Islam and the Jews

In mid 2006, Israel went to war for the sixth time against an Arab neighbor. From the start, the conflict was characterized by its oddity because it opposed a sovereign nation against a military organization that represented only a part of the population of Lebanon. This organization was part of the Lebanese government, but the Lebanese government was not on its side.

The war started as Hezbollah, a Shia Islamic militia and political organization, attacked Israel and kidnapped several Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah claimed such an action was taken to express solidarity with the Palestinians, who were getting severely hit by the Israelis at that moment.

Practically all international experts say the real motive behind the abduction was another. According to the experts, Iran and Syria, who are the patrons of Hezbollah, wanted to further their interests. The first was risking United Nations sanctions for its illegal nuclear program and the other had been sidelined in the internal affairs of Lebanon and wanted to get back on the saddle. They thus ordered Hezbollah to attack its neighbor to provoke a series of consequences that they hoped would benefit them.

Many people and in particular Muslims will contest such an analysis of things. However, it does not matter what was the real cause behind the attack. The issue is: what sort of person goes on to attack somebody who is twenty times stronger?

\If Israel had been the aggressor and invaded Lebanon, it is understandable that although weaker, Hezbollah would have fought back. However, that was not the case. The last thing Israel had on its mind was to invade Lebanon or any other country, and Hezbollah knew that.

The Iranian and Syrian government were not just aware of the immense military superiority of Israel relative to Hezbollah, but also relative to their own armed forces. If a war would have broken out between Israel, Syria and Iran, these last two would have surely lost. Why then go and provoke Tel Aviv?

The behavior of Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah is indeed one that defies logic.

The war was swift. Despite its short duration, in just a few weeks, much of Lebanon was literally flattened and converted to rubble. Shiite cities, where Hezbollah supporters reside were heavily bombarded and massively destroyed.

Although Shiite Lebanon suffered its most devastating attack ever, as soon as the conflict ended, Hezbollah claimed that it had won the war and went on to celebrate.

Such an odd behavior once again begs the question: what sort of view of the world must somebody have so that it celebrates the total destruction of its land?

The answer is: a view that believes that violence is a good thing no matter the consequences. Only a person who believes in violence per se can behave in such a way. For Muslims, dying for Allah is the greatest thing, which means that no matter how crushing the defeat is, it can always be seen as a victory.

That mentally lethargic view is obviously what drove Iran and Syria to push Hezbollah into attacking Israel.

With such a mentality, it is clear that it is only a matter of time before Muslims pick up another fight with Israel.

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