The war in Gaza against Hamas is very different from the war in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
In Gaza, Israel had the right to retaliate against the Oct. 7 aggression and attempt to annihilate a terrorist group reinforced, unfortunately, by Netanyahu's dastardly choices over the past 20 years. But Tel Aviv has made too many inexcusable mistakes, indiscriminately targeting a defenseless civilian population, systematically destroying hospitals, schools, civilian homes and starving thousands of blameless people, without any humanitarian consideration.All this has not served the stated goal of eliminating all Hamas guerrillas guerrillas:killing its leaders does not mean reducing a highly structured and ramified terrorist militia to impotence. What is more, Israel has continued to illegally occupy territories under the Palestinian jurisdiction of the PNA.
In Lebanon, Israel has reasons to spare. It is not attacking a sovereign state, but a ruthless terrorist group, Hezbollah, which operates as Iran's armed wing and heavily conditions the life of a country battered by a tremendous civil war and held hostage for years by a militia that has nothing to do with the Lebanese people.
Hezbollah systematically threatens large territories of Israel and must be annihilated.
The problem is that Hezbollah's missile armament, with the help of Iran, is considerably greater than that of Hamas, which makes the Israeli operation very risky.Ground intervention in Lebanon adds further serious dangers for Tel Aviv's army. But a final solution must be found to crush Hezbollah once and for all, return Lebanon to full sovereignty over its country and prevent part of Israeli territory from being perpetually under the threat of a terrorist group.
Netanyahu's cynicism has made everything more complicated:having isolated Israel with a war in Gaza conducted without respect for international norms ,the Israeli premier has made everything more difficult.
The Western world must stand with Israel in the war against Hezbollah.
Thwarting this terrorist organization is essential to curb Tehran's cynical policy of destabilizing the entire Middle East region.
But without foreshadowing an after Gaza, with the recognition of a Palestinian state alongside a state of Israel, there will never be peace in that area.
