What so often motivated Europe's appeasers, Winston Churchill understood, was cowardice and dishonor. "Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last," he said of the political elites who thought the best way to confront the threat posed by Nazi Germany was to avoid confronting it. "All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured."
What would Churchill say of the European elites today who imagine that the best way to confront the threat posed by Hezbollah, one of the world's deadliest and most fanatic terror networks, is likewise to avoid any confrontation?
For years the United States has urged Europe to designate Hezbollah a terrorist entity. Doing so would not just acknowledge an obvious truth and call evil by its name – though that should be reason enough to act. It would also strip away the fig leaf that Hezbollah's "military wing" is separate from its political and social activities, an ignoble pretext that has enabled an international killing organization to freely raise funds on European soil, recruiting supporters, rallying followers, and generally being indulged as if it were a legitimate actor in Middle East politics. "In Germany alone, some 950 people have been identified as being associated with [Hezbollah] as of 2011," reported The New York Times. "The group has always been treated as a benign force."
It is astonishing that anyone could regard Hezbollah as "benign," given its long history of murder, mayhem, and incitement to genocide. This year will mark the 30th anniversary of Hezbollah's 1983 bombings of the American embassy, the US Marine barracks, and the French military compound in Beirut, acts of carnage that left 362 people dead. Just last summer, Hezbollah carried out a bus bombing in the Black Sea resort city of Burgas, killing five Israeli tourists and their local Bulgarian bus driver. In the intervening decades, Hezbollah – which was created by Iran's theocratic regime, and to which it remains intensely loyal – has shed rivers of innocent blood.
The roster of terrorist attacks that Hezbollah is known or strongly believed to be responsible for is immense. From the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 to the rocketing of Israeli towns, from the murder of US servicemen in Saudi Arabia to the bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina, from the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri to the killing of Saudi diplomats in Bangkok, from the abduction and torture of Americans in Lebanon to joining the Assad regime's murderous crackdown in Syria – the horrific list goes on and on. Moreover, as The Washington Post noted last week, a number of terror operations linked to Hezbollah have been foiled, "including botched bombing attempts in India, Thailand, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kenya."
9/11 accustomed most Americans to thinking of al-Qaeda as the quintessential terrorist organization, but prominent dissenters point unhesitatingly to Hezbollah instead. "To be honest," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said in 2008, "they make al-Qaeda look like a minor-league team." In 2002, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage argued that "Hezbollah may be the A-team of terrorists and maybe al-Qaeda is actually the B-team."
Trying to appease the unappeasable is always folly.
So what can explain the European reluctance to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and shut down its fundraising and logistical operations? As in Churchill's day, cowardice and dishonor might have something to do with it.
"There's the overall fear if we're too noisy about this, Hezbollah might strike again," Sylke Tempel, editor-in-chief of the German foreign affairs magazine Internationale Politik, said last month as the Bulgarian government was preparing its report on the Burgas bus bombing. "And it might not be Israeli tourists this time."
The moral stench of that rationalization is almost as repellent as its stupidity. Yes, Hezbollah's foremost targets are Jews and the Jewish state – it has always proclaimed the destruction of Israel as its goal – but have Europeans still not figured out that while Nazis and the Nazi-like start by killing Jews, they rarely end with them? After 30 years of Hezbollah butchery around the world, can Europe still imagine that pretending Hezbollah is mostly "benign" will keep them safe? That if they feed the crocodile enough, it won't eat them just yet?
"The storm will not pass," Churchill warned Europe's appeasers. "It will rage and it will roar, ever more loudly, ever more widely." Trying to appease the unappeasable is always folly. Europeans were supposed to have learned that lesson from the Nazis. Must they learn it again from Hezbollah?
(10) Steve Skeete, March 12, 2013 2:40 PM
The croc will eat you, eventually!
Some very observant sage said that " we learn from history, that we learn nothing from history". So the West, having learned nothing from Hitler's Germany, must now appease Islam its murderous off-shoots like Hezbollah. Feeding a crocodile is a deadly game. He may eat you last, but he will eat you.
(9) Simon, March 8, 2013 2:20 PM
Being too good but naive.
