An Israeli senior military told Israeli lawmakers recently that the terrorist group, Hezbollah, has grown so powerful that it has actually achieved a state of deterrence against Israel.
Hezbollah has acquired a missile arsenal so large that the Israelis are actually afraid to provoke them for fear of retaliation. Israeli senior commanders estimate that Hezbollah has as many as 15,000 rockets and missiles of varying ranges that could blanket most of the Jewish State.
As a consequence, it is Hezbollah -- and not Israel -- that is calling the shots along the Israeli/Lebanese border. An Israeli Defense ministry study found that, should Hezbollah launch an all-out attack on Israel, much of the northern part of the country 'could be destroyed'. Several Israeli communities would be wiped off that map. Hezbollah rockets within range of chemical plants in Haifa could unleash a toxic cloud that would kill everyone for miles around the facilities.
In the event of a war with Syria, Israeli military commanders say, a Hezbollah attack could flatten northern Israel and open up a second military front that could force Israel to use non-conventional weapons to prevent the country from being destroyed.
Senior Palestinian officials in Gaza say that Hezbollah is trying to recruit terrorists from among the Palestinians in Gaza while Iran works to undermine any renewal of the diplomatic process between the PA and Israel.
Israel has arrested 19 Palestinian activists recruited or controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In addition, security services have identified Hezbollah's smuggling weapons and other military equipment through tunnels connecting the Sinai to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli security services attribute 21 attacks to Tanzim cells controlled by Iran. Some 50 Israelis have been killed and 216 injured in those attacks.
According to intelligence estimates, Iran and Hezbollah will concentrate their efforts in undermining any chance of renewing the peace process, and if a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians is achieved, they will seek to destroy it.
Iran is opposed to negotiations between Israel and Syria and the possibility that an interim agreement may result in Hezbollah's withdrawal from Lebanon's southern border with Israel.
Intelligence information also suggests that Iran is passing over millions of dollars to Palestinians via Hezbollah contacts, picking up where Saddam Hussein left off when he was overthrown by the coalition.
The Palestinian organization with which Iran has the closest affiliation is Islamic Jihad. Hamas maintains a permanent representative in Iran.
Hamas also gets significant financial and technical assistance from Tehran and its agents.
Hezbollah is dedicated to the destruction or removal of all non-Islamic influences in the Middle East, especially that of the United States, and in particular, Israel. It was Hezbollah, backed by the Islamic authorities in Iran, that was behind the bombing of the US Marines in Beirut in 1983.
In his September 20, 2001, speech to Congress, President Bush pledged that the U.S.-led war on terror "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
Hezbollah's cells outside the Middle East, its reported involvement in the January 2002 attempt to smuggle a boatload of arms to the Palestinian Authority, and its role in the 1992 and 1994 attacks in Argentina make it a 'terrorist group of global reach'.
Hezbollah was even named specifically by President Bush by name as a terrorist group of global reach during his 2002 State of the Union speech.
Indeed, in June, 2002, Singapore accused Hezbollah of recruiting some of its citizens in a failed plot to attack U.S. and Israeli ships in the Singapore Straits.
Following the September 11 attacks, the president outlined his policy, known as the Bush Doctrine, which says the United States will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them".
It was under the authority of the Bush Doctrine that the United States went into Afghanistan and ended the terrorist regime of the Taliban. The US demanded the Taliban hand over Osama bin-Laden. When the Taliban refused, the Bush Doctrine required the US to view Afghanistan as an enemy state.
Under the terms of the Bush Doctrine, so are Iran and Syria.
The Bush Doctrine was fully delineated in a National Security Council text entitled the National Security Strategy of the United States issued on September 17, 2002.
The Bush Doctrine can be broken down into its component elements; the first of which is also the most controversial -- preemption. A preemptive attack is defined as "an attempt to repel or defeat an imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending and unavoidable war."
The Bush Doctrine gives the United States the right to take unilateral action without the approval of the United Nations, if necessary.
Despite the declaration of the Bush Doctrine, Iran and Syria continue to arm and equip Hezbollah with relative impunity. As a consequence, Hezbollah, estimated to number only a few thousand fighters, is in a position to hold Israel hostage by virtue of its ability to decimate the northern part of their country.
Thanks to the efforts of Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers, the United States has been rendered all but useless as a legitimate peace broker between Israel and her Islamic enemies.
Under the Bush Doctrine, the states with which peace must be negotiated are not just Israel's enemies, they are the declared enemies of the United States.
As a consequence of that fact, the Bush administration is aggressively pushing the Europeans to take a wider role in the process, something that the Europeans have been eyeing for years.
Having Europe on board would pay dividends because the Europeans are believed to be capable of influencing the Palestinians.
There can never be peace between Israel and the forces of Islam, no matter who confirms it or how badly Israel wants a peace agreement to work.
For the forces of Islam to recognize Israel's right to exist would be tantamount to admitting that Allah lied. That the Koran is wrong. The Koran says once Islam takes root in a nation, that nation will always be Islamic.
Any non-Islamic entity is therefore, by definition, a temporary 'occupation' by a foreign power or it means the Koran is wrong.
Islam can no more recognize Israel's right to exist than Israel can recognize Islam's right to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The side that gives in not only gives up territory, it must also give up the basic fundamentals of their religion.
It is a war, not between nations, but between gods. Specifically, the God of the Bible and the god of this world. It cannot be settled by negotiations between nations, or by the threat of the imposition of force, as the impotence of the Bush Doctrine regarding Iran and Syria makes painfully obvious.
The war that began with Israel's declaration of statehood in 1948 is the same war that the Israeli prophets predicted would be settled, not at the negotiating table, but on the plains of Megiddo.
