A unique opportunity to improve security in the North: UNIFIL has directly or indirectly hurt Israel's defense and security interests in the area - by Prof. Eugene Kontorovich

Cancelling or cutting back the mandate will be helpful to Israel's strategic interests in the region and will illustrate the defense ethos that Israel defends itself, by itself.

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich..
Israel Hayom..
17 August '20..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/unifil-an-opportunity-for-change/

On Oct. 7, 2000, an IDF patrol vehicle was attacked by a powerful bomb near Mount Dov. Hezbollah operatives crossed the border fence and abducted soldiers Adi Avitan, Omar Souad, and Benny Avraham. The attack was carried out with the help of a distraction from protesters on the border near Moshav Zerit, and mortar fire on IDF positions. An investigation of the incident discovered that surprisingly, Indian UNIFIL soldiers who were on duty at nearby outposts had filmed the events in real time and even opted not to report it to the IDF. The footage was discovered eight months after the incident. In addition, the UN troops also filmed the transfer of the kidnapped IDF soldiers some 16 hours later, and again, did not hand the footage over to Israel in time for it to take action.

There are other instances in which the UN temporary peacekeeping force – UNIFIL – has directly or indirectly hurt Israel's defense and security interests in the area and limited the IDF's ability to respond. The main claim voiced in the defense establishment at the time was that the forces had no real power and were too small to carry out their mandate of restoring peace and security and helping restore control to the South Lebanese Army.

But in 2006, after the Second Lebanon War was over, that idea crashed on the rocks of reality. The UN Security Council resolved to increase UNIFIL forces nearly fivefold, to 10,900 personnel, and expanded both its enforcement mandate and budget. Nevertheless, the increased forces failed in both motivation and efficacy when it came to taking action against violations on the Lebanese side of the "Blue Line." Since then, Hezbollah has dug attack tunnels under the border into Israel under the very noses of the UN troops, with the hope of carrying out a mega-terror attack against communities in northern Israel.

In biased reports to the UN Security Council and by its very presence in the region, UNIFIL "whitewashes" violations by Hezbollah and the Lebanese army, allowing them to act freely. If another war in the north takes place, UNIFIL's presence will likely hamper the IDF's ability to maneuver in south Lebanon, and serve as a de facto human shield for Hezbollah.

Any more harebrained schemes involving “U.N. peacekeepers"? - by Ken Cohen

...bear in mind that the once-promising U.N. of yesteryear has become the corrupt and inept U.N. of today—and has betrayed Israel time after time. Harebrained schemes involving “U.N. peacekeepers in the Jordan Valley” or, even more outlandish, “the internationalization of Jerusalem under U.N. auspices” are guaranteed to be disastrous for Israel and for any hope of a peaceful Middle East.

Ken Cohen..
JNS.org..
10 September '19..

Last week, Israel came within hours of a full-scale war on its border with Lebanon. This horrific situation was made possible through the malignant incompetence of the United Nations.

On Sept. 1, Hezbollah launched anti-tank missiles from Lebanon at an Israeli military vehicle near the border, damaging it slightly. Fortunately, no Israeli soldiers were killed or wounded. Had there been significant casualties, Israel would have had to respond much more aggressively than it did, which would have triggered a full-scale conflict.

And how is it that Hezbollah was able to maintain its missile arsenal in southern Lebanon? The answer is the utter failure of the United Nations to disarm the terrorist organization.

Despite its primary purpose of preventing war, the United Nations has consistently been its enabler in the Middle East. This most recent betrayal of the U.N.’s peace-keeping mission is just the latest in a seven-decade string of U.N. failures to maintain peace in the Middle East and globally.

(Continue to Full Column)

Ken Cohen is co-editor of the Hotline published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME), which offers educational messages to correct lies and misperceptions about Israel and its relationship to the United States.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

Who Said UNIFIL is Totally Useless? It Does Deter the EU from Banning Hezbollah - by Evelyn Gordon

...So the international community is spending $500 million a year on a “peacekeeping” force that hasn’t stopped Hezbollah’s military buildup, hasn’t even reported it in an effort to mobilize international action and serves as a deterrent to a measure that really would hurt Hezbollah: being blacklisted by the EU. Its only useful function is serving as a communications channel between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, and one man with a cellphone could accomplish that. To call this a waste of money is a colossal understatement. And it’s not likely to change, given that efforts to reform UNIFIL have repeatedly failed.

Evelyn Gordon..
Analysis from Israel..
16 December '18..
Link: http://evelyncgordon.com/unifil-deters-eu-from-banning-hezbollah/

It’s no secret that UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, has never done the job it’s supposedly there to do. But this week, we learned that UNIFIL isn’t merely useless; it’s counterproductive. By the very fact of its existence, the organization deters the European Union from listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization—something which, unlike UNIFIL, would genuinely impede Hezbollah’s operations.

