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Israel Isn’t Attacking Lebanon; It’s Stopping Hezbollah
People take shelter during an air raid siren, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in central Israel, Oct. 1, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Iran’s recent launch of 182 ballistic missiles against Israel was ill-considered and despicable, but its motive was understandable. Iran was trying to reassure its middle east proxies that it would avenge the recent assaults against Hezbollah, Iran’s primary agent within its “ring of fire” (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq) that Iran has nurtured to accomplish the destruction of the Jewish State.
Less understandable to me, but just as infuriating, has been the Western media’s willingness to mischaracterize and distort events surrounding Israel’s new efforts to stop Hezbollah and its allies.
If you listened just to CNN and NBC (two sources I sometimes consult), you would think that Israel’s “expansion” of the northern front against Hezbollah was intended simply to expropriate sovereign Lebanese territory, and to abuse and harass the many thousands of civilians being displaced pursuant to Israeli evacuation notices preceding what are portrayed as indiscriminate bombings.
This myopic ascription of motivation and blame to Israel ignores critical background, including the continuing, malevolent role of Hezbollah in creating an existential threat to Israel’s well being and survival.
Under Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah formed a state within a state. His terror organization created the world’s largest private military, and dedicated itself to the liquidation of Israel via participation in the Iran-inspired ring of fire surrounding Israel.
In south Lebanon, bordering Israel, Hezbollah engineered an elaborate tunnel network full of terrorist infrastructure and installed approximately 100,000 missiles, rockets, and drones. This fearsome armament of south Lebanon violated not only the wishes of the nominal Lebanese government, but also the 2006 UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah/Israel war.
That resolution imposed a demilitarized zone south of the Litani River — within 16 miles of the Israeli border. Hezbollah nonetheless amassed massive armaments and military infrastructure in that area, thumbing its nose at the official Lebanese army and at UN soldiers acting as a peace-keeping force along the border.
Hezbollah’s array of terrorist infrastructure has proved to be much more than a lurking hazard. Following Hamas’ murderous incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah joined the Hamas effort to pummel Israel, this time by using south Lebanon as a launching ground for missiles and drones aimed at Israeli communities and military encampments in northern Israel.
Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah has fired more than 10,000 rockets, killing at least 51 people and damaging a multiplicity of structures in northern Israeli towns like Kiryat Shmona, Metulla, and Sefat.
Approximately 100,000 Israelis have been compelled to evacuate without any hope of returning to their homes in northern Israel, so long as Hezbollah occupies southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is also waging war against Lebanon itself, and has effectively taken over the country — including assassinating a Lebanese prime minister in 2005 for opposing Hezbollah.
This critical context behind Israel’s current assault on Hezbollah has been ignored or glossed over by the media, in its almost exclusive focus on the distress of Lebanese civilians being displaced from the border area near Israel and from suburbs of Beirut like Dahiya which had become a Hezbollah stronghold.
Indeed, the caretaker Lebanese governmental administration has been helpless in coping with the many thousands of civilians seeking refuge from recent Israeli strikes. Government sources have utterly failed to supply adequate shelter and supplies. But again, the media largely ignores the massive role that Nasrallah’s Hezbollah has played in crippling and destabilizing what had been the democratic state of Lebanon.
Hezbollah, an anti-democratic fundamentalist entity, has employed its private militia to intimidate both the nominal Lebanese parliamentary government and the official Lebanese army. Hezbollah has thus blatantly violated UN Security Council Resolution 1559 that called for disarmament of private militias in 2004 in order to facilitate Lebanese sovereignty.
Hezbollah has also prompted political paralysis in Lebanon’s government for over two years by vetoing (on grounds of religious identification) candidates for the head of government. Again, Nasrallah’s effort to Talibanize Lebanon has undermined and depleted Lebanon’s resources and functioning. Lebanon’s floundering, dysfunctional government stems from that usurpation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, not from Israel’s recent incursions.
Concern and relief for the hardships of Lebanon’s displaced civilians is surely warranted, just as is relief for the displaced residents of northern Israel. But the world and its news sources cannot ignore the insidious role Hezbollah has played in creating the current chaos and distress.
Norman L. Cantor is Emeritus Professor of Law at Rutgers University Law School where he taught for 35 years. He also served as visiting professor at Columbia, Seton Hall, Tel Aviv University, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem law schools. He has published five books, scores of scholarly articles in law journals, and, more recently, numerous blog length commentaries (often on Israel/U.S. relations) in outlets like The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, and The Algemeiner. His personal blog is seekingfairness.wordpress.com. He lives in Tel Aviv and in Hoboken, NJ.
