The World at a Crossroads

GERARD GROUP INTERNATIONAL INC

THE WORLD AT A CROSSROADS

Monday, July 31, 2006

The growing human tragedy in Lebanon and Israel underscores the complexity of the problems facing those who would resolve the conflict.

Make no mistake about it, this is not a Middle East problem alone, as many would have us think. There is no longer any possibility of isolating ourselves from it - we are in it, whether we like it or not. What happens in Lebanon over the next few weeks will have a dramatic impact on the entire world over the coming months and years.

This is because Hezbollah is not just a local threat in the Middle East. It is a terrorist organization with global reach and global aspirations. It is an enthusiastic surrogate for Iran, which has funded its operations in Lebanon to the tune of $100 million a year. Its terrorists are armed and trained by Syria, who conscientiously resupplies them as needed. Even now, with Lebanon’s main resupply roads closed by Israeli bombs, Syria is bringing in new arms shipments across its long porous border with Lebanon. Hezbollah is a structured, well organized operation, with access to weapons and funding, tightly controlled cells abroad, and the will to try to destroy us when they think the time is right.

The burden now lying on the shoulders of Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is enormous. He, of all the leaders currently involved in the crisis, has the unique and unprecedented responsibility for the battle on the front lines of our own global war on terror. The decisions that he and his cabinet make now will deeply affect the direction that this war will take, influence the empowerment or diminution of terrorist power, and impact the future of the free world.

The responsibility for this crisis lies squarely in the lap of Hezbollah. Its use of population centers for launching offensive weapons and drawing Israeli fire, its use of civilians as human shields, its disdain for the rules of war at the cost of innocent human lives, and its dedication to destroying Israel, a sovereign state and a member of the international community, are all reasons enough to try to disarm this barbarous organization before the conflict expands.

Not surprisingly, Israel is drawing criticism from all corners of the world. But the world’s anger is misplaced. It should not be directed at Israel, who responded appropriately to an attack across an internationally recognized border in a flagrant violation of international law. It should be directed at the real sources of this conflict.

The world should direct its anger towards the United Nations’ peace-keeping force, who failed to prevent Hezbollah from building its huge arsenal and troop presence over the last six years, in contravention of UN Resolution 1559. The world’s anger should be directed unequivocally against Hezbollah as the perpetrator of the conflict, and against Iran and Syria in Lebanon, who provide massive financial and material support for Hezbollah’s terrorist agenda. It was they who contrived to time Hezbollah’s engagement with Israel to take the world’s attention away from Iran’s own nuclear build-up.

It is a comfort to know that our own government, our own President and Secretary of State, and their staunch colleague Prime Minister Tony Blair, have the courage to stand up against a world that supports terrorism by its unwillingness to condemn it.

It is absolutely essential that the short-term outcome of this bloody conflict will be a cease fire that ensures the future security of both Israel and Lebanon. Neither country can afford a long term struggle in which all of Israel’s limited resources are poured into a conflict that is funded massively by Iran.

The cease-fire must include four essential elements:

the disarming of Hezbollah,
the return of the of the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping triggered the Israeli military response
an armed, multi-national intervention force (not the UN), with both the power and the will to maintain peace along the Israeli-Lebanese border with force of arms, if necessary
a robust international effort to rebuild Lebanon and provide solid support to its wavering democracy, so that it can overcome the threat that Hezbollah poses to them.

We stand at the crossroads of history. There is historic irony that one of the smallest countries in the world is today leading the rest of the world in its most critical battle in modern history. If we are not able to understand that the terrorist threat is global, if we are not prepared to meet it head-on and deal with it, we are inviting a disaster unlike anything we have ever seen before. We no longer have the luxury for patience and diplomatic posturing. Israel now stands on the frontline of a battle in which we may soon all be soldiers. We can do far worse than hope that Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert, with the support of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, will succeed in his efforts to defang Hezbollah and lead us away from the brink of global war.

Previous commentaries can be read here.

return to top — print view