Act II Starts - Israel and Lebanon: Then and Now

That was then:

Operation Litani
AlAkhbar alYawm, March 18 and March 27, 1978: "Hitlerite military adventure."
AlJumhuriyah, March 16, 1978: "part of the Zionist plot to annihilate the Palestinian people."

Operation Peace of the Galilee
June 16, 1982 NBC News, John Chancellor: ''...feeling Israel was turning into a warrior state, using far more force than is necessary to solve its problems.''
August 1982, NBC News, John Chancellor: "we are now dealing with an imperial Israel.'' [comparing bombing of Beirut to that of Madrid in the Spanish Civil War]

Of course the vituperation against Israel by the media was quite large and ongoing, especially from the State Controlled Arab Media, with nary a good thing to say about Israel and much support for the PLO, back then. With the PLO gone, Israel would only leave Lebanon if it felt there was some assurance that peace or at least stability could be kept. Unfortunately, Iran started up Hezbollah to ensure that this would not be the case. And so State funded and supported Hezbollah gets its guidance and backing from Iran and Syria and causes mischief at the behest of either. Thus the recent events now come into perspective with Iran under pressure to give up its nuclear ambitions, and on the same day they would announce they wouldn't, Hezbollah causes problems. They had thought that they could easily do as they always did and attack Israel with impunity, kidnap Israeli's and gain world spotlight so as to remove it from Iran. This time Israel refuses to follow *that* script.

Lebanon, since the ousting of Syria, has been a thorn in the side to both Syria and Iran each of which used it and Hezbollah for proxy war against Israel. Lebanon as a Sovereign Nation, however, now has the responsibilities of one, which includes keeping its *political* faction from attacking other Nations. If they do not, and give no indication that they will hold such *political* organizations accountable, then they are letting their Foreign Policy be hijacked by that faction by consent of silence. Without any *action* against Hezbollah, Lebanon as a WHOLE is responsible for its actions. That is how this game of Nations is played, and now Syria and Iran are finding out that it doesn't work well without their proxy.

Hezbollah and Hamas are coordinating attacks so as to try and pressure Israel, but forgetting that they are no longer *mere* terrorist organizations operating on their own. Hamas IS the government of Palestine, such as it is, and Hezbollah is a political entity of Lebanon. These differences mean that neither of them are now unaccountable to the normal course of State to State conflicts. In other words, they have given Jus ad bellum its full breadth and Israel may use their actions as Casus Belli to do as it pleases with either of them. Needless to say the fate of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and even, possibly, Iran, hangs in the balance.

Israel is a Sovereign Nation with all the rights thereof. And so it is no surprise to see some statements like the following in today's news..

This is Now:
Arab Foreign Minister's meeting in Cairo:

The Saudi foreign minister appeared to be leading a camp of ministers criticizing the guerrilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

"These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi al-Faisal told his counterparts.

Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

What, no wonderful 'resistance movement'? No *praise* for the brave martyrs of Hezbollah and Hamas?

And what about all those dead civilians we usually hear about:

Three days after the onset of the large-scale operation in Lebanon, army sources estimate that Hizbullah's head Hassan Nasrallah had expected a much more restrained Israeli response to the kidnapping of two soldiers on its border. "He didn't expect us to reach all those villages and substantially damage the long-range rocket infrastructure," the senior officer said.

According to the officer, civilians who were storing the rockets in their houses have been hit in some of the strikes. "We have no intention of hurting civilians, but those who live by the sword are bound to get hurt," he stressed. The strike on Beirut, he stated, was also a surprise for Nasrallah. "It's true that he has surprises for us as well. Some we know of, some we don't,"he said.

You mean that Hezbollah used their own *homes* to store long range rockets? Why... that make s them legitimate military targets.

But, of course, all these things are made by Hezbollah itself, right? (Courtesy: ABC News)

JERUSALEM Jul 15, 2006 (AP): A missile fired by Hezbollah, not an unmanned drone laden with explosives, damaged an Israeli warship off Lebanon, the army said Saturday.

The attack late Friday alarmed Israel because initial information indicated the guerrillas had used a drone for the first time to attack Israeli forces.

But the army's investigation showed that Hezbollah had fired an Iranian-made missile at the vessel from the shores of Lebanon, said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan.

"We can confirm that it was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah," Nehushtan said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Another Hezbollah missile also hit and sank a nearby merchant ship at around the same time, Nehushtan said. He said that ship apparently was Egyptian, but had no other information.

Why, it sounds like Iran got caught with its fingers in the cookie jar! And firing on an unarmed merchant vessel with a missile and sinking it... well that actually IS an act of war. Now, Iranian missile, Iranians helping to train and probably even fire the thing while Hezbollah gives cover.

Hello, Cairo?

Iran just declared war on you.

As I have been saying, Act I of terrorism in the Middle East properly stared in 1979, although the Palestinians did a great Prelude to it in the early 1970's. And now that Act I closes in Iraq, Iran is opening Act II in the Eastern Med, trying to get rid of Israel and get everyone mad at Israel. Unfortunately, the scenery has changed between acts, and that change of scenery started in Iraq and Lebanon. So instead of hitting an Israeli vessel and then an Egyptian and claiming it to be a *response*, it comes out as what it is meant to be: an act of War. They wanted Egypt to blame Israel, but those days are now over.

Instead of nice, calm waters to create a stir against Israel via Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran and Syria now open the floodgates of the dam that has been holding the waters back. Unfortunately, they are in the stream channel just downstream of it.

Unortunate... for THEM at any rate.

You see? Act I was *quiet* compared to this opening.