The United States and Israel are making major mistakes in the Global War against Islamic jihadists. The mistakes will end up causing unnecessary deaths of both Israelis and Americans.

The United States should have recognized that Israel is on the frontline and is fighting Iran’s proxy in this War against Civilization, on behalf of the United States and the West, and it should have not only encouraged them to succeed, but should have put no restraints on them and should be providing what military and intelligence assistance they can.

Israel’s indecision and failure to act quickly and decisively in striking a death blow against Hizbollah will cost it. Israel has already lost the PR war, and if it ends the current fighting without having demolished Hizbollah and its armaments, it will appear to the Muslim world that the once fabled invincibility of the Israel Defense Forces is no longer.

This will undoubtedly provoke other attempts at attacking Israel.

As former Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger expresses it,

“The more Israel appears unwilling – or unable – to obliterate Hizballah’s capabilities, the more it advances Hizballah’s regional posture, adrenalizing the veins of terrorist regimes, weakening pro-US Arab regimes such as Jordan and Kuwait, exacerbating Mideast instability, undermining Israel’s and US’ posture of deterrence, planting seeds for the next and more horrific war, and lessening US interest to expand strategic cooperation with Israel.

The more Israel distances itself from its defiant tradition, which has been forged by the 1948 Declaration – and War – of Independence (in face of US military embargo!),by the 1967 Six Day War (resisting US pressure and French military embargo) and by the 1981 bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor (in spite of US, UN and European threats), the less committed are many of Israel’s staunch allies on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue and in the Christian community.”

Ehud Olmert,unfortunately, is not the strong decisive leader that Israel needs at this time. His hesitation in striking Hizbollah with Israeli boots on the ground rather than an ineffective air campaign at the beginning of the conflict when he had the whole world on the side of Israel, was a significant opportunity lost.

If Israel does not disarm Hizbollah, and that is looking more and more likely, Hizbollah will be back with even more dangerous missiles, supplied by Syria, from Iran, and will cause even more serious damage to Israel and Israeli lives.

Israel is the proxy of the West in its fight against the barbarians of Islamic Jihad. This is really a fight between Western civilization of the 21st Century and the Islamic Jihadic civilization of the 7th Century.

Israel is restrained by the United States because the American administration did not want to disrupt the fledgling democracy in Lebanon. That is typical naivete of the West. The Lebanese Government is not a friend to the United States. Lebanon supports Hizbollah, and wants to destroy Israel. If Lebanon really wanted