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Editor's Letter

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Hezbollah's Rising

I is a front for Iran's revolutionary regime as well as a terrorist
organization committed to Israel's destruction. Yet Hezbollah
now commands a seat on the U.N. Security Council, charged
with assuring peace and security around the globe.
What an outrage! Such is the sorry
state of such an important — and
once prestigious — panel.
In the aftermath of its 2006 war
with Israel, Hezbollah ignored U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1701,
calling for it to disarm. On Jan. 1,
Lebanon joined the council as a non-
permanent member. When its ambas-
sador speaks, he represents the Arab
nation's coalition government, which
includes Hezbollah, a veiled front for
Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The Shia-
rooted political and paramilitary organization emerged as a
militia following the 1982 Lebanon-Israel war and in response
to Israel's military occupation during the Lebanese civil war.
Not surprisingly, the inspiration for this Islamist movement
was Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. Hezbollah replaced Yasser
Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon, which
was expelled to Tunis.
Hezbollah's 1985 Islamist manifesto cited goals
that included rejecting "any colonist entity" in
Lebanon, meaning Israel from south Lebanon,
and creating "an Islamic regime" in Lebanon,
meaning Israel didn't fit into the region's Muslim
mix. Further, Hezbollah called for the end of
Israel — a "Zionist entity ... built on lands
wrested from their owners:'
Born as an Iranian intelligence network work-
ing from Lebanon, Hezbollah remains fueled by
politics. Don't think its reach doesn't extend to
Iraqi Shiites.
Hezbollah, led by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah,
AJC's Ken
joined the Lebanese Parliament in 2005. Last
year, it won 13 of the parliament's 128 seats. It
also holds two cabinet seats and its Shia ally, Amal, controls
the Foreign Ministry.

Truth Unmasked
In an enlightening commentary last week, Kenneth Bandler, the
American Jewish Committee's New York-based communica-
tions director, discussed Hezbollah's new toehold inside the U.N.
Security Council. The portrait he painted is troubling at best.
"Hezbollah continues to rely heavily on financial and mili-
tary support from the Islamist regime in Tehran:' he writes,
restating a well-known fact that should unsettle the West.
He adds, "They share a dangerous worldview that seeks
Israel's elimination, an innate hatred of the United States, and
a desire to use terror and violence to realize their goals."
Despite its successful participation in democratic politics
and elections (such as they are in Lebanon), Hezbollah hasn't
changed its terrorist stripes. It's the same group that triggered
some of the deadliest attacks, including the 1982 bombing of
the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut and the 1994 destruction
of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
"Hezbollah," writes Bandler, "remains the only group in
Lebanon still refusing to disarm, making it impossible for the
Lebanese army to take full control of southern Lebanon, the
stronghold of Hezbollah, as well as west Beirut, home to the

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group's leadership and its powerful satellite television station,
Al Manar. Its incendiary programming led the United States,
France, Germany and other countries to ban satellite opera-
tors from broadcasting the station."
Let's see: In this so-called democratic nation of Lebanon, a
terrorist organization holds sway over key parts of the land.
Against that convoluted backdrop, I guess it makes sense
to see Lebanon begin a two-year term on the U.N. Security
Council. The council is as misdirected and weak as the
Lebanese government.

Skewed Voting
More alarming is the flow of arms to Hezbollah via Iran and
another Iranian proxy, Syria, despite the U.N. peacekeeping
forces in Lebanon. Hezbollah, says Bandler, is better armed
today, in quantity and sophistication, than in 2006, when it
fired 4,000 rockets into Israel, hitting Haifa and other north-
ern Israeli communities. In defiance, Hezbollah now boasts
that it can hit Tel Aviv, Israel's largest metropolis.
Non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are
elected by the regional groups that they belong to. Lebanon,
and by extension Hezbollah, belongs to the Asia group, which
includes the Arab world. Israel, in contrast, has never held a
non-permanent member seat. Spurned by its natural regional
bloc, Israel didn't even become eligible for such
a seat until the Western European and Others
Group accepted it. The United Nations' anti-
Zionist bent, however, means Israel won't gain
such a seat anytime soon.
The irony is that Hezbollah's influence as
a terrorist organization is growing. Consider
Gaza Strip-ruling Hamas' representation in the
Palestinian Parliament. Under this warped line of
thinking, there's no need to shed a cloak of ter-
ror for one that is cut by a legitimate unarmed
political force. Like Bandler says, "That does not
bode well for those Lebanese people, or even the
Bandler
Palestinians, who truly aspire to live in peace."

Keep Up Vigilance
Bandler went on to muse about the fear-invoking political rise
of authentic terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas,
which provide schools, hospitals and agricultural services to
obscure their undercurrents of hate and violence.
He's right: That's dispiriting.
Even more dispiriting, he concluded, "is the United Nations,
which probably has not seen such a display since Yasser Arafat,
holster on his hip, addressed the General Assembly 36 years ago."
Let there be no doubt: Iran's calculated investment in
Hezbollah assures that Lebanon won't back any U.N. Security
Council resolution demanding sanctions against the Iranian
nuclear program.
Hezbollah stands tall as the instrument of choice to take
the Iranian revolution throughout the Middle East — with
second-tier groups like Hamas considered valued partners in
stirring the unrest so necessary to inciting terror. ❑

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CL OS E T

Is the West misreading Hezbollah's might?

Should the West fear or discredit the U.N.?

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February 4 • 2010

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