Asked about the “disproportionate” use of force in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel’s U.S. ambassador Daniel Ayalon said this week, “We have been disproportionate: We have been lenient and we have been too soft for the last six months.”
Israel’s days of softness and leniency are over.
This latest violence doesn’t make us happy. Scenes of death and devastation can never evoke happiness. Yet after years of increasing threat on the northern border, and unrelenting rocket fire in the south, Israel finally reached the tipping point and had to act.
The world naturally recoils at the civilian casualties and smashed infrastructure, the panic and flight of countless thousands on both sides of the border.
But let us be clear. When stricken Lebanese look to the skies and shake their fists, they should direct their fury at the true authors of the destruction: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his evil puppeteers in Syria and Iran.
Nasrallah has promised to keep up the fight, to rain down more missiles and to spring a few “surprises” on the Jewish state. Iran has echoed his threats, saying Hezbollah has the ability to strike “anywhere in Israel.”
Those may be blustery threats. But Israel cannot take them lightly, which is why the air strikes and blockade must continue for a while. The Israeli military says it has already destroyed 50 percent of Hezbollah’s fighting capacity. Israel must be allowed to finish this job, horrible as it is.
The civilized world will never thank Israel for doing the dirty work by crushing Hezbollah. But we, the worldwide Jewish community, have shown solidarity with Israel from the moment the first rockets landed.
Jewish federations across America have dug deep, sending millions of dollars to Israel to help evacuate citizens and bolster those who stayed behind. Rallies, including a huge one in New York City this week, offer further proof of support. No one should doubt for a moment that Israelis feel this love from across the miles.
Rallies for Israel throughout the Bay Area are being held as well. Every friend of Israel should make the effort to attend one. You can be sure the enemies of Israel will be there in counter-demonstrations. Let’s outnumber them.
These are hard times. Jews are dying. Children in Lebanon are dying as well. No one wants this. But if we are to live in a world free of terrorism, anti-Semitism and the death-cult brand of Islamic extremism, then someone has to do the fighting.