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Jewish World Review Sept. 1, 2006 / 8 Elul, 5766 Setting the conditions for disaster By Caroline B. Glick
No country in the world lets outsiders dictate its policies on fundamental issues of national security. Israel must not be the first to do so
In Lebanon itself, Hizbullah is creating an illusion of cooperation with the
Lebanese army in the south in order to put us all to sleep as it quietly
rebuilds its forces in anticipation of Iran's order for it to renew the war
against Israel. No doubt Hizbullah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah's assertions
last week that Hizbullah has no intention of opening a second round and that
it had no idea that Israel would respond so massively to its abduction of
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on July 12, were aimed at confusing Israel
and calming the Lebanese. At least as far as Israel is concerned, his goal
was accomplished. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli media pounced
on Nasrallah's statements as "proof" that Israel had won the war.
In the meantime the Ayatollah Republic is proceeding steadily towards the
acquisition of nuclear capabilities. The conciliatory international
reactions to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement Thursday
that Iran rejects the UN Security Council's demand that it end all uranium
enrichment activities actually preceded Ahmadinejad's insolent statement. On
Wednesday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana was busily attempting to
renew talks with Iran.
For its part, the UN is behaving not as an international policeman, but as
Iran's defense attorney. During his visit to Israel Wednesday, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan sounded like an Arab leader with his unrestrained,
obnoxious condemnations of Israel for every act of self-defense it has taken
in Gaza and Lebanon on the one hand, and with his seemingly endless
tolerance for Iranian threats of nuclear genocide against Israel on the
other.
During his press conference with Olmert, Annan intimated that from his
perspective, the problem with Iran's threats to annihilate Israel is not
that they are illegal or morally inexcusable. Rather Iran's threats are
wrong simply because Israel is a member of the UN. Surrealistically ignoring
both Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and its command over the
latest war in Lebanon and Gaza, Annan stated bizarrely, "One cannot wipe
away Israel with statements."
Today, unbeknownst to the Israeli public, the Olmert-Livni-Peretz government
is steering Israel down a course which if not quickly abandoned, will render
our right to self defense — and by extension our independence —
conditional. The proliferation of security threats is being exacerbated by
the government's facilitation of an UN-EU diplomatic bid to chip away at
Israel's right to defend itself against Hizbullah, the Palestinians and
Iran.
The present danger is rooted in the text of UN Security Council resolution
1701 that set the guidelines for the ceasefire in Lebanon. That decision
constituted an unprecedented diplomatic victory for Hizbullah by placing the
sub-national, jihadist, illegal militia on equal footing with Israel.
Moreover, resolution 1701 set the terms for the reinforcement of UNIFIL
forces in a way that enables Hizbullah to continue to reinforce its units
and retain its presence in south Lebanon while barring Israel from
exercising its right to defend itself against the growing threat.
Aside from the language regarding UNIFIL's role, 1701 proscribes Israel's
freedom of action in three additional ways. First, the resolution named
Ahmadinejad's solicitor, Kofi Annan as arbiter of the sides' compliance.
Annan revealed how he will be using this authority two weeks ago when he
condemned the IDF's commando raid in Baal Bek while beginning his calls for
Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon and so enable Hizbullah
to rearm not only by land, but by air and sea as well.
Second, although Olmert and Livni loudly champion the European forces being
deployed to Lebanon as an important Israeli diplomatic achievement, the fact
is that the decision to empower the EU to dominate UNIFIL is disastrous for
Israel. While protesting their "love" for Israel, the Europeans are making
no bones about the fact that their decision to lead UNIFIL is motivated by
their intention to prevent Israel from defending itself.
Italy's Communist Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema made this point clearly
in his interview last Friday with Ha'aretz. There he explained that the EU's
goal in Lebanon is to "prove to Israel that it can ensure its security
better through the politics of peace than through war."
D'Alema then insulted the US adding, "The American policy, which Israel also
supported, created an impossible situation.The thinking was that it is
possible to control the world via the power of a hegemonic liberal power.
This philosophy has created serious damage, and now the US is looking for a
logical way out."
So by deploying troops to UNIFIL, the Europeans will show us that the only
way to contend with enemies who wish to destroy us is by appeasement and
more appeasement.
The Europeans and Annan also do not hide the fact that they plan to use
their deployment in Lebanon as a springboard for achieving greater influence
on Israel in its dealings with the Palestinians. In this vein, D'Alema
stated, "I think if things go well in Lebanon, a similar positive process
could also begin in the Gaza Strip: The release of [Israeli hostage Cpl.
Gilad] Shalit, a Palestinian unity government that meets the criteria set by
the international community, and the presence of a UN force to bolster the
Palestinian government."
Here the EU is openly joining forces with radical leftist Israeli
policymakers led by Meretz leader MK Yossi Beilin who for the past two years
have been quietly advancing the idea of internationalizing the conflict.
