Israel claimed its onslaught by land, air and sea was against Hezbollah, the Islamic movement resisting Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. As Richard Curtiss pointed out in his lectures, the real motive of Israeli violence was to prevent Lebanon's recovery as the economic and financial centre of the Middle East. Moreover, the attacks were also meant to boost Prime Minister Shimon Peres' rating among Israeli voters ahead of the 29 May general elections. After all, a similar strategy had helped former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's Likud Party in the 1981 elections, which pre-election polls indicated he might lose. Begin won the elections following a swing in Israeli public opinion after he ordered air strikes against Palestinians in Lebanon and against Iraq's nuclear reactor2.
Recent years give much evidence of such self-destructiveness.
A case in point being Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980 and eight years of war in the Persian Gulf. With 20,000 Iraqis dying every month due to shortages in medicine and food caused by UN sanctions6, the war continues to take its toll. It demonstrated that emotional appeals and religious slogans had become a substitute for moral coherence and critical thinking. Our pious expectations for the West to make up for our moral failures were also highlighted during Israel's recent savagery in Lebanon. Over a hundred Lebanese, including women and children who had taken refuge in the UN compound were killed during 12 minutes of shelling as Israelis ignored UN radio messages about their headquarters being under fire.