Not an accident

The accidental war," the smart editors at The Economist called it in their first edition after the capture of two Israeli soldiers. But superior observers recognized that this war, initiated by Hezbollah with thinly veiled direction from Iran and support from Syria, was hardly accidental. It was an act of war carried out with malice aforethought. Although that war is over (for now), are we to regard this as a triumph for the forces of composition over the forces of decomposition in the Middle East? \nI think not. I think that the current Economist cover has it right: Nasrallah wins the war. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, has welcomed this as a Zionist capitulation, a verdict that is hard to quarrel with. But brighter days are not ahead for the Jewish state -- or for the fragile democracy that is fighting for its life next door in Lebanon. \nShort of David Copperfield coming on the scene, it seems unlikely that Sheik Nasrallah will be able to make good on his pledge to have Israel "disappear." Meanwhile, the United Nations seems to be dispatching a paltry force to Lebanon with no hope of disarming the terrorist militias in the south. This will continue to ensure that Israel's national defense will be regarded by the international observer class as racist aggression. \nAnd this is the pity of the "peace" that now reigns. By sounding forth the trumpet that quickly called retreat, Israel has only emboldened the menace -- not to itself alone, but to modernizing forces the region over. This tragedy has proved, once again, that credibility is diminished more by retreat than if you'd never joined the fight to begin with.\nThose who clamored for a "proportional response" on the part of Israel embody the mindset that has led to this unpromising status quo. Personally, I never understood what endeared so many to "proportionality": did they really wish for Israel to cross the Lebanese border, kill and capture a small cadre of Hezbollah terrorists and then fire a barrage of rockets into civilian centers aiming to inflict the biggest death toll?\nThe old joke about British Palestine was that it was the twice-promised land. Hence, today a Western democracy and a disaffected Muslim population share this same piece of real estate. This will ever be a cause for dissatisfaction, but a decidedly different impression is given by what has transpired. The dividing line lies between those on all sides who are in favor of building civil society and those who are determined to smother any trace of it. \nIn the days ahead, one should be keen to avoid the Economist's mistake of splitting that difference. The longer the forces of reaction are not met head-on by forces of reform, the more the enemy will be strengthened. And there will come a point when that enemy, equipped with an arsenal far in excess of meager Katyusha rockets, strikes into Israel to kill more than a handful of Israeli Defense Forces. On that day, "proportional" is not going to be the type of response that critics of Israel will be clamoring for.