23 October 2024

Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah is working, and the West should back it fully

Dan Perry

In a statement that should have received more attention, Lebanon’s prime minister recently said that the country is ready to implement UN Security Council resolutions that would end Hezbollah as an armed force.

This reflects Israel’s success in its offensive against the Iran-backed group after a year in which it absorbed countless Hezbollah rocket attacks. The world should support this wholeheartedly, and help.

Instead, President Biden seems fixated on avoiding “escalation.” And President Emanuel Macron of France, whose country was the colonial master in Lebanon and thus should know better what goes on there, chose to hypocritically call for a cease-fire last week. These positions appear to have enormous public support, at least among younger people and on social media.

So the world needs to be reminded of a fundamental truth: Hezbollah is the enemy of Lebanon. Its defeat would be a huge favor to the Lebanese, and to a functioning world order. Whereas the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex overall and bears some moral ambiguity, Israel is completely in the right in its campaign against Hezbollah.

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