Last week, a Wall Street Journal editorial board editorial (U.N. Peacekeepers Are Hezbollah’s Best Friend) noted that “UNIFIL was supposed to keep the north of Israel out of danger,” but “instead it has allowed Hezbollah to entrench itself in southern Lebanon over the years, storing arms in many of the homes and building a network of fully stocked attack tunnels and small outdoor weapons depots in preparation for an Oct. 7-style assault.”
Now the interrogations of several captured Hezbollah terrorists in south Lebanon revealed things have been much worse than even that editorial envisioned. According to an Israel Hayom exposé, those captured terrorists testified that Hezbollah paid money to UNIFIL personnel to use their positions in south Lebanon.
According to Israel Hayom, citing knowledgeable sources, Hezbollah also took over the UNIFIL security cameras in the compounds near the Israeli border and used them. Given these examples of corruption, as well as UNIFIL’s complete failure to prevent Hezbollah from establishing itself along the border, UNIFIL appears to be not just ineffective but actually lined itself up with Israel’s enemies.
Today, despite repeated Israeli demands that UNIFIL leave the war zone to save its soldiers from being hurt, the organization would not depart, entrenching itself between the IDF forces and the Hezbollah assets they aim to destroy.
UNIFIL insists on staying in the line of fire, and in doing so endangers the foreign soldiers in its service.
UNIFIL watching Hezbollah rockets launched at Israeli civilians minutes from their base, and then the world is shocked when UNIFIL is harmed in the crossfire.
Either do your job or leave and let Israel do it. pic.twitter.com/ryx31OWwtp
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 17, 2024
On Sunday, UNIFIL issued a warning to Israel which clearly identifies the UN contingency as being hostile to Israel:
“Earlier today, an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin.
“Yet again, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times. Yet again, we note that breaching a UN position and damaging UN assets is a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701. It also endangers the safety and security of our peacekeepers in violation of international humanitarian law.
“The IDF has repeatedly demanded that UNIFIL vacate its positions along the Blue Line and has deliberately damaged UN positions. Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in all positions. We will continue to undertake our mandated tasks to monitor and report.”
The fact that UNIFIL is now so concerned with enforcing UNSC Resolution 1701, following 18 years during which it did nothing to uphold one of its key points, namely to keep Hezbollah north of the Litani River, would have been hilarious had it not been such a succinct expression of hypocrisy and evil.
Breaking: The IDF has released video evidence that a massive cached of Hezbollah weapons were stored 500 meters from a UNIFIL base.
A reminder that UNIFIL’s sole responsibility is to not allow Hezbollah to have weapons. pic.twitter.com/uCJPTG0Ke1
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) October 13, 2024
However, the IDF fighting against Hezbollah in south Lebanon has little to do with the pre-October 7 IDF that hesitated to attack any and all Hezbollah provocation, lest the scary terrorist organization unleash hellfire on the residents of northern Israel. Part of shoving the Conceptzia in the trash bin of history was the IDF’s determination to pursue Hezbollah wherever it may be, even if it is using UNIFIL soldiers as human shields.
On October 10, two UNIFIL soldiers were injured at the force’s headquarters in Nakaura, north of Rosh Hanikra. UNIFIL said they were injured when an IDF Merkava tank fired at an observation tower at the UNIFIL headquarters in Nakaura, hitting it directly and wounding the soldiers in the process.
Considering the captured Hezbollah terrorists’ testimony, the observation tower had been leased to the terrorists by UNIFIL on a bribe-by-bribe basis. The IDF explained after the incident that it followed a massive firing of anti-tank missiles at our forces, during which several IDF soldiers were injured, and on its way to evacuate them, Merkava tanks drove backward in a place where they could not move forward because of nearby Hezbollah shooting.
UNIFIL’s version of the incident:
“This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are, fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital.
“IDF soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system. An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.”
The UNIFIL statement continued: “Yesterday, IDF soldiers deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras.”
This deliberate attack may have had to do with the fact that UNIFIL was allowing Hezbollah to use their cameras, helping them shoot at our forces from behind their post.
The WSJ editorial declared: “UNIFIL has become the toast of the diplomatic circuit for provoking condemnations of Israel. France, Spain, and Italy express ‘outrage’ at the ‘unjustifiable’ injuring of two UNIFIL troops. The European Union’s foreign policy chief condemns ‘a grave violation of international law.’ Reuters writes of Israel’s ‘targeting of the UN peacekeeping mission.’”
The editorial concludes: “Hezbollah couldn’t have scripted it better. And where was this diplomatic energy when Hezbollah dominated the area, and used it to force the depopulation of Israel’s north? It was missing in action, like UNIFIL. That’s why UNIFIL grandstands, and leaves its peacekeepers in harm’s way, while Israel fights and does their job for them.”
Israel should round up the UNIFIL soldiers, put them on a truck, and drive them to a ship in Haifa port, where they would be taken home, where they belong.
