The weapons of war do not consist solely of missiles and guns. They also exist in the form of words and communication. A verbal assault can be more significant than a missile barrage. The United Nations has no standing army. But it still chooses sides and tries to direct the outcome of conflicts. In the conflict between Iran’s proxies and Israel, the UN has chosen to become a propaganda agent for some of the worst terror groups in history.
Both Old and New Testament prophecies speak of all nations gathering against Israel. The UN is a gathering of the world’s nations. Its current attacks on Israel do not entirely fulfill these prophecies, but it comes remarkably close.
A few months ago, Hezbollah leaders switched from cell phone-based communications to pagers and walkie-talkies. They believed it would be harder for Israel to keep track of them with these more primitive communications tools. Israel apparently intercepted the devices along the supply line, planted a small amount of explosive in each one, and then set them up to be remotely triggered. On September 17th, pagers all over Lebanon simultaneously exploded. Hezbollah says the explosions killed a dozen people and injured about 2,800, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The next day, the walkie-talkies exploded. Hezbollah says this second attack killed another 25 and injured about 700.
The UN began its propaganda campaign by indicating that Israel had probably broken international law. Its high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council that using communications devices in an attack may constitute a war crime.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a man who always finds it hard to hide his disdain for Israel, gave a briefing at UN headquarters. He said Israel should not “weaponize civilian objects.” Think about that. Civilian objects include microphones, pens, computers, paper clips, knives, guns, printing presses, and a million other things that are regularly weaponized.
Let’s look at what really happened. Hezbollah has been amassing weapons and using them against Israeli civilians since Iran formed the terror group in 1982. When the war with Hamas began a year ago, Hezbollah began a series of missile strikes on northern Israel targeting civilian populations. Several of Israel’s towns now stand evacuated because of these attacks.
Israel fought back. They fired their own missiles and successfully targeted key Hezbollah leaders. Then they executed one of the most precisely targeted missions in the history of warfare. They attacked Hezbollah militants who carried pagers and walkie-talkies. They did not attack “civilian devices,” but communications devices used as tools of war. Hezbollah claims that Israel hit civilians. That may be true, but this was not carpet bombing. This was a precise attack on militants who have been specifically targeting civilian population centers in Israel.
War is a horrible, ugly thing. All people should avoid it. But terrorists choose it as a way of life for themselves and their families. The rest of us have, not only a right, but an obligation to defeat these people. The UN apparently prefers for Israel to use missiles and massive, indiscriminate bombs. But in this case, Israel was able to make a pinpoint attack against terrorists, even though those fighters were hiding in civilian areas. Never in history was such an attack carried out with so little collateral damage. The UN should congratulate Israel and condemn Hezbollah’s continued terror bombings of civilian neighborhoods in Israel. But don’t hold your breath.
