Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah made some instructive comments recently:
On the topic of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Nasrallah [said] that the organization chose to conduct the action as part of an ongoing struggle against the continued incarceration of Lebanese prisoners inside Israeli jails, and the continued Israeli occupation of Shaba Farms…
“Iran assists the organization with money, weapons, and training, motivated by a religious fraternity and ethnic solidarity,” Nasrallah said. “And the help is funneled through Syria, and everybody knows it.”
When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the UN adjudicated the Lebanese/Israeli border and decided that the 10 square mile Shebaa Farms area originally belonged to Syria, and was part of the Golan heights. Hezbollah says that it belongs to Lebanon, to support its claim that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory and to justify its attacks on Israel.
As far as Lebanese prisoners in Israel, they are talking about multiple murderer Samir Kuntar about whom I’ve written before.
These issues are transparent pretexts for Hezbollah’s continued terrorism. Note that there is no connection here with Palestinian human rights or any of the usual rationalizations that may appeal to liberal Westerners. The reason is simply pure hatred for Israel and a desire to remove the Jewish presence from the Middle East, motivations clearly shared by the governments of Iran and Syria.
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