They had 20 years to do something, and they did nothing.
The world had its chance. Now Israel is taking its own.
Please consider supporting our mission to help everyone better understand and become smarter about the Jewish world. A gift of any amount helps keep our platform free of advertising and accessible to all.
This is a guest essay by Harold Katz, who writes from Israel.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
I’m confused.
All the couch Johnny-come-lately foreign policy experts are in an uproar and I can’t understand why.
The Iran war two-week ceasefire is upon us and these brilliant commentators are bellyaching that Israel is in violation of it because of its bombing of Lebanon, doing so with the sole purpose of destroying Hezbollah.
From the outset of ceasefire talks, Israel had said they were not going to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon and the U.S. vice president made it very clear that Lebanon would not be and was never was included. On social media, it seems, some islamist in Pakistan says it was and the entire world is heaping more of its hatred on Israel for “violating” a ceasefire in Lebanon.
For the last 20 years, Hezbollah has been in violation of a ceasefire. In 2006, the (worthless) United Nations passed Resolution 1701 which required Hezbollah to be north of the Litani River and to be disarmed. To help with that process, the UN sent troops, called UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), to enforce the resolution.
As early as 2006, Israel reported the violations and the feckless UN did nothing. Over the course of those next two decades, Israel continued to report these constant violations, but the world said and did nothing and allowed the jihadists to continue to encroach on the agreed principles. Two more wars were fought with Hezbollah. The same truce agreement was enacted, and the same world did nothing as it stood by and watched rockets fly into Israeli towns and cities.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif is the defense minister in Pakistan, and here are a few interesting things the newly minted experts may not know. Pakistan was founded in 1947 and is one of 500-plus Muslim countries in the world. Strange how no one ever complains it was created on “stolen land.”
While Asif has called for Israel’s destruction on many occasions and for years has been accusing us of genocide, his latest screed on “cancerous” Israel and Zionism is only unique by its timing, not its content. Keep in mind that, as recently as last December, Pakistan expelled over a million Afghans from its borders and the world said nothing. Yet the Jews build a playroom extension to our homeland in Judea and we are accused of being ethnic cleansing settler colonialists.
To all those crying about Israel blowing up a ceasefire, they had 20 years to deal with this problem. Lebanon had 20 years, the UN had 20 years, Iran had 20 years, the U.S. had 20 years, the entire world had 20 years. They did nothing while Hezbollah violated Resolution 1701 every day for 20 straight years, every single day.
Israeli cities were being bombarded by Hezbollah and it meant nothing to them. Daily threats and encroachments on Israel’s borders for 20 years, and they said nothing. Khawaja Muhammad Asif has been in Pakistani government for over 30 years and not only did nothing, but nary a peep came out of his mouth as Hezbollah continued to threaten Israel with extinction. Not one word.
Following October 7th, Israel has decided we will no longer be passive bystanders in our destruction. It is long past time to end the charade. For the last couple of weeks here, we’ve heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say Israel will not agree to any ceasefire that leaves the threat of Hezbollah south of the Litani river. So the IDF and Israeli Air Force are handling the problem the world ignored.
They don’t like the way we are doing it? They had 20 years to make it right. They did nothing and said nothing, so they might want to sit this one out.
Our prophet Isaiah told us exactly what would happen. What would the leaders of the world say when confronted about their treatment of the Jews at the end of days? When speaking of “avdi Yaakov” (my servant Jacob), they will repeat the words of the prophet: “He was despised, and forsaken of men, a man of pains, and acquainted with disease, and as one from whom men hide their face: he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Take a look around you. There is no place on the planet where the servant Jacob, the people Israel, are not despised. How many times have you heard we disgust people simply because we exist? How many times have you heard people say we are not welcome at this place or that? How many countries line up to mistreat us in public forums, ignoring their hypocrisy as they complain about our perceived flaws?
Would it be nice if people understood what we are going through? Of course. Would it have been wonderful if the nations of the world did something about Hezbollah or Hamas for the last 20 years? Sure. But they didn’t and we played the fool here by “mowing the grass”1 instead of replacing the entire lawn.
No more.
We need a total reconstruction, and if Lebanon won’t do it, we will do it for them.
But here is another question I have for all the new geniuses. Israel has given up land for a peace we did not get. The Palestine Liberation Organizations runs their areas in Judea and Samaria (also known as “the West Bank”) and nevertheless Israel is accused again of occupying those areas because Israel retains a defensive presence to protects its citizens from jihadists intent on killing them.
