Chicago Sun Times Editorial - Hezbollah attacks spread new fears across Mideast
Chicago Sun Times Editorial - Hezbollah attacks spread new fears across Mideast
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
July 18, 2006
Rarely have Arab leaders openly criticized a terrorist attack on Israel, rarely have they opposed it. So the comments from influential Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians condemning Hezbollah's unwarranted attacks on Israel -- the kidnapping of two soldiers and the firing of missiles on Haifa and other towns -- were historic. There seems to be a dawning recognition from Sunni countries that Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a menace to the Middle East.
"These acts will put the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, reportedly said at an emergency meeting of the Arab League last weekend.
Since its creation in the 1980s, Hezbollah -- whose mission is to destroy Israel -- has been a creature of Iran, funded by the ayatollahs and trained by the Iranian military. It has also had the encouragement of Syria, which was forced out of Lebanon last year after an 18-year occupation. Israel's Arab neighbors have become more openly worried about the intentions of Shiite-dominated Iran, which has expanded its influence in Iraq, foments the spread of radical Islamic groups in Sunni countries, funds terrorism against Israel and has nuclear ambitions. The magnitude of the havoc Iran is wreaking now should be a warning of the great peril a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the world.
Last summer, after Israel pulled out of Gaza, suggesting the possibility of an independent Palestinian state and while Lebanon was rebuilding itself, it looked as if some stability could come to the region. But the growing attacks by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza against villages in Israel, the election of the terrorist Hamas organization to run the Palestinian Authority and, finally, the aggression from Hezbollah have made it impossible for Israelis to achieve their dream of living in a country of calm. But they are not the only victims of Hezbollah's violence: The economic and architectural resurrection of Beirut -- once known as the Paris of the Levant -- has been sadly undone.
It is understandable that Sunni Arab countries such as Egypt are worried about Iranian motives. But the Lebanese government also holds responsibility; the United Nations called for it to replace Hezbollah militants at the southern border with Lebanese soldiers and it failed to act.
The Europeans have criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government for not taking more measured steps against Hezbollah, but that is an absurdity. Israel, that little slip of land, is, once again, fighting for its life and the only measure it can take is to strike back forcefully. The Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has often likened Israel to a "spider's web" that can be swept away. He underestimates Israeli resolve. As Olmert told his parliament Monday: "Only a people willing to defend its freedom deserves that freedom." Israel must rigorously defend its right to exist.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
July 18, 2006
Rarely have Arab leaders openly criticized a terrorist attack on Israel, rarely have they opposed it. So the comments from influential Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians condemning Hezbollah's unwarranted attacks on Israel -- the kidnapping of two soldiers and the firing of missiles on Haifa and other towns -- were historic. There seems to be a dawning recognition from Sunni countries that Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a menace to the Middle East.
"These acts will put the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, reportedly said at an emergency meeting of the Arab League last weekend.
Since its creation in the 1980s, Hezbollah -- whose mission is to destroy Israel -- has been a creature of Iran, funded by the ayatollahs and trained by the Iranian military. It has also had the encouragement of Syria, which was forced out of Lebanon last year after an 18-year occupation. Israel's Arab neighbors have become more openly worried about the intentions of Shiite-dominated Iran, which has expanded its influence in Iraq, foments the spread of radical Islamic groups in Sunni countries, funds terrorism against Israel and has nuclear ambitions. The magnitude of the havoc Iran is wreaking now should be a warning of the great peril a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the world.
Last summer, after Israel pulled out of Gaza, suggesting the possibility of an independent Palestinian state and while Lebanon was rebuilding itself, it looked as if some stability could come to the region. But the growing attacks by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza against villages in Israel, the election of the terrorist Hamas organization to run the Palestinian Authority and, finally, the aggression from Hezbollah have made it impossible for Israelis to achieve their dream of living in a country of calm. But they are not the only victims of Hezbollah's violence: The economic and architectural resurrection of Beirut -- once known as the Paris of the Levant -- has been sadly undone.
It is understandable that Sunni Arab countries such as Egypt are worried about Iranian motives. But the Lebanese government also holds responsibility; the United Nations called for it to replace Hezbollah militants at the southern border with Lebanese soldiers and it failed to act.
The Europeans have criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government for not taking more measured steps against Hezbollah, but that is an absurdity. Israel, that little slip of land, is, once again, fighting for its life and the only measure it can take is to strike back forcefully. The Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has often likened Israel to a "spider's web" that can be swept away. He underestimates Israeli resolve. As Olmert told his parliament Monday: "Only a people willing to defend its freedom deserves that freedom." Israel must rigorously defend its right to exist.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 6:45 AM
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