ISRAEL has gloated over the precision of its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, the Zionist state seems to be ignoring the fact that the more it kills, the more it emboldens resistance against the concept of ‘Greater Israel’ and the genocide taking place in Gaza.

Take the first Lebanon war, for instance, when Israel fiercely invaded southern Lebanon and installed a pro-Israel Mar-onite Christian government.

As a consequence of that incursion, Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had to quit its base in southern Lebanon, which helped Hezbollah a great deal in taking root, and whose strength now roars manifold louder than the PLO’s whispers ever did.

Hezbollah, with its robust resistance and retaliatory attacks, compelled the Israeli regime to leave Lebanon, and it has been creating a nuisance for Israel ever since.

Moreover, Hamas, instead of being dispirited by the death of Ismail Haniyeh, has continued to operate with greater determination.

The aforementioned examples, along with the situation we witnessed after 9/11, demonstrate that such organisations cannot be obliterated simply with a barrage of bombs and bullets and precision attacks.

Had the United States and Israel used a small portion of the money on develo-pment and peace in the region, instead of spending billions of dollars on reducing Gaza to rubble and escalating war in the Middle East, the outcome would have been massively different.

However, any peacemaking effort is just not part of the bleak agenda of Israel and all those complicit in allowing this genocide to thrive unchecked.

In essence, while the retaliation by Iran and its proxies may not be sufficient to compensate for what Israel has done to the people of Palestine and Lebanon, they are far better than those who do nothing, but only pay lip service. Period.

Ali Husnain
Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2024