This dirty little secret came out after Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called Hezbollah “Islamic terrorists” during a visit to Israel on Tuesday. The Italian Defense Ministry promptly issued a press statement blasting Salvini for “embarrassing” Rome by calling a spade a spade. “These statements obviously put in a very difficult position our men who are deployed on that southern border,” the statement warned, referring to the Italian contingent of UNIFIL deployed along Lebanon’s border with Israel.

It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that if Italy’s Defense Ministry fears repercussions to its troops from a single minister daring to call Hezbollah “terrorists,” it would be terrified of the consequences should the EU ever formally declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Thus, Italy’s significant involvement in UNIFIL—it currently contributes over 10 percent of UNIFIL’s manpower, including its commanding officer—constitutes a major deterrent to consenting to such a step.

Nor is Italy unique in this regard. Several EU countries make significant troop contributions to UNIFIL, including France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Austria, and Greece. Europe also usually supplies the force’s commander. The previous commander was Irish, the two before him were Italian, the one before that was Spanish, etc.

It’s no coincidence that the major contributors to UNIFIL also oppose listing Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. The only EU country that does blacklist the entire organization is Holland, which has exactly one soldier in UNIFIL.

The EU and its other member states blacklist only the military wing, not the political wing. And that’s fine by Hezbollah because, as the organization itself admits, any distinction between its political and military wings is purely fictitious. Thus as long as the political wing is legal, Hezbollah can still fundraise and recruit freely in Europe.

Can you imagine? Israel catches Hezbollah in the act, and the UN looks away - by Vivian Bercovici

...For the UN, it would appear, Hezbollah’s culpability is anything but certain. It’s an absurdist denial and, regrettably, exactly why Hezbollah has become so entrenched in south Lebanon in spite of Resolution 1701. This is no whodunnit. It will be interesting to see what alternate theory of reality UNIFIL suggests as to who, other than Hezbollah, might have the resources, motivation and tenacity to burrow through hard rock from Lebanon into Israel.

Vivian Bercovici..
National Post..
13 December '18..

Earlier this week, on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, had a chat with Maj. Gen. Stefano Del Col, the head of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Since August 2006, UNIFIL has been mandated, pursuant to UNSC Resolution 1701, to ensure that all militia forces are kept behind the Litani River in south Lebanon, which flows four kilometres north of the border with Israel at its closest point. In other words, 1701 intends for a reasonable buffer to be maintained separating Hezbollah and IDF forces.

The Lebanese villages of Kafr Kila and Ramya are a literal stone’s throw from the Israeli border. A small, ordinary structure in Kafr Kila, said to be a “cement block factory” turned out to be anything but. There was significant and unusual activity for an agricultural village of 10,000.

With airborne devices, the IDF noticed an awful lot of heavy truck traffic going to and from the little factory. They all arrived empty and left loaded with dirt. Israel knew what it was looking at — the site of a major tunnelling operation.

All this busy work seems to have gone unnoticed by the approximately 10,500 UNIFIL soldiers working in the area. To suggest that this strains credulity is putting it mildly. What it also clearly does is raise the issue of the neutrality of the UN force.

(Continue to Full Article)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Hiring Both Hamas and Hezbollah Terrorists, the UN Is An Equal Opportunity Employer (Daled Amos)

...Considering the connection between the UN and Hamas, is it any wonder the lengths the UN will go in order to protect the terrorist organization from any kind of criticism in the UN, most recently in the sudden requirement for a two-thirds instead of majority vote to condemn Hamas for terrorist attacks on civilians? And what about UNIFIL, which operates in Hezbollah's back yard?

Daled Amos/Elder of Ziyon..
14 December '18..

An employer who agrees not to discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, physical or mental disability, or age
Definition of 'Equality Opportunity Employer', Merriam Webster

Nor on the basis of "politics."

In 2004, then-Commissioner-General of UNRWA Peter Hansen was interviewed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and said that UNRWA hiring Hamas terrorists is not a big deal:

Hansen said he believes there are Hamas members on UNRWA's payroll, but they have to follow UN rules on remaining neutral.
"Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime. Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another," Hanson told CBC TV.

"We demand of our staff, whatever their political persuasion is, that they behave in accordance with UN standards and norms for neutrality," he said.

Well, isn't that reassuring?

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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How America continues to help Hezbollah pursue its deadly machinations on the border - by Shoshana Bryen

...in the 12 years since the 2006 war, UNIFIL and the LAF have failed to establish or defend Lebanese sovereignty separate from Hezbollah. The United States pays for the fiction that the Hezbollah government in Beirut will order the Lebanese Armed Forces to fight the Hezbollah army in the south. That the Lebanese right hand will chop off the Lebanese left hand.

Shoshana Bryen..
Jewish Policy Center..
11 December '18..
Link: https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2018/12/11/how-america-helps-hezbollah/

The terror organization Hezbollah has built tunnels from Lebanese territory into northern Israel; the intention was infiltration. It turns out, however, that Israel Defense Forces’ intelligence had been tracking them and last week entered southern Lebanon to destroy them. (You can watch the IDF video of a Hezbollah member actually finding the camera in a tunnel before it blows up.) The Israeli operation—“Operation Northern Shield”—will likely not cause a major cross-border war because Iranian is not prepared to lose the assets it put there to the Israel Air Force.