Hezbollah has acquired a missile arsenal so large that the Israelis are actually afraid to provoke them for fear of retaliation. Israeli senior commanders estimate that Hezbollah has as many as 15,000 rockets and missiles of varying ranges that could blanket most of the Jewish State.
As a consequence, it is Hezbollah -- and not Israel -- that is calling the shots along the Israeli/Lebanese border. An Israeli Defense ministry study found that, should Hezbollah launch an all-out attack on Israel, much of the northern part of the country 'could be destroyed'. Several Israeli communities would be wiped off that map. Hezbollah rockets within range of chemical plants in Haifa could unleash a toxic cloud that would kill everyone for miles around the facilities.
In the event of a war with Syria, Israeli military commanders say, a Hezbollah attack could flatten northern Israel and open up a second military front that could force Israel to use non-conventional weapons to prevent the country from being destroyed.
Senior Palestinian officials in Gaza say that Hezbollah is trying to recruit terrorists from among the Palestinians in Gaza while Iran works to undermine any renewal of the diplomatic process between the PA and Israel.
Israel has arrested 19 Palestinian activists recruited or controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In addition, security services have identified Hezbollah's smuggling weapons and other military equipment through tunnels connecting the Sinai to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli security services attribute 21 attacks to Tanzim cells controlled by Iran. Some 50 Israelis have been killed and 216 injured in those attacks.
According to intelligence estimates, Iran and Hezbollah will concentrate their efforts in undermining any chance of renewing the peace process, and if a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians is achieved, they will seek to destroy it.
Iran is opposed to negotiations between Israel and Syria and the possibility that an interim agreement may result in Hezbollah's withdrawal from Lebanon's southern border with Israel.
Intelligence information also suggests that Iran is passing over millions of dollars to Palestinians via Hezbollah contacts, picking up where Saddam Hussein left off when he was overthrown by the coalition.
The Palestinian organization with which Iran has the closest affiliation is Islamic Jihad. Hamas maintains a permanent representative in Iran.
Hamas also gets significant financial and technical assistance from Tehran and its agents.
Hezbollah is dedicated to the destruction or removal of all non-Islamic influences in the Middle East, especially that of the United States, and in particular, Israel. It was Hezbollah, backed by the Islamic authorities in Iran, that was behind the bombing of the US Marines in Beirut in 1983.
In his September 20, 2001, speech to Congress, President Bush pledged that the U.S.-led war on terror "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
Hezbollah's cells outside the Middle East, its reported involvement in the January 2002 attempt to smuggle a boatload of arms to the Palestinian Authority, and its role in the 1992 and 1994 attacks in Argentina make it a 'terrorist group of global reach'.
Hezbollah was even named specifically by President Bush by name as a terrorist group of global reach during his 2002 State of the Union speech.
Indeed, in June, 2002, Singapore accused Hezbollah of recruiting some of its citizens in a failed plot to attack U.S. and Israeli ships in the Singapore Straits.
Following the September 11 attacks, the president outlined his policy, known as the Bush Doctrine, which says the United States will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them".
It was under the authority of the Bush Doctrine that the United States went into Afghanistan and ended the terrorist regime of the Taliban. The US demanded the Taliban hand over Osama bin-Laden. When the Taliban refused, the Bush Doctrine required the US to view Afghanistan as an enemy state.
Under the terms of the Bush Doctrine, so are Iran and Syria.
The Bush Doctrine was fully delineated in a National Security Council text entitled the National Security Strategy of the United States issued on September 17, 2002.
The Bush Doctrine can be broken down into its component elements; the first of which is also the most controversial -- preemption. A preemptive attack is defined as "an attempt to repel or defeat an imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending and unavoidable war."
The Bush Doctrine gives the United States the right to take unilateral action without the approval of the United Nations, if necessary.
Despite the declaration of the Bush Doctrine, Iran and Syria continue to arm and equip Hezbollah with relative impunity. As a consequence, Hezbollah, estimated to number only a few thousand fighters, is in a position to hold Israel hostage by virtue of its ability to decimate the northern part of their country.
Thanks to the efforts of Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers, the United States has been rendered all but useless as a legitimate peace broker between Israel and her Islamic enemies.
Under the Bush Doctrine, the states with which peace must be negotiated are not just Israel's enemies, they are the declared enemies of the United States.
As a consequence of that fact, the Bush administration is aggressively pushing the Europeans to take a wider role in the process, something that the Europeans have been eyeing for years.
Having Europe on board would pay dividends because the Europeans are believed to be capable of influencing the Palestinians.
There can never be peace between Israel and the forces of Islam, no matter who confirms it or how badly Israel wants a peace agreement to work.
For the forces of Islam to recognize Israel's right to exist would be tantamount to admitting that Allah lied. That the Koran is wrong. The Koran says once Islam takes root in a nation, that nation will always be Islamic.
Any non-Islamic entity is therefore, by definition, a temporary 'occupation' by a foreign power or it means the Koran is wrong.
Islam can no more recognize Israel's right to exist than Israel can recognize Islam's right to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The side that gives in not only gives up territory, it must also give up the basic fundamentals of their religion.
It is a war, not between nations, but between gods. Specifically, the God of the Bible and the god of this world. It cannot be settled by negotiations between nations, or by the threat of the imposition of force, as the impotence of the Bush Doctrine regarding Iran and Syria makes painfully obvious.
The war that began with Israel's declaration of statehood in 1948 is the same war that the Israeli prophets predicted would be settled, not at the negotiating table, but on the plains of Megiddo.