After both Israel's negotiations and its unilateral surrender of land to the
Palestinians both led to war, the thinking is that the Palestinians will
accept Israel after the UN divests the Jewish state of its ability to defend
itself.
If the above is insufficient to convince us that the UNIFIL forces whose
arrival is so eagerly awaited by Olmert-Livni-Peretz is not a good thing for
Israel, there's also the Islamic element of the proposed force. Both Annan
and the Europeans are insisting that a force of up to 7,000 soldiers from
Muslim countries be included in the UNIFIL force. These soldiers are set to
be sent from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey. All of these
countries are commonly referred to as "moderate Muslim countries." This
assertion bears investigation.
A coalition member of Bangladesh's government is the jihadist party
Jamaat-e-Islami. Its student activists recently sent death threats to two
prominent intellectuals for teaching the country's youth the values of
secularism, democracy and science.
Furthermore, in November 2003, Bengali journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib
Choudhury was arrested as he waited to board a flight to Bangkok with
continuing service to Tel Aviv. Choudhary, who was set to attend a
conference in Israel about how the media can promote peace, was accused of
sedition and spying for Israel. During his 17 month incarceration, he was
repeatedly tortured. Bangladesh plans to send 2,000 soldiers to Lebanon.
Then there is Indonesia, the largest Muslim state. As punishment for
inciting the terror bombings in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, the not
particularly independent Indonesian judiciary sentenced Jemaah Islamiyah
leader Abu Bakar Bashir to 30 months in prison, the last five of which were
commuted in June.
In May, Ahmadinejad was received by roaring crowds during his visit to
Jakarta. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, Indonesian
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said that he believes the best way to
secure South Lebanon is for Hizbullah forces to be "absorbed" into the
Lebanese army.
As the war in Lebanon raged, the Malaysian government called for all nations
of the world to cut off their diplomatic relations with Israel. This week,
senior Malaysian officials said that there is no justification for the West's
opposition to Iran's nuclear program.
Of all the Muslim countries who are planning to contribute forces to UNIFIL,
Turkey is the only one that has diplomatic relations with Israel. As a
result, to date, its forces are the only ones the Olmert-Livni-Peretz
government is willing to see deployed in Lebanon. Two weeks ago, during a
visit with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Olmert said, "Turkey plays
an important role in the Middle East and will continue to do so." He added,
"Israel has confidence in Turkey."
While until the formation of the AKP's Islamist government in 2002 it made
sense for Israeli prime ministers to say such things, today such statements
are unjustified. Over the past four years, Turkey has been transformed from
a stalwart US and Israeli ally into one of the most overtly anti-American
and anti-Semitic states in the world. By the same token, Turkey has gone to
great lengths to warm its relations with the Arab world and Iran.
During the war IDF Military Intelligence discovered that Iran was shipping
weapons to Hizbullah through Turkey. After the Hamas's electoral victory in
January, Turkish Prime Minister Recip Erdogan was the first international
leader to host Hamas terror leaders in an official visit. During the war,
Erdogan announced Turkey's support for Hizbullah stating that "nobody should
expect us to be neutral and impartial."
From all of this it is apparent that the participation of Muslim armies in
the UNIFIL force — even if they are only from Turkey — can easily lead to a
situation where the IDF will find itself battling against UN forces.
Alternatively, as the UN and EU foresee, cowed by the "international
community," the Olmert-Livni-Peretz government may simply concede Israel's
right to self defense in spite of the growing threats from Hizbullah, the
Palestinians and Iran.
As for America, disturbingly the Bush Administration, like the
Olmert-Livni-Peretz government, is showing acute signs of policy collapse.
In a near inexplicable move, the State Department issued a visa to former
Iranian president Muhammad Khatami. Obscenely, the former leader and regime
flack for the Islamic supremacist ayatollahs has been invited to speak at
the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
As it did at the beginning of the war in Lebanon, the Olmert-Livni-Peretz
government set the proper goals for managing the ceasefire. But as it did
during the war, it has proceeded to take every step possible to ensure that
those goals will not be achieved.
Presently, the troika hopes that through UNIFIL Israel will cobble together
a coalition against Hizbullah, while it is actually facilitating the
formation of a coalition that will protect Hizbullah against Israel. They
have failed to recognize that to secure its national security interests,
Israel does not need to negotiate, it needs to act. The only reason the EU
and the UN feel comfortable ordering Israel around is because the
Olmert-Livni-Peretz government obeys them.
Things do not have to be this way. No country in the world lets outsiders
dictate its policies on fundamental issues of national security. Israel must
not be the first to do so.
JWR contributor Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. International legal scholar Prof. Anne Bayefsky assisted the author in analyzing the text of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Comment by clicking here.
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