What appears less understood is how the United States—by its financial and training support of the government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)—is providing resources that allow Hezbollah to pursue its deadly machinations on the border.

Not deliberately, of course, and not directly. The Trump administration strongly supported Israel’s decision to strike Hezbollah. Even the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a press briefing, “We do not question Israel’s right to ensure its national security, including by preventing anyone from entering the country.”

Where this become hazy is when both the United States and Russia—and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—try to make a distinction between Hezbollah the terror organization and Hezbollah the government of Lebanon. The Russian spokesperson said, “We hope that no actions taken … will be in conflict with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701,” and Moscow hopes the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) would “fulfill its monitoring mission and will not allow any violations.” That last bit was public window-dressing. Every inch of southern Lebanon is a well-known violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701’s 2006 demand that UNIFIL ensure:

Israel has learned this lesson many times before, but one still has to wonder what State Dept. officials are thinking - by Evelyn Gordon

...And then they wonder why Israelis don’t think the international guarantees they’re being offered are a good substitute for the defensible borders they would lose.

Evelyn Gordon..
Analysis from Israel..
04 March '18..
Link: http://evelyncgordon.com/state-department-backs-lebanese-land-grab-against-israel/

State Department officials have spent a lot of time in Lebanon recently. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the country two weeks ago, and Acting Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield made an appearance last week. Among other issues, they are trying to mediate two Lebanese-Israeli disputes. The problem is that only one of these is a quasi-legitimate conflict; the other is a patently illegitimate Lebanese land grab. By treating that claim as legitimate, the State Department is not only encouraging aggression but proving, once again, that international guarantees to Israel are worthless.

The quasi-legitimate dispute relates to where the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon runs. As I noted back in 2011, Beirut is currently claiming maritime territory that it didn’t consider Lebanese as recently as 2007, when it signed (but ultimately didn’t ratify) a deal demarcating its maritime border with Cyprus. That makes the State Department’s proposal to award Lebanon 75 percent of this territory outrageous. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Israel and Lebanon have no agreed maritime border, and international law doesn’t provide an unequivocal answer as to where it should run. So State’s mediation is justifiable, even if its proposal isn’t.

The second dispute, however, is over Lebanon’s claim that Israel’s planned new border wall encroaches on Lebanese territory in 13 places. And on this, there should be no question whatsoever, because a recognized international border, known as the Blue Line, already exists and the UN has twice affirmed that Israel isn’t violating it.

The first time the UN affirmed realities on the ground was after Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. Then, the UN Security Council unanimously confirmed that all the areas Beirut now claims were, in fact, on Israel’s side of the border. The second was earlier this month when the UN Interim Force in Lebanon reaffirmed that all the new construction is on Israel’s side of the border.

The latter, incidentally, is particularly noteworthy because UNIFIL usually sides with Beirut in any Lebanese-Israeli dispute, for the simple reason that its peacekeepers are located on Lebanese soil and therefore vulnerable to reprisals if it ruffles Lebanese feathers. Indeed, as reported by the Jerusalem Post just last week, members of UNIFIL’s French contingent recently told a French paper that they routinely refrain from doing the job they’re officially there to do—ensuring that Hezbollah conducts no military activity in southern Lebanon, as mandated by Security Council Resolution 1701 of 2006—for fear of clashes with the Lebanese Army.

Given the existence of both a recognized international border and unequivocal UN confirmation that Israel hasn’t violated it, the only proper response to Beirut’s protest over a new fence would be to politely tell it that it has no case whatsoever. The territory in question is unarguably Israel’s, and Israel is free to build whatever it pleases there. Instead, the State Department has treated Lebanon’s claim as legitimate. Tillerson demanded that Israel halt construction until it reaches an agreement with Lebanon on the border, while Satterfield proposed land swaps to satisfy Lebanon’s claims. In other words, State is asking Israel to cede land which the Security Council unanimously recognized as sovereign Israeli territory just because a thuggish neighbor covets it and has threatened war if its demands aren’t satisfied.

Needless to say, this is an excellent way to encourage aggression. If Lebanon can get Washington to pressure Israel to cede internationally recognized Israeli territory merely by claiming land to which it lacks any vestige of right and then threatening war if its demands aren’t met, why wouldn’t Lebanon—or any other country interested in grabbing Israeli land—keep repeating this tactic?

A Truly Gift Laden Christmas Has Come Early for Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah - by Ron Prosor

...In charge of UNIFIL’s force in Southern Lebanon is a man that has become more of an enabler for Hezbollah and Iran than a problem solver for the UN Security Council. Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, has said he sees no evidence of weapons being illegally transferred and stockpiled in the area. “If there was a large cache of weapons,” he said last summer, “we would know about it.” Maj. Gen. Beary – you had one job! As the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has said, Beary “seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind to what Hezbollah is doing.”

