Hezbollah is the subject of this editorial, but first is the need to look at the world from a wider perspective and ask: What exactly is happening? Russia’s Putin is out there insisting that Ukraine has no right to exist; his army has been waging offensive war, wiping away innocent civilians and dispatching thousands to starvation and hunger; Kim Jong is out there in North Korea assembling Missiles and Rockets, provoking Japan and neighbors, South Korea. Iran is busy arming terrorists in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria; Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad are their creation; the Middle East is now a cauldron because of these despotic leaders; Syria’s Assad is ravaging his own people, starving and driving them to perdition; thousands have already been killed; the Rohingya’s, a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and resided in Rakhine, Myanmar, are in the throes of extinction; they now form a large refugee camp in Bangladesh; about 740,000 of them were killed in the 2017 genocide by Myanmar armed forces; the world only paid lip services and kept mute. Now, the Palestinians are next; not since the death of Jesus have they held claim to the land of Canaan, which they say belongs to them. Undeniably, the Jews were also there as documented by history books. They, the Palestinians live in Jordan, Syria, Chile, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and Lebanon; they form the nucleus of the largest community in Chile with about 500,000 recorded. They also live in Israel (1,650,000). The Palestinians are not stateless like the Rohingyas; they refused to be, because of greed and needless ego. Instead of diplomacy, they reason violence would do the trick of reclaiming what they call “ancestral land”. The late Yasser Arafat thrived on this, but the more radical elements like Hamas foreclosed any diplomatic settlement and resorted to violence. It is amusing for those calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war; ceasefire for what? If only Hamas would expunge the charter in their constitution that denies Israel the right to exist and return the hostages seized, that’s when peace could be preached; It is easier to insult the Israelis for lunching the ground offensive in Gaza; but in reality, how could they live side by side with sworn enemies who daily plan their destruction? More than anything else, this war should be fought to its logical conclusion, so that should Hamas win, Israel should be crushed; if otherwise, too bad for Hamas. By now, its leaders should be seeing the treachery even with their so-called “Arab brothers”. Should they be driven from Gaza, they would become refugees in Qatar, Syria and Lebanon. Unless the world has turned into an animal kingdom there is no sane society that would tolerate what Hamas did on that black Saturday, October 7. Nobody has the right to take another life—no matter the circumstance or cause. Here, Hamas miscalculated badly. This is the same mistake Hezbollah is about to make. They are about to plunge Lebanon into darkness, for the fury that would accompany the Israeli response is better imagined. Countries like Bolivia, Columbia, Venezuela, and Chile would not call Hezbollah to order but would rather break relations with Israel to retaliate against murder; this is the hypocrisy in the world today; are they saying they would have reacted differently in Israel’s shoes? This is the double standards fueling anarchy around the world today. No country negotiates with criminals, bandits, and terrorists, at least not Israel. To do that would mean surrendering your sovereignty. What was expected of these South American countries was to find ways to accommodate the Palestinians—at least for a while if they so loved them. And now you ask: what next after the break in diplomatic relations? That the Palestinians are stateless today is largely their fault; they cannot say Israel does not have the right to exist while they have; had Arafat remained alive, he could have succeeded; it is now left for the moderate Mahmoud Abbas who resides in the West Bank to deliver. This is where Hassan Nasrallah missed the point; like Goliath, he sees himself as a “champion” and comes out daily to threaten and warn of Armageddon; as a stooge of Ayatollah Khomeini, it is possible he is only justifying his paymasters; but reminded listening ears about what he calls “precision” guided weapons and “new missiles” which, hopefully, he plans to “destroy” Israel with. Hassan fought the Israelis in a month-long war in 2006 and reports say the war ended in a stalemate; now, since the start of the Gaza conflict, Hassan is eager to show he is a macho—the boasting—just like Goliath. He has been shouting from the rooftop and grandstanding hiding behind the doors. It seems he was born to supervise this very devilish act. Hassan, it has least occurred to him that he was never born when Israel came into existence. He may succeed in killing a few innocent souls when he unleashes some of his more than 150,000 missiles and rockets, but it will be interesting to see the kind of “painful price” the Israelis would pay for daring him. For now, the Israelis should ignore him for his foolish antics until he stirs the hornets’ nest. If he doesn’t, then he is a coward and a propagandist merely seeking attention and cheap publicity. As for Hamas, the world expected them—having infiltrated Israel on that black Saturday, October 7—to stand and fight; it is too early for them to escape to Qatar and neighboring Arab states. They should have unleashed the beasts in them against the advancing Israelis. What is clear however is that, if, and when a Palestinian state is created, Hamas would not be a player; that opportunity has been lost forever. The same applies to Hezbollah which barks like a dog and growls seeking attention! If the world, through the United Nations, cannot rein in these monsters—Russia, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, what moral justification do they have to exist?
