The Lebanese Government and the Hezbollah Kidnappings
The website of the “Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has posted a complete transcript of Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on its website, http://www.moqawama.net/. (You can find a slightly different transcript at MEMRI.) If Nasrallah is being truthful, he informed the Lebanese government in general terms about his intention to kidnap [the MEMRI translation is “abduct”] Israeli soldiers.
[Nasrallah] . . . I told them on more than one occasion that we are serious about the prisoners issue and that this can only solved through the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. Of course, I used to make hints in that respect. Of course I would not be expected to tell them on the table I was going to kidnap Israeli soldiers in July. That could not be.[Bin-Jiddu; the al-Jazeera correspondent] You told them that you would kidnap Israeli soldiers?[Nasrallah] I used to tell them that the prisoners issue, which we must solve, can only be solved through the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.[Bin-Jiddu] Clearly?[Nasrallah] Clearly. Nobody told me: no, you are not allowed to kidnap Israeli soldiers. I was not waiting for such a thing. Even if they told me no you are not allowed [nothing would change]. I am not being defensive. I said that we would kidnap Israeli soldiers in meetings with some of the key political leaders in the country. I do not want to mention names. When the time comes for accountability I will mention names. They asked whether this would resolve the prisoners issue if this happens. My answer was that it was logical for such an act to solve the prisoners issue. I assure you that our assessment was not wrong. I am not being stubborn. In the entire world, tell me about any state, any army, or any war that was waged because some people kidnapped two soldiers, or even took hostages, not military soldiers. Tell me about a war that was waged against a state because of two soldiers. This has never happened in history.
I’d make four points. First, Nasrallah is obviously unfamiliar with the War of Jenkin’s Ear. Second, Nasrallah fails to mention that after the kidnapping of a single Israeli soldier in Gaza only a week or so before, the Israelis had struck at, and rolled into part of Gaza. Why would he think that they would not do the same in the north? Third, the idea, held by many, that the Lebanese government had no foreknowledge of Hezbollah’s plans may be erroneous. Either that, or Nasrallah is lying. Fourth, the Lebanese government and Hezbollah did not expect the Israelis to react to the kidnapping as they did.
The crisis may yet play out in such a fashion that the Israeli decision to strike at Hezbollah proves to be counterproductive. Unfortunately, while Nasrallah may yet reap the benefits of that decision, poor Lebanon is paying the price for the miscalculation.