The post Israel Isn’t Attacking Lebanon; It’s Stopping Hezbollah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that in addition to striking the airport, it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks.
There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attacks that Israel will continue its mission until it is complete: “We are determined to sever this terror arm of Iran’s axis.”
The prime minister has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons.
The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were also reported by Al Masirah TV.
Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff detainees and to assess the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel‘s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.
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Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Photo: Alchetron.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for casting doubt on a new report claiming that famine has gripped northern Gaza.
The controversial Muslim advocacy group on Wednesday slammed Lew for his “callous dismissal” of the recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report accusing Israel of inflicting famine on the Gaza Strip. The organization subsequently asserted that Israel had perpetrated an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.
“Ambassador Lew’s callous dismissal of this shocking report by a US-backed agency exposing Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in Gaza reminds one of the old joke about a man who murdered his parents and then asked for mercy because he is now an ‘orphan,’” CAIR said in a statement.
“To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling, and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza,” the Washington, DC-based group continued.
On Monday, FEWS Net, a US-created provider of warning and analysis on food insecurity, released a report detailing that a famine had allegedly taken hold of northern Gaza. The report argued that 65,000-75,000 individuals remain stranded in the area without sufficient access to food.
“Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate” has resulted in mass starvation among scores of innocent civilians in the beleaguered enclave, the report stated.
Lew subsequently issued a statement denying the veracity of the FEWS Net report, slamming the organization for peddling “inaccurate” information and “causing confusion.”
“The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report,” Lew wrote.
“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew continued.
Following Lew’s repudiation, FEWS NET quietly removed the report on Wednesday, sparking outrage among supporters of the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We ask FEWS NET not to submit to the bullying of genocide supporters and to again make its report available to the public,” CAIR said in its statement.
In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has been repeatedly accused of inflicting famine in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the allegations, there is scant evidence of mass starvation across the war-torn enclave.
This is not the first time that FEWS Net has attempted to accuse Israel of inflicting famine in Gaza. In June, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected claims by FEWS Net that a famine had taken hold of northern Gaza. In rejecting the allegations, the FRC cited an “uncertainty and lack of convergence of the supporting evidence employed in the analysis.”
Meanwhile, CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the onset of the Gaza war last October.
CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the Oct. 7 atrocities. The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage across southern Israel.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Jewish Civil Rights Group Representing Amsterdam Pogrom Victims Slams Dutch Court for ‘Light Sentences’
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
The international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack on Israeli soccer fans that took place in Amsterdam last month has joined many voices in lambasting a Dutch court for what they described as a mild punishment for the attackers.
“These sentences are an insult to the victims and a stain on the Dutch legal system,” The Lawfare Project’s founder and executive director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement on Wednesday. “Allowing individuals who coordinated and celebrated acts of violence to walk away with minimal consequences diminishes the rule of law and undermines trust in the judicial process. If this is the response to such blatant antisemitism, what hope is there for deterring future offenders or safeguarding the Jewish community.”
On Tuesday, a district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men for their participation in the violent attacks in the Dutch city against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. The premeditated and coordinated violence took place on the night of Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov 8, before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch soccer team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The five suspects were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community service and up to six months in prison.
The attackers were found guilty of public violence, which included kicking an individual lying on the ground, and inciting the violence by calling on members of a WhatsApp group chat to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. One man sentenced on Tuesday who had a “leading role” in the violence, according to prosecutors, was given the longest sentence — six months in prison.
“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences,” added Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project. “The violent, coordinated attacks against Jews in Amsterdam are among the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe. These light sentences fail to reflect the gravity of these crimes and do little to deliver justice to the victims who are left traumatized and unheard. Even more troubling, they set a dangerous precedent, signaling to future offenders that such horrific acts of violence will not be met with serious consequences.”
The Lawfare Project said on Wednesday that it is representing over 50 victims of the Amsterdam attacks. It has also secured for their clients a local counsel — Peter Plasman, who is a partner at the Amsterdam-based law firm Kötter L’Homme Plasman — to represent them in the Netherlands. The Lawfare Project aims to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world through legal action.
Others who have criticized the Dutch court for its sentencing of the five men on Tuesday included Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell; and The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.
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