Ambassador Bolton on Israel and other developments

Ambassador John Bolton gets it right in his analysis of the recent history of Israel and its eternal enemies, Hamas and Hizballah. While the U.N. is, as always, focused on the the actions of Israel, Ambassador Bolton reminds us that Syria and Hizballah have yet to comply with numerous previous Security Council Resolutions, including 1559, 1583, 1655, and 1680.

Amb. Bolton also reminds us of something I mentioned earlier, that Israel fulfilled its commitment to withdraw from Lebanon 6 years ago:

In this context, we underscore the importance of the Security Council President’s statement of June 18, 2000 and the Secretary-General’s conclusion that as of June 16, 2000, Israel had withdrawn all its forces from Lebanon in accordance with UNSC resolution 425 and met the requirements defined in the Secretary-General’s May 22, 2000 report.

More importantly, he reminds us of the Bush Doctrine, which I cited at the end of my last post (though I do wish we'd here more about it from President Bush himself):

President Bush has made clear that Syria and Iran must be held to account for supporting regional terrorism and their role in the current crisis. Syria provides safe haven to the militant wing of Hamas and provides material support to Hizballah, which also maintains an active presence in Syria. Iran’s extensive sponsorship and financial and other support of Hizballah is well known and has been ongoing for decades. No reckoning with Hizballah will be adequate without a reckoning with its principal state sponsors of terror.

We call on Syria and Iran to cease their sponsorship and support of terrorist groups, in particular Hizballah and Hamas. For the third time in two weeks, we again call on Syria to arrest Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who currently lives in Damascus. There is no excuse for a member state of the United Nations to continue to knowingly harbor a recognized terrorist.

I am actually optimistic about the ultimate outcome of all this. For the first time I can remember, Saudia Arabia is putting the blame squarely where it belongs, Hizballah.

In related news, OpFor points out that Israel lost the public relations war years ago because, while it was busy fighting terrorists in the 1970s and 80s, Yassar Arafat and his ilk were letting their minions do the dirty work while they wined and dined with the European elite, putting on their best "I'm not a bloodthirsty murderer" faces.

The Lebanese Poltical Journal continues to offer fresh insights from the standpoint of the average Lebanese. They think Israel went too far in destroying their new airport terminal. I said yesterday morning that Israel must walk a very fine line to avoid destroying some good will it has based on the unprovoked kidnapping of its soldiers. Still, the LPJ thinks the situation is probably going to wind itself up soon.

Hat tip for the Bolton address to Michelle Malkin

UPDATE: Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz correspondent provides detailed information about what is and is not being targeted by the IDF in Lebanon.

UPDATE 2: Ilya Solin at Volokh Conspiracy makes similar points about the course Israel should take, seeing hopeful signs that the Israeli attack will weaken Hizballah enough to allow the Lebanese government to fully disarm them and take over real control of the southern end of Lebanon.