The UN must get out of Israel’s way, or risk becoming collateral damage in Hezbollah’s destruction

Its ‘peacekeepers’ have done nothing to keep the peace. They should withdraw now and let Jerusalem complete its mission.

A major purpose behind the presence of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon is to implement the Security Council’s 2006 ruling that all Hezbollah terrorists be moved beyond the Litani river, some 20 miles north of Israel’s border. The peacekeepers failed to achieve that objective and Hezbollah terrorists operated openly in that prohibited area, firing rockets at Israeli civilians and forcing tens of thousands of them from their homes.

The UN peacekeepers did not help Israel. They have been used as cover by Hezbollah terrorists.

Now that Israel has felt it necessary unilaterally to implement the Security Council resolution by forcing Hezbollah to retreat beyond the river, the presence of UN peacekeepers again only helps the terrorists by making it more difficult for Israeli soldiers to get at them.

Predictably, there have been conflicts between the various forces, and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded that the useless peacekeepers remove themselves from the area of combat. So far, the UN has refused. Accordingly, if any UN troops are hurt – despite efforts by the Israel Defense Forces to keep them safe – it will be the fault of the UN. But Israel will be blamed, as it always is.

Israel is also being faulted for entering Lebanon, but it has the legal and moral right to enforce the terms of the Security Council resolution accompanying the 2006 ceasefire, which was designed – but failed – to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

Following Hamas’s barbarous attack on October 7 2023, Hezbollah joined Hamas in its war by firing rockets into Israel. It sought to justify this unprovoked assault by claiming it was in support of Hamas’s unprovoked attack the previous day.

It has been acknowledged that Hezbollah leaders were aware of the Hamas plans to murder Israelis, and that Hezbollah subsequently coordinated its attacks with that other terrorist group. Hezbollah is thus both legally and morally complicit with the Hamas barbarism of October 7 and deserves no sympathy.

The innocent civilians who are being used as shields by Hezbollah are, of course, deserving of sympathy, and the IDF does everything reasonable and consistent with its legitimate war aims to protect them. But Israel must destroy or at least significantly weaken Iran’s most potent and dangerous surrogate, and the UN should not stand in the way of that commendable goal.

So the UN peacekeeping army, which has done nothing to keep the peace, should now retreat beyond the Litani river and stay out of the way of IDF soldiers who are trying to clear the area of Hezbollah terrorists, rocket launchers and drones. If they refuse to leave, the IDF should obviously try to avoid harming them. But if they become collateral damage, that would not result from a violation of international law by Israel. It would result from a biased decision by the UN to effectively side with Hezbollah.

International law does not require a nation engaged in self-defence to endanger its soldiers by protecting peacekeepers who are serving no function other than shielding terrorists from legitimate military attacks.