Amb. Ron Proser..
Algemeiner.com..
29 November '17..

Tis’ the season to be jolly. But for the not so jolly bearded man from the Dahia district of Beirut in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s terror chief Hassan Nasrallah, and his Iranian bosses, Christmas has come early, and their presents are gift-wrapped in UN paper.

Yesterday, the United Nations Security Council debated a report recently published by UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Anyone who reads this report would think that UNIFIL has invented a completely new fantasy version of Lebanon. Astonishingly, the report ignores the single biggest threat to its mandate – the systematic rearmament of Hezbollah in South Lebanon, along Israel’s northern border. It is common knowledge in the intelligence communities of the United States, the UK, France, Israel and most likely any country that employs intelligence officers, that Hezbollah has amassed over 150,000 short and medium range missiles directed towards Israeli cities and threatening the entire Middle East. The only ones out of the loop are the people on the ground whose responsibility is to prevent such re-armament. Instead of detailing the locations of weapon stockpiles and asking the UN Security council to strengthen its mandate so they are able to raid them, the report goes into incredible detail of the amount of Lebanese shepherds spotted near the border area. 420 if anyone is interested. UNIFIL is literally counting sheep, while Hezbollah continues to grow the heaviest non-governmental military force in modern history.

In charge of UNIFIL’s force in Southern Lebanon is a man that has become more of an enabler for Hezbollah and Iran than a problem solver for the UN Security Council. Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, has said he sees no evidence of weapons being illegally transferred and stockpiled in the area. “If there was a large cache of weapons,” he said last summer, “we would know about it.” Maj. Gen. Beary – you had one job! As the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has said, Beary “seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind to what Hezbollah is doing.”

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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There are lessons from the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict - by Michael Rubin

...Are there lessons from the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict? Yes. First, the United Nations does not bring peace but only delays war. Its promises are empty. UN observers and peacekeepers are often less interested in keeping peace than in feeding at the international trough and sending remittances back home. To place trust in the United Nations or the attention span of European diplomats and even the State Department is foolish. Diplomacy empowers terrorists, it does not defeat them. Nor does it do any favors for peace.

Michael Rubin..
Commentary Magazine..
12 August '16..
Link: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/lessons-of-lebanon-hezbollah-10-years-on/

This Sunday marks the ten-year anniversary of the end of the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah War in Lebanon. The war began when Hezbollah crossed into Israeli territory from southern Lebanon, killed three soldiers, injured two others, and kidnapped two more. While Lebanon professed its innocence, it had made a conscience choice to allow Hezbollah to assert its primacy along its southern border following Israeli’s UN-certified withdrawal in May 2000. Israel’s war aims were to eradicate Hezbollah missile stockpiles and Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. While the Israeli military succeeded in knocking out many Hezbollah stockpiles, the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia managed to launch hundreds of missiles and rockets, striking as far south as Haifa and killing several dozen Israelis.

A chorus of international officials called for Israel to cease its attacks at once. French President Jacques Chirac condemned Israel’s actions as “completely disproportionate,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin called Israel’s “use of full-scale force” unacceptable. Even U.S. officials chimed in. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned, “It is extremely important that Israel exercse restraint in its acts of self-defense.” Hillary Clinton, then a New York senator, doubled down on the call for an immediate ceasefire and demanded the United States and Israel resolve the situation diplomatically. “We’ve had five and a half years of a failed experiment in tough talk absent diplomacy and engagement,” she said. “I think it’s time to go back to what works, and what has historically worked and what can work again.”

By diplomacy, European officials, Clinton, and eventually the Bush administration meant the problem should be punted back to the United Nations. There was some irony in this, especially since Hezbollah had armed and launched its attack under the watch of UNIFIL, the UN monitoring agency in southern Lebanon. Still, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan promised a bigger, better (and more expensive) UN monitoring force to keep the peace if only hostilities would stop. “It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground,” he said, “The force will be larger, the way I see it, much larger than the 2000-man force we have there.” British Prime Minister also endorsed an international force. “The only way we are going to have a cessation of violence is if we have an international force deployed into that area,” he explained.

Again, Why Outsourcing Israel’s Security to Peacekeepers is a Non-Starter

...Quite apart from the fact that the UN appears to have a total disregard for the safety of Israelis–as seen with both UNIFIL and UNRWA–it will always be the case that international forces acting on behalf of international organizations, as opposed to national self-interest, will be woefully ineffective. A catalog of recent genocides are a sorry testament to the way UN forces are much better at observing and monitoring atrocities than they are at preventing them.

Tom Wilson..
Commentary Magazine..
29 January '15..

