EDITORIAL: Calls by the West for Israel to show restraint are obscene

Israel, regardless of what some may have you believe, is not looking for a war with Hezbollah.

Israel does not want to make good on its threat to enact a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

But it may be forced to do so, backed into a corner by the daily barrage on northern Israel which have driven tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes.

For a year, Hezbollah has rained down more than 8000 rockets and drones across the border into Israel.

Israel, preoccupied with the more urgent existential threat to its south posed by Hamas in Gaza, was forced to tolerate the situation.

But now, with Hamas destroyed as an effective fighting force, Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s aggressions with a ferocity that appears to have caught the Iranian-backed terror group off guard.

First came the ingenious pager and walkie-talkie attack, which gravely weakened Hezbollah and crippled its communications systems. That was followed by this latest intense bombing campaign inside southern Lebanon, which Israeli Major general Herzi Halevi said was aimed at destroying Hezbollah infrastructure and clearing the way for a potential ground assault by Israeli troops.

Hezbollah’s primary aim, its reason for existence, is to end Israel’s.

Like Hamas, it won’t stop until it has been destroyed.

And yet, leaders in the West, including our own in Australia, appear not to grasp the difficulty and the urgency of the situation faced by Israel.

Western nations have abandoned Israel to fight off this existential threat on its own.

And then we have the temerity to lecture and hector Israel about morality.

Australia’s own Foreign Minister Penny Wong, in New York for United Nations talk, has warned that “Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza”.

“The global community is clear, this destructive cycle must stop. All parties must show restraint and de-escalate,” Senator Wong said.

“What has happened in recent days only makes an immediate ceasefire in Gaza even more urgent.”

How does one de-escalate against an enemy who has made it clear they have no appetite for peace?

Hezbollah doesn’t want stability. It doesn’t care for the preservation of life, be they the lives of Israelis or the Lebanese people, most of whom despise this terrorist group which has done nothing but cause them misery and destroyed their lives.

The United States is leading a call for a 21-day ceasefire across the border. A pause in hostilities they hope will provide sufficient breathing space to prevent the conflict widening into a larger, ultra-destructive regional war drawing in more neighbouring states.

Whether that ceasefire will be agreed to is yet to be seen. Whether it will be honoured by Hezbollah — which would not be a signatory to it — is another question entirely.

Its ultimate aim — longer term stability through the border regions — appears fanciful while Hezbollah terrorists continue to operate from their Lebanese stronghold.