OPINION:
According to Security Council resolutions 425 and 426, adopted in 1978, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was temporarily established to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area (“Netanyahu tells U.N. to pull peacekeeping troops out of Lebanon’s border area,” web, Oct. 13).
This mandate was later reaffirmed and expanded in Resolution 1701 in 2006.
To say these resolutions have failed miserably would be an understatement.
Nowhere in any resolution does it call for the U.N. Interim Force to act as human shields for Hezbollah. To the contrary, the resolution clearly states that the U.N. Interim Force is mandated to “protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers.”
Again, the mission has been allowed to be corrupted by Hezbollah with no consequences by the United Nations, the Lebanese government or anyone else.
Now, at a time when U.N. Interim Force personnel are in harm’s way (even though the Israeli military has repeatedly requested that these personnel be removed from the area for their own safety), the request has fallen on deaf ears, allowing member nations to blame Israel when U.N. Interim Force workers are unintentionally harmed.
Moreover, the Security Council authorized the U.N. Interim Force to take all necessary action to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind and to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council. Again, a colossal failure.
The anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, antisemitic haters will stop at nothing to cast the democratic state of Israel as the aggressor, occupier and colonialist country, none of which is true. Hezbollah began firing projectiles into Israeli territory on Oct. 8, 2023.
No country on the planet would allow such an assault to continue unabated. Israel is fighting back with vigor and with valor, and its enemies can’t stand it.
ARLENE HERSH
Jerusalem
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