Following yesterday’s attack by Hezbollah on an Israeli military convoy, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, there have been growing concerns of a major escalation along the Lebanese border. During the exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah that followed the attack, a United Nations peacekeeper was also killed. As fears grew that the attack by Hezbollah might signal the beginning of a major new conflagration to Israel’s north, the death of the peacekeeper was a reminder that in such circumstances the UN forces would be completely impotent in preventing such an escalation. Worse still, the UN in Lebanon will have contributed to the severity of any hostilities by allowing Hezbollah to have proliferated under its watch. This too should be a reminder of the ineffective nature of any international forces deployed on Israel’s borders.

UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which was created during Israel’s first Lebanon war, was subsequently emboldened with a reinforced mandate following the second Lebanon war in 2006. As well as maintaining the peace in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL was also tasked with assisting the Lebanese army in consolidating Lebanese government sovereignty throughout that part of the country. This presumably should necessitate the rolling back of the mini-state that Hezbollah terrorists have created for themselves in Lebanon’s south. Yet not only has UNIFIL utterly failed in that regard, but there are also serious questions about whether or not UNIFIL has in fact been complicit in assisting Hezbollah in various ways. Most egregious of all was UNIFIL’s conduct during the second Lebanon war itself, when UNIFIL publicly broadcast the movements of the IDF, knowingly exposing Israel’s troops to attack by Hezbollah fighters.

Ever since 2006 Hezbollah has been remilitarising well beyond the levels it had reached prior to the second Lebanon war, and it has been doing it directly under UNIFIL’s noses. UNIFIL therefore has not only failed to assist with reasserting the authority of the Lebanese state in the south of the country; it has allowed for the unfolding of a situation that will almost inevitably undermine a key aspect of UNIFIL’s mandate: to ensure peace and security in that territory.

Even before war broke out in Syria, Hezbollah had–with the assistance of Iran–been drastically increasing its stockpiles of weapons, the range and force of its missile capabilities, and the numbers of trained fighters within its ranks. Then, when Hezbollah was brought into Syria to help Assad retain power, a new channel for the flow of weapons opened as Hezbollah was able to move some of Assad’s weaponry into Lebanon itself. Indeed, from the outset of UNIFIL’s renewed mandate in 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had always made clear that the force wouldn’t intervene to stop the flow of weapons from Syria unless specifically instructed to do so by the Lebanese government.

“We Stand with UNIFIL” - A Marvel of Moral Equivalency and Confusion

...Then, the confusion: State “strongly condemns” Hezbollah and blames it for this incident and for generally inciting violence and instability. So what is to be done about all those actions by Hezbollah? Is Israel supposed to strike back or “refrain from any action that could escalate the situation?” Israel has a “legitimate right to self-defense” but it must “respect the Blue Line.” Given that Hezbollah is just across the Blue Line, that’s impossible; Israeli self-defense must include hitting Hezbollah, or “self-defense” means sitting in bunkers.

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
29 January '15..






The recent violence between Hezbollah and Israel elicited a statement from the State Department yesterday. It’s a marvel of moral equivalency and confusion.

Here it is, in full:

UN lays bare its peacekeeping irrelevance for Israel

Rather than scrounging for replacement troops, the UN should ask why Israel should have any faith in the peacekeeping that has failed to protect it so many times in the past.

James Kirchick..
Haaretz..
19 June '13..

Last Wednesday, the government of Austria began withdrawing its 377 soldiers serving in the Golan Heights as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF. Since 1974, UNDOF has policed the disputed boundary between Syria and Israel, which captured the Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War. For nearly four decades, these international peacekeepers – deployed by their respective countries yet serving under the auspices of the UN flag – have patrolled the frontier between two states still technically at war.

But over two years into Syria’s own civil war, a conflict that has seen intense fighting erupt near the Golan, the situation has become too hot for some. Citing danger to its forces, Austria abruptly ordered their exit. Vienna’s decision to abscond follows the brief kidnapping of 21 Filipino peacekeepers (whose government, unlike that of Austria, remains committed to the UN mission).

In response to the Austrian pullout, UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has reverted to form, panhandling the “international community” for handouts in the form of replacement forces. One might ask what is the purpose of a “peacekeeping” mission that flees the scene at the slightest indication of peacebreaking, but then, such an observation misses the larger point about the role the UN has played, or not played, in the maintenance of peace between Israel and its neighbors.

Contrary to what the Secretary General and other UN enthusiasts believe, it is not UNDOF that has kept the Golan quiet for most of the past four decades. The maintenance of peace and security is due almost entirely to Israel’s unquestioned military supremacy.

For 25 years after Israel’s founding in 1948, its neighbors genuinely believed they could destroy it, which is why they repeatedly expended so much blood and treasure trying to do just that.

But the era of Arab state-level warfare against the Jewish State came to an end with Israel’s stunning 1973 victory. Hafez al-Assad soon realized that even the slightest provocation would be met with a punishing Israeli response, a lesson he passed along to his son, Bashar (who did absolutely nothing when Israel destroyed an illegal nuclear reactor he was secretly constructing in 2007, nor when Israeli jets struck a Syrian arms shipment bound for Hezbollah last month). And Syria, despite its endless bellicose rhetoric about ending the “Zionist occupation” of the Golan, has never attempted to retake the territory.

