WASHINGTON — To the grizzled and disheveled stalwarts of
Hezbollah and Hamas, may I say you did it to yourselves.
Kapow! As another Israeli bomb lands nearby, as a shell
whizzes overhead, may I remind you that you are hunkering down
either on Gaza or on Lebanese soil that was evacuated by the
Israelis so that you could live in peace. And what did you donkeys
do? You tunneled under the Israeli borders to infiltrate Israel and
kill innocent civilians. You established an infrastructure of
missiles to rain down destruction on Israeli cities that were at
peace, providing security and prosperity for both Jews and Arabs.
You captured Israeli soldiers in an unprovoked attack.
Kapow! You are getting just what you deserve.
Moreover the terrorists of Hezbollah and Hamas have revealed to
any sensible observer that they have no interest in peace with
Israel or with the West, for that matter. Needless to say, they
have no interest in a peaceful Gaza or Lebanon. The same
bellicosity afflicts the allies of these terrorists in Syria and
Iran. The brutes in these governments are pitiless and belligerent
tyrants. Listening to their sophistries about their need for
nuclear power or their desire for a peaceful world puts me in mind
of all the irenic poetry of the late Herr Hitler back when things
were good for him in the middle 1930s. It all ended badly — for
everyone. When in May 1940 Winston Churchill became prime minister,
he thought himself a failure. He recognized that all his
admonitions against the Nazis in the previous decade had proved
futile. Now only world war would bring peace.
The land from which Hezbollah has been firing missiles was
supposed to be free of militias, according to United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1559. The Taif Accords, by which the
Lebanese civil war was ended, also called for disarming the
militias and giving the Lebanese army control of its border. United
Nations peacekeepers have been stationed there to see that these
diplomatic measures were implemented. Obviously once again UN
peacekeepers have failed. Though at least in southern Lebanon the
peacekeepers have not raped and pillaged. Pacifying the region is
obviously going to be left to the Israelis. I hope our government
resupplies them as soon as they finish the business.
Yet that leaves a large question. What are the next measures to
be taken to secure peace in the Middle East? Again the terrorists
have foolishly tipped their hand. They have revealed with their
missile attacks that the missiles they have access to are
increasingly powerful. Now they are landing them on Haifa. Next
they will be landing them on Tel Aviv. In time they will be able to
hit anywhere in Israel. Israel is going to have to take action to
see to it that no more missile attacks are possible and that
Hezbollah’s suppliers — Syria and Iran — stop arming them.
I would think this means that Israel for the short term is going
to have to take control of the border regions of Lebanon and of
Gaza from which it withdrew. Reportedly some 50% of Hezbollah’s
missile-launching capacity has been destroyed. Perhaps this is
accurate, but only troops on the ground will be able to ensure that
the terrorists do not return with their missiles. Yet even troops
in Lebanon cannot deny Hezbollah’s acquisition of ever more
powerful weapons. That means its suppliers are going to have to be
dealt with.
Diplomacy does not seem to work with the Syrians or with the
Iranians. We have been dealing with the Iranians diplomatically on
their nuclear capacity for months. They remain obdurate and
dishonest, and now their clients have unleashed war against Israel.
The only recourse might well be the recourse taken by Israel in
June 1981 when Israeli aircraft destroyed Iraq’s nuclear
facilities. Many, even many conservatives, get very agitated by
such suggestions. Well, allow me to remind them of President Ronald
Reagan’s reaction when his National Security Adviser informed him
in the Oval Office of the Israeli bombing. They used bombers we had
sold them, the adviser harrumphed. “Well,” said the Old Cowboy,
“boys will be boys.” That, of course, is how Reagan expressed what
is the oldest idea known to man: philosophical acceptance of the
inevitable.
