President Carter continues to be a thoughtful leader. His Op-Ed in today’s WaPo points the way out of this mess.
It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response. The result instead has been that broad Arab and worldwide support has been rallied for these groups, while condemnation of both Israel and the United States has intensified.
Punishing civilians? President Carter’s statement is naïve at best. Surely, he must be aware that Hezbollah places missiles among their own civilian populations. Israel’s goal is stopping the missile attack which means getting the missiles. Unfortunately, Hezbollah uses their own people as human shields and Israeli civilians as targets.
Are you suggesting that President Carter is senile? Because you know that there is no one on this planet who is probably more knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Middle East than President Carter.
I think we’re all agreed that Hezbollah is a problem. We understand that they are using the Lebanese population as human shields. The big question, in my mind, is what to do about it.
How about this as a solution — support the Lebanese government. Make the Lebanese government stronger so that it can enforce its borders and enforce the rule of law in southern Lebanon. Then you have the Lebanese government forcing has a lot to give up its own missiles. Then again, maybe I’m naïve to believe that something like this would work.