lOS ANGELES.–Whether admitted to or not by the international community, Iran’s Hezbollah militia hijacked southern Lebanon in 1982, only three years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s Islamic Revolution. It’s no accident that Hezbollah’s presence in Southern Beirut was linked to the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks, killing 307 U.S. and French soldiers part of an international peacekeeping force. White House officials forget that Iran funded the Palestine Islalmic Jihad, a offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, to commit the horrific truck bombings, killing 241 U.S. marines. So, when it comes to Iran funding Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, the U.S. has been too complacent tolerating Iranian-funded terror groups now waging war against Israel with Hamas and Hezbollah. President Joe Biden, 81, and 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris take no stand on Hamas and Hezbollah.
Biden and Harris have been hammering 74-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut a ceasefire deal with Hamas, despite the fact that Hamas insists on staying in power. Hamas massacred Oct. 7, 2023 over 1,200 Israelis, taking another 250 hostage, in the worst atrocity against Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. Israel was formed in 1948 after the U.K. deeded the British Mandate of Palestine to Israel, its sovereignty over the Holy Land given to Britain after the Ottoman Empire was broken up after WW I. Once Jews took sovereignty of the Holy Land the Arab uprising and wars began. Arabs lived under Ottoman and British rule of the Holy Land for over 500 years, before that the Holy Land was controlled by the Mamluk Sultanate after taking control from the Mongols in 1260. At no time did any Arabs living in the Holy Land have sovereignty of the region.
So when Palestinians claim that Israel occupies Arab land, it’s actually the opposite since the Gaza Strip was an Egyptian territory before the 1967 Six-Day-War. Six Arab nations led by Arab militant Yasser Arafat tried to conquer Israel, only to lose more territory in a stunning defeat in the Six Day War. Israel annexed Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan’s West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights. Israel and Egypt negotiated a peace treaty in 1979 that returned the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt. At no time did Arabs living in Holy Land, called Palestinians by Yasser Arafat, hold sovereignty of the Holy Land. Yet all the Arab revolts started when Israel declared independence in 1948, achieving U.N.-recognized statehood in 1949. So, when it comes to militant groups around the Holy Land they all ramped up once Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei completed his Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Two years after the Islamic Revolution, Khomenei funded Lebanese Shiite militants who officially became Hezbollah in 1982. After battling Israel off-and-on since 1948, Iran decided it would fund an “axis of resistance,” backing Shiite and Sunni group committed to toppling the Jewish State. As Israel grew stronger with U.S. support, Arab dreams of seizing the Holy Land vanished, leaving only armed groups with no real power, only enough arms to cause Israel problems with period terrorist attacks. All that changed after Sept. 11, 2011, when former President George W. Bush announced a new U.S. anti-terrorism doctrine, no longer allowing any U.S. support of any know terrorist groups. Prior generations of U.S. president tolerated Palestinian complaints about rights under Israeli rule of the Holy Land. Bush’s doctrine denied all terrorists U.S. support, including Palestinians.
Because the Islamic Revolution end U.S.-Iranian diplomatic relations, the U.S. has allowed Iran to gain more clout over the years funding Hamas terrorist in Gaza, Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Houthi militants in Yemen, now causing havoc, wrecking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. So when it comes to the U.S. taking a firm stand against Iran, it hasn’t been done since Iran hijacked the U.S. embassy in 1979, breaking off diplomatic relations. Since then, Iran has funded Sunni and Shiite terror groups to destabilize the Mideast and thwart U.S. influence in the region. When Israel killed charismatic Hezbollah Leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah Sept. 27, the U.S. has an opportunity to weaken Hezbollah’s stranglehold on Lebanon causing nothing but destruction. Nasrallah, under orders from Iran’s Ayatollah, went to war against Israel to support Hamas.
Without a charismatic leader like Nasrallah, Hezbollah no longer has the same zealotry as part of Iran’s axis of resistance. Only the most vicious anti-Semites follow the Ayatollah’s Nazi-like creed, using Jew-hating to hold onto power in Iran. Iran’s youthful population has nothing but contempt for the backwards Mullah rule, all to assert totalitarian control over the Iranian people. Iranians backed the social reforms under Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi until Khamenei toppled his pro-Western government. Since then, the Iranian people have lived in bondage, with Jew-hatred, like the Nazis, a primary feature to a fraudulent Islamic regime. Since Nasrallah’s death, there’s a real chance that Lebanon can reject Hezbollah’s extremism, rejecting the Ayatollah’s control over Lebanon. U.S. officials should work to help Lebanon neutralize Hezbollah and assert independence from Iran.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