Using that very same logic, can we now apply it to the Islamic Republic of Iran? Is Iran not occupying Lebanon? Hezbollah is not an arm of the Lebanese government; they are an arm of Iran. The Lebanese government has proven to be ineffective when it comes to subduing and/or evicting these murderous thugs. Why can’t they follow Pakistan’s lead and rid their country of the jihadists in their midst?
After answering that question, the brand-new experts can answer what business Hezbollah had to attack Israel during its war with Hamas that Hamas started on October 7, 2023? They chose to get involved in a war that was not theirs. Therefore it is simple mathematics: You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Every time I hear the pundits complain about our prosecution of existential wars, I wonder how they would respond if their children ran to safe rooms at full speed because they only had a minute, or even 15 seconds, before missile and rocket impacts. How long would they stay quiet if Iranian cluster munitions (an indisputable war crime) and Hezbollah and Hamas rockets were raining down on their children’s heads?
How long do we have to tolerate being subjected to constant threats and bombardments? How long will our beautiful sons and daughters, spouses, and parents have to be in the military to defend our way of life, our desire to live in peace? How long would you in any other country live with it?
American media personality Tucker Carlson went berserk when protesters were outside his home in Washington, D.C. and said in a statement that his wife and children were scared because of the mob. Really? How long would it take for him/them to demand their government protect them? And they want us to stand down?
A few decades ago, then Israeli-Prime Minister Menachem Begin had choice words for the German chancellor, who told Begin he needed to establish a Palestinian state. Begin responded with the following:
“Every child in Israel … and every woman will be at risk of Katyushas on their heads … And the German chancellor is giving me advice? He knows what’s good for our security better than me? I’ve been entrusted by the nation to ensure our security. This is my holy duty. And he’s giving me advice along with all of Europe and the entire world how to force us to accept a Palestinian state? It’s an unparalleled act of hate.”
“And who does this suggestion come from? From a member of the nation responsible for the murder of a third of our nation, six million, something that hasn’t happened from the time Hashem (God) created man and man created Satan! He’ll give us advice on how to ensure our security? He’ll risk our lives? He’ll spread propaganda for a Palestinian state?
“Forgive me, honored friends, I came from the underground. I’m not afraid of anyone. I told him the truth to his face. I have no reason to be afraid. We saw death before our eyes every day! So when he says something like this, I shouldn’t respond? I don’t know what’s happened to my own nation? I don’t know what happened to my own family? I don’t know what happened to your brothers and sisters? And after all this, he tells us: ‘Establish a Palestinian state’? As if to say, put the 3.5 million Jews in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) at risk of death and destruction?”
“And I shouldn’t answer back? I answered him back. Properly, my friends. I didn’t hold back even one word. And if there are a few sensitive individuals who start wrinkling their noses, then they’ll have crooked noses.”
Extrapolate this speech and you can see it all applies to us still today. Katyushas have been replaced by ballistic missiles with warheads and cluster bombs attached. Other than that and Israel’s population being 10 million people, nothing has changed.
The world still lectures us much — and does little.
“Mowing the lawn” (Hebrew: kisuch deshe) is an Israeli strategic metaphor for conducting periodic, limited military operations to degrade the capabilities of adversaries (primarily Hamas and Hezbollah) rather than eliminating them entirely.
The international community has no expectation that Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran to comply with agreements and imposes no consequences for their violating ceasefires. By contrast, it loses its collective sh*t when Israel responds to violations or, G-d forbid, acts proactively to protect itself. The only thing hated more than Jews are Jews that fight back.
Spot on. All you say is correct. However, do not be confused, because the simple fact is the world's media, its commentators, its Middle East 'experts on TV news programmes, all of them wipe these truths away with the flourish of a hand and go on the attack: Israel has broken the ceasefire; Israel is dictating the war; Israel is after power to reshape the region, etc. etc.
On Australia's ABC today, the news host asked a question of the 'expert' (American and living in Lebanon): 'Why hasn't anyone thought to bring Hezbollah to the table, to join Lebanon and Israel, in these talks?' Yep. Somewhere in her mind, she knows Hezbollah is a terrorist group, proxy of Iran, officially outlawed in Australia, and yet all this is dismissed and she's talking about them as if they're on a par with the governments of Israel and Lebanon. Subconsciously, all of these idiots must seek the destruction of Israel.