirm the strike.

Despite the airing of Hizbullah's claims that the IAF had hit a mosque under construction, the IDF Spokesman's office insisted to The Jerusalem Post early Thursday morning that the IAF had hit a Hizbullah bunker.

Also early Thursday morning, Israel's UN Ambassador Gillerman said in a CNN interview that "I can assure you that we know exactly what we hit. ... This was no religious site. This was indeed the headquarters of the Hizbullah leadership."

Since the IDF went to war with Lebanon last Wednesday, fighter jets have repeatedly bombed another bunker in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut, also said to be the main nerve center and headquarters of Hizbullah.

The IAF has so far carried over 3,000 sorties over Lebanon, and in the past day attacked 200 targets throughout the country, including Hizbullah headquarters, cars carrying terrorists, Katyusha launchers and weapons warehouses.

Jerusalem Post