Why We Need To Maintain Our Resolve

last updated 8 January 2015

Israel

The goal is clear, said Uzi Benziman in Tel Aviv’s Ha’aretz. Israel is throwing everything it has at Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for one reason: We have to restore deterrence. Arab militias and armies must be taught once again that “whoever raises his hand against Israel suffers unbearable punishment.” Hezbollah has been firing rockets from Lebanon into Israel, so Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal will be destroyed. What complicates this project is that simply bombing Lebanon to smithereens won’t suffice. “If, at war’s end, the impression is that Hezbollah was seriously harmed but also managed to strike a heavy blow against Israel,” that could be seen as a victory for the terrorists.

That’s why the international community hasn’t intervened, said Amnon Dankner in Tel Aviv’s Ma’ariv. Western states and even many Arab countries are in no mood to stop Israel. They fear that “a Hezbollah-Iran victory, or even some kind of draw, would echo all over the world” as an ominous setback for the war on terror. “In Tehran and Gaza, in Nablus and Iraq, in Washington and London, in Moscow and Rome,” all eyes are on Israel. They “want to know whether we will stand and win. The answer must be a resounding yes.”

The Bush administration certainly seems to get it, said Sima Kadmon in Tel Aviv’s Yedioth Ahronoth. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not come to the region “to pressure Israel’s government to cease firing.” Rather, she came “to check at close range that business is progressing, that we are not missing this opportunity” to strike a blow against terrorism. The Israel Defense Forces are in “no rush.” They say they are willing to take whatever time is necessary to finish the job.