This model characterizes the Jewish State’s relations with its neighbors. When Israel is strong and the Arab states fear its awesome power, they either sign peace treaties (Egypt and Jordan) or limit their hostility to bombast and support for subnational terrorist organizations (Syria).

The Blue Line - Israel, UNIFIL, and the Israeli-Lebanese Border

...All these U.N. functions were worthy objectives, but the U.N. Security Council disregarded the reality that Hezb'allah, not the official Lebanese government, was now the real power in the country, and was becoming increasingly assertive. The mandate of UNIFIL was to keep peace between Israel and Lebanon, but Hezb'allah was and is the real opponent not only of Israel, but also of any pluralistic Lebanese government. It blocked UNIFIL patrols to such an extent that only 10 percent of the patrols included Lebanese troops. It moved some of its forces south of the Litani River. UNIFIL has been unable to stop Hezb'allah from acquiring its large arsenal of weapons from Iran

Michael Curtis..
American Thinker..
19 June '13..

The world has become familiar with the Green Line, and the Red Line, supposedly a game-changing demarcation. Now it is likely to become acquainted with the Blue Line, the line devised by the United Nations on June 7, 2000 that demarcates the Israeli-Lebanese border. This results from events 22 years earlier and the hostilities that began on March 11, 1978, when members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) assaulted Israel from their base, which was virtually a state within the state, in Lebanon, killing and wounding a considerable number of Israelis. In response, Israeli forces invaded three days later and occupied most of southern Lebanon.

Almost immediately, on March 19, 1978, the U.N. Security Council met to pass two Resolutions, 425 and 426, which called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and created the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Its mission was to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, help restore peace and security, and to assist the government of Lebanon in "ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area."

As a result of the assassination of the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom in London by a PLO group, Israel in June 1982 began Operation Galilee to expel the PLO from southern Lebanon. UNIFIL stayed behind the Israeli lines, and its role was largely limited to protecting the local population. By 1985 Israel had withdrawn from most of Lebanon but controlled part of the south, an area manned by a combination of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Southern Lebanese Army. Following the United Nations' invention of the Blue Line in June 2000, a concept respected by both sides, Israel withdrew all its forces later that year.

However, a major consequence of the continuing hostilities was the emergence in Lebanon of Hezb'allah, supported by Iran and Syria, which replaced the PLO as the dominant group in the country. Though Hezb'allah terrorists from Lebanon violated the cease fire and the Blue Line on many occasions the area remained relatively calm until 2006. UNIFIL patrolled the area, observed the movement of troops, kept contact with the different parties, and provided humanitarian assistance.

What exactly is UNIFIL suppose to be doing?

LOTL..
17 June '13..

While almost anyone who has invested the time to check into it realized some time ago, UNIFIL survives solely through the goodwill of Hezbollah, and today's piece in the Al-Monitor, UNIFIL's Uncertain Future, couldn't be more explicit. Pathetic, silly or both, probably both, Jean-Loup Samaan gives us a look at the UNIFIL force in South Lebanon today, a picture that should surely strip away whatever illusions one might have had about the viability of international forces along Israel's borders.

...Today, however, the elements that helped UNIFIL successfully perform its mission are threatened. The first issue putting its operations at risk is the increasingly visible assertiveness of Hezbollah vis-à-vis peacekeepers in the south. As a French official in the Ministry of Defense reminded Al-Monitor, “UNIFIL heavily relies on cooperation with Hezbollah. There is no way it could perform its mission without this form of tacit coexistence.”

The arrangements UNIFIL has had to make with Hezbollah in some south Lebanese villages have been well documented over the years. In addition, UNIFIL officers have been aware of Hezbollah's military build-up in the area, a fait accompli contravening the idea of UN Resolution 1701 and its establishment “between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area.” Still, pragmatism was allowed to prevail, and an implicit division of labor agreed to according to which UNIFIL forces monitored certain areas while Hezbollah maintained its guard over others.

Put Up Your Hands and Hand Over Your Property!

Barry Rubin..
Rubin Reports..
24 February '13..

Here’s the perfect parable for understanding not just the contemporary Middle East but the wider world today.

Two unarmed Finnish soldiers assigned to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were observing along the Israel-Syria border from the Syrian side. Armed men stopped their car. While the two Finns didn’t speak Arabic they were quickly made to understand that the men wanted their UN vehicle and their other possessions.

Similar things have happened to Belgian and Italian soldiers in the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon.

In short, the supposed representatives of the world’s community were being mugged and they could do nothing about it, or at least nothing but to give in.

A Finnish officer explained that the men weren’t in fear of their lives; the gunmen just wanted their property.
Now let me make it clear that I’m not criticizing the two soldiers. What are you going to do when you are unarmed and terrorists with guns hold you up? Yet this little story struck me as incredibly symbolic on several levels.

