West must back Israel
Condoning terrorist barbarity equal to surrender

By EZRA LEVANT

Calgary Sun
July 17, 2006

Don't mistake Israel's attacks on Lebanon as a battle between those two states. Israel and Lebanon were actually friendly neighbours for many years. It was only when terrorist groups undermined Lebanon -- first the PLO, now Hezbollah -- did war become the norm. Israel's attacks on Lebanon are an attack on Hezbollah terrorists who use Lebanon as their launch-pad for attacks on Israel.

It is also an indirect attack on Syria, Hezbollah's logistical base, and Iran, Hezbollah's financier.

And don't mistake Hezbollah's attacks on Israel from Lebanon, and Hamas's attacks on Israel from Gaza, as independent acts either. Like Hezbollah, Hamas is controlled and financed by Iran. Both groups are stateless tentacles controlled by the octopus in Tehran. Like Iran's "spontaneous" rallies against the Danish cartoons, this is an attempt to provoke a distraction while Iran feverishly finishes its nuclear bomb.

Hamas and Hezbollah launched nearly simultaneous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, and they kidnapped Israeli soldiers at the same time, too.

Israel responded by re-entering Gaza and with more than 1,000 air strikes against Lebanon in 48 hours.

If Syria and Iran would not restrain the terrorist militias, Israel would destroy them. The attacks on Lebanon are more than just degrading Hezbollah's military power; they are a pressure tactic on Lebanon to expel Hezbollah from its borders, much as mass Lebanese political pressure forced Syrian troops to leave last year.

Kicking out Syrian troops half-freed Lebanon. Driving out Syrian spies and Hezbollah terrorists is the second half of Lebanon's liberation.

This isn't just Israel defending itself; this is Israel doing Lebanon's heavy lifting for it -- thus saving the U.S. (and perhaps even France, which has a colonial tie to Lebanon) from paying the price of blood and treasure.

Israel's attacks on Lebanon have been strategic: Blockading ports and the main highway from Syria to stop reinforcements from coming to Hezbollah; hitting strategic targets like cellphone towers and targeting offices and barracks of Hezbollah. It's doing what Lebanon doesn't have the muscle to do -- and trying to avoid civilian casualties along the way.

Unfortunately, as with most terrorists, Hezbollah locates in civilian areas because they know democracies are skittish about shooting at someone surrounded by human shields.

Canada, thankfully, has come down on the correct side, supporting Israel's right to exist and denouncing the terrorist groups as such.

The Middle East has always been a theatre in a larger global war.

During the Cold War, it was a proxy fight between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, with the U.S. backing Israel, and the Soviet Union backing the Arabs. Israel is still the standard-bearer of Western democracies (joined now by Iraq's fragile new country) and militant Islam, led by Iran, is now commander of the West's opponents, namely Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and much of the insurgency in Iraq.

That's why the West's support for Israel is so vital: Not only so Israel wins militarily, which it surely will.

But that it wins with the moral backing of the West.

Iran must know it will not be allowed to master the region. It is bad enough Iran's nuclear ambitions have not been wiped out yet. For the West to countenance the terrorist barbarity against Israel would be tantamount to surrender.

We're actually winning this new world war.

Afghanistan was freed, then Iraq. Let's finish the job in Lebanon, and take the flag of freedom to Syria and Iran -- then on to Saudi Arabia.