Israel vs. Hezbollah, right vs. wrong
Joseph Farah
Posted: August 11, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
How people view the conflict in Lebanon is a barometer for determining their ability to discern right from wrong.
If you hear someone fudge on this conflict, it is an indication of a moral failing, a weakness in their heart, a defect in their brain, a darkness in their very soul.
There is no better picture of evil in the world today that the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Founded by the mullahs in Iran, facilitated by two generations of dictators in Syria, it was Hezbollah that killed 241 U.S. Marines sent to Beirut to protect the Lebanese people. Collectively, its terrorist attacks – from Latin America to Asia – have probably killed more innocent people than have been murdered even by al-Qaida.
Hezbollah is bigger and better armed than al-Qaida. And it has maintained an operational alliance with Osama bin Laden's terror network for years.
Quite simply, Hezbollah seeks in the short term to kill all the Jews in the Middle East or scatter them abroad. In the long term, it seeks to impose a worldwide Shiite theocracy like the one currently enjoyed by the people of Iran.
In the other corner, we have Israel. It is hardly a flawless and perfect state. There is no such thing in the world and never has been. But it is a legitimate state founded where no other state existed by a consensus of world opinion following the murder of 6 million Jews in Germany's concentration camps. Israel served as a refuge for nearly 1 million Arab Jews persecuted throughout the Middle East – more, by the way, than even the most exaggerated claims of Arab Palestinian refugees displaced by the war of 1948.
As many other observers have pointed out, you don't need to know much about the complicated history of the Middle East to understand the difference between Israel and its enemies. If Israel's enemies – including Hezbollah – had the power to destroy Israel, it would do so in a heartbeat. Israel, however, actually possesses such awesome power and, of course, has never used it.
There is no moral murkiness here. The raw, unadulterated evil that is Hezbollah is on display for all to see. The basic decency and compassion of the Jewish state has been on display for nearly 60 years.
Yet, look around us and see how many people are still "confused." A recent Los Angeles Times poll showed most Democrats are incapable of making any distinctions between these two warring parties. Sadly, a third of Republicans are also unwilling or unable to distinguish good from evil when it comes to this conflict.
Looking outside the U.S., the picture of moral confusion is even worse. At least half the world is cheering on Hezbollah.
This has nothing to do with Israel's behavior or the behavior of the U.S. Nothing we or the Jews of Israel could do would change the opinion of those aligned with Hezbollah. Like the pharaoh in Egypt, their hearts have been hardened. It will take an act of God to get people like that to see the light – something to hope and pray for, perhaps, but not something any argument will change.
It's disturbing to me to see so many people living in moral confusion – moral darkness. It's worse to think so many Americans are falling into this abyss. It's even more shocking to see so many Israelis incapable of understanding the stakes in this conflict.
There are a lot of people getting weak in the knees right now.
It's not without precedent.
It happened before in 1939.
The dangers we face in the world today are comparable to what the world faced back then – maybe worse.
Today, the Nazis are those claiming to be the original Aryans. In fact, that's a derivation of the name of their country – Iran. They speak openly of wanting to destroy all the Jews. They are working feverishly on the development of nuclear weapons – something Hitler could only dream about.
It's not a time for going wobbly. It's not a time for moral confusion. It's not a time for myopia in distinguishing right from wrong.
Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His latest book is "Taking America Back." He also edits the weekly online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.