The minute one thinks that they are better off without God they invite a mischievous spirit who takes control in the name of the wrong love, a misnomer of the truth. Soon when the truth dawns, when God brings His love truly to all of us then unity will spell and accomplish Psalms 133. As the truth and love will shine like the sun.
(8) Chris Rettenmoser, March 7, 2013 8:47 PM
The EU is anti-Israel
Because of it's anti-Israel attitude, the EU is supportive of Hizbollah, and these Shiite killers will never bite the feeding hand of their European supporters !
(7) Revsevtwo, March 7, 2013 6:36 PM
ignorance is sheer bliss?
Do they not know the Islamists' idea to subjugate and conquer the world? That Israel and the Jews are but the first step?
(6) LADave, March 7, 2013 6:04 PM
Political Correctness
A large part of the problem is political correctness. Palestinians have been very successful portraying themselves as victims. Thus, it becomes incorrect on the far Left, which controls most of the European media, to attack any organization that takes their side. Also, Europeans, especially Germans, are scared to death of being viewed as Nazis. So, they avoid attacking any group, no matter how insidious, tied to an ethnic or religious minority. This was not so much of a problem in the 1930's, but it has grown out of control since.
It's time to wake up. Defending ourselves and our way of life against Hezbollah is not the same as attacking all ethnic Persians or Muslims. Most of them are reasonable people who would never hurt us. However, we in the West have every right to protect ourselves from the terrorists among them. If we don't, they won't stop with the Jews.
Anonymous, March 8, 2013 10:13 AM
Don' agree
The problem is not only Hezbollah. The very problem is Islamism in general. They are conquering Europe, and they want the whole world. If we don't wake up soon the Sharia will be the Law. Unlukyly Yisrael is alone against this kind of beings, and more, they are the only front to defend mankind against them . I know that this situation is not casual. "Someone" at top has decided it and it will be very difficult to change it. So Mr. Bibi, wake up, don't give then nothing at all. Kik them out of Ysrael. And our governments must do the same. It's now or tomorrow will be late. Please don't display my name. It's too dangerous. I don't like to have my throat cut off.
(5) Zalmen, March 7, 2013 5:06 PM
Cowards
"The brave (valient) lives , untill the coward wants"
So wake up europeans, or the cocodrile will eat you!,
(4) betty, March 7, 2013 4:47 PM
We are supposed to take a lesson from history but unfortunately we don't? How many human lives taken will it take for Europe to finally realize that they are not safe ?
(3) Ben, March 5, 2013 5:24 AM
Like Nazism, like Jihad
Liberalism, believing too fervantly in the inherent goodness of man, no doubt lead countless Jews like lambs to the slaughter. Liberalism tends to cloud judgment of any situation. Perhaps leftists think positive thoughts and harmony can prevent mass murder?
John, March 7, 2013 7:44 PM
Evil called evil
Not calling evil evil is calling evil good. as stated by Abhram Lincoln just prior to Americas civil war
(2) Anonymous, March 5, 2013 1:13 AM
Shudders
The word "Hezbollah," should send shudders down any Righteous person's spine - and down the spine of Any human being who is concerned with living a peaceful life. The Europeans, as much as I deeply love them, in my opinion, have not learned from their own very painful histories. There are infinite numbers of very dangerous violent "people," in the world who await the opportunity for indifference to accumulate in any society, and then, - they Pounce. Afterwards, very often, there are infinite numbers of history books, analysis, pundits, scholars who wax eloquent concerning the whys and wherefores of how "such things can happen!" Meaning of course, genocide, war, systematic murders, robberies, and the destruction of seemingly stable "civilized" societies of great "renown and impeccable, non besmirched traditions. " It can all be traced, by common sense to the state of affairs whereby societies blithely CHOOSE to: ignore, trivialize violence and violent groups who are dedicated to the ideals of hatred - and the reasons are endless. Human life is precious, and the Jewish People, who have Extremely, generously shared the 10 Commandments with the Human Family over the centuries, should be considered Experts on what it means, when Human societies Choose to ignore threats to Human life- for Any reason.
(1) Rabbi Levin, March 4, 2013 1:16 PM
Quote
As W B Yeats said: The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.