The world is constantly held up by terrorists and nowadays it tends to give in, if not to the specific operations to the narrative being imposed on it. We do see rescue operations sometimes—as in the Algerian army’s disastrous “rescue” in which all the technicians being held hostage at a gas field were killed—and sometimes we don’t, as in Benghazi while the U.S. government stood by as men it had sent into a dangerous situation were murdered.

Yet what happens is that even if the terrorists don’t always win in their military operations they succeed in intimidating the West to hand over its intellectual property—by suppressing its own debate—and sometimes to pay tribute money as well.

As a reward for failing to fulfill its commitments and cheering on terrorist attacks, the UN’s General Assembly assigned non-member state status to the Palestinian Authority. Billions of dollars of U.S. aid go to Pakistan, which helps the Taliban and shields al-Qaida. Arms are handed over to Syrian Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Turkish government backs a terrorist group to create a violent confrontation with Israel (the IHH in the Gaza flotilla) and President Obama declares that regime to be his soul mate. Even after an official report that Hizballah carried out a terrorist attack in Bulgaria, the European Union won’t put it on the terrorism list.

When the fighting reignites in Southern Lebanon, something to remember.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
10 February '13..

We have posted several times in the last few days about the need for Hezbollah's European operations to be made illegal. The European Union has been bashful about stating openly why it continues to tolerate activities on its soil that provide invaluable support - financial, diplomatic, moral - for the terrorists who are the de facto rulers of Lebanon.

One of the reasons they can do that is that reports like the one below just don't make it onto the morning news in France, Germany and the UK. That's a great shame.

From Lebanon's Daily Star, this report today:

S. Lebanon residents snatch memory card belonging to UNIFIL

February 09, 2013 06:23 PM | SIDON, Lebanon: Residents of south Lebanon briefly blocked a road in front of Belgian peacekeepers Saturday and stole a memory card belonging to one of the patrol’s members, security sources told The Daily Star. After the Belgian unit, specialized in demining, took pictures of a mine field in the Marjayoun village of Mais al-Jabal and was on its way out of the area, residents in their car blocked the path of a vehicle belonging to the Belgium contingent of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, the sources said. The residents then stole a memory card of a camera that belonged to the peacekeepers. The sources said there was no physical confrontation between the residents and the peacekeepers. Items belonging to UNFIL have been taken off its members in the past. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Paulo Serra, has warned against intercepting UNIFIL patrols and confiscating their equipment, saying that such actions are not only illegal, they could escalate, endangering both soldiers and civilians. [more]

(Continue)

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Elder - Useless UNIFIL contradicts itself after Lebanon rocket fire into Israel

One of the Katyushas

Elder of Ziyon
29 November '11

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/11/useless-unifil-contradicts-itself-after.html

From YNet:

The IDF confirmed Tuesday that two Katyusha rockets were fired at the western Galilee from Lebanon on Monday night. No injuries were reported, but several structures sustained damage.

The IDF's Northern Command has been placed on high alert following the fire. The military stressed that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the indicent.

Hezbollah sources denied any connection to the rocket fire. UNIFIL, which has a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, has launched an investigation into the incident, but a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was quoted by Beirut's radio as saying that "UNIFIL rejects reports suggesting any violation of UN Resolution 1701 and is working to restore normalcy."

Really? Rockets are fired into Israel and UNIFIL rejects the idea that there was a violation of 1701?

The UNIFIL website says the exact opposite:

(Read full "Useless UNIFIL contradicts itself after Lebanon rocket fire into Israel")

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Roth - So tell us again: this is why peacekeepers are sent to the area?

Irish UNIFIL soldiers at target
practice, Kawakba, Southern
Lebanon - August 2001.

Frimet/Arnold Roth
This Ongoing War
23 November '11

http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2011/11/23-nov-11-so-tell-us-again-this-is-why.html

Yesterday was Lebanon's 68th independence day ("Lebanon celebrates Independence Day with mixed feelings"). Its media, typically, carries cryptic analyses today referring in round-about fashion to the huge influence exercised by its militant and aggressive Syrian neighbours. But the real elephant in the room is Hizbollah, the armed-to-the-teeth jihadists who have plunged the country into war and to its brink several times in the last five years.

As a reminder of how far from independence the Lebanese actually are, the Daily Star reports this morning from the terrorist-controlled south of the country (the part that borders on Israel):

"A huge explosion shook the Hezbollah stronghold of Siddiqin in south Lebanon overnight, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday. The source said the cause of the blast, which was heard shortly before midnight, could not be determined due to the heavy security blanket that was thrown by Hezbollah. Attempts by Lebanese security forces to reach the scene so far failed as Hezbollah members created a one-kilometer radius security zone around the explosion site between Siddiqin and Deir Ames, the source added. Local media said the explosion likely took place at a Hezbollah arms cache. A spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said UNIFIL heard about the explosion on the news. "We have no information at the moment. We are checking this report," AndreaTenenti told The Daily Star by telephone.

We're sorry for the burden the Lebanese carry. But we're infuriated at the bare-naked passivity of the armed representatives of the UN's "Interim Force" who need their radios and televisions to stay in touch with the deadly events happening under their noses.

Gold - Israel's bitter lessons

Dore Gold
Israel Hayom
28 September '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=575

It has become almost axiomatic for Western leaders who are aware of Israel's acute military vulnerability to suggest that international forces be deployed to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has even been suggested that the IDF withdraw from strategically vital parts of the West Bank, like the Jordan Valley, and instead let international forces take their place. This was in fact proposed in the past by General Jim Jones, President Barack Obama's first national security adviser.

Some Israelis have also proposed this idea; former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told The New York Times earlier this year that he wanted to deploy international forces in the West Bank, though he suggested they be led by the U.S. The last major experiment with international forces was actually attempted under the Olmert government at the end of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. It is worthwhile to look back five years to see how that international force actually functioned before more proposals of this kind are put on the table in the future by the international community.

At the time, Israeli diplomacy was focused on instituting security arrangements that were intended to prevent the return of the military conditions along Israel's northern border that had contributed to the outbreak of hostilities to begin with. Thus Resolution 1701 called for the creation of a larger UNIFIL force with a much more more robust mandate than before. It was not supposed to be just another U.N. force with underpaid third world soldiers, but rather European forces from France Spain, and Italy, like those who make up NATO, were deployed instead.

The resolution also reiterated the importance of UNIFIL actually disarming Lebanese militias, like Hezbollah, in accordance with past U.N. resolutions. Resolution 1701 sought to prohibit the transfer of arms into Lebanon that were not authorized by the Lebanese Government, thereby making any further Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah a violation of a U.N. Security Council Resolution. In order to implement this arms embargo, German naval ships were deployed to monitor the Lebanese coastline in September 2006.

(Diplomatic farce) UNIFIL Mandate Renewal - Statement to UN Security Council by Amb Haim Waxman

Haim Waxman, Deputy Permanent
Representative of Israel to the UN,
 addresses a meeting of the Security
Council (Photo/JC McIlwaine)

IMRA
31 August 31









[Diplomatic farce] Amb. Waxman thanks UNIFIL at UNSC but says they're ineffective

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:  Read the description of how UNIFIL has miserably failed to do its job - followed at the end by words of thanks.]


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UNIFIL Mandate Renewal - Statement to UN Security Council by Amb Haim Waxman
30 Aug 2011

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israel+and+the+UN/Speeches+-+statements/UNIFIL_UNSC_Statement_Amb_Waxman_30-Aug-2011.htm

While Israel is committed to cooperating with the United Nations to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701, serious threats to peace and security in Lebanon stand in the way of fully implementing this resolution.

Thank you, Mr. President. Allow me to commend you for your able stewardship of the Security Council this month.

I would like to begin by offering Israel's condolences to all of those affected by the appalling attacks on UN Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria last week.

Israel welcomes the adoption of today's resolution and the renewal of UNIFIL's mandate. UNIFIL plays a vital role in promoting stability in our region. I would like to convey Israel's appreciation to the UNIFIL troops, their commanders, the troop contributing countries, and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Israel is committed to cooperating with the United Nations to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701.

Yet, as we convene here today, serious threats to peace and security in Lebanon stand in the way of fully implementing this resolution. I would like to highlight four of these challenges this morning.

First, Hizbullah continues to rapidly build up its arsenal of advanced weaponry - and expand its military presence throughout Lebanon, including south of the Litani River. Tens of thousands of sophisticated missiles and rockets are now in the hands of this terrorist organization. Its growing arsenal places the majority of Israeli civilians under the specter of attack.

Hizbullah seeks to acquire even more advanced weapons through joint and coordinated transfers of illegal arms supplied by Iran and directly facilitated by Syria across the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The United Nations and others in the international community are aware of the scope and magnitude of these transfers. Yet, the existing arms embargo has not been enforced - and there has been a lack of progress in the disarmament and disbandment of Hizbullah and other militias, as is mandated by Security Council resolutions. Israel views this stagnation with great concern.

Mr. President,

Israel's second issue of concern relates to the cynical Hizbullah tactics that use Lebanese civilians to further their terrorist activity targeting Israeli civilians. Since the deployment of UNIFIL forces in 2006, Hizbullah's modus operandi has shifted towards intentionally embedding its military infrastructure within civilian villages and residential areas. These deployments are occurring in UNIFIL's area of operations and throughout other densely populated areas of Lebanon. Hizbullah terrorist bases, firing positions and missile storage centers are located adjacent to - and sometimes within - schools, hospitals, homes and mosques.

Such exploitation of civilians as human shields stands in grave violation of international law. On numerous occasions, Israel has provided the international community with detailed information about these violations. Yet, they continue.

More concerted efforts must be made to fully implement paragraph 8 of today's resolution, which calls on all states to, (and I quote) "fully support and respect the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani River of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and UNIFIL."

The Lebanese Authorities bear particular responsibility for putting an end to these serial violations of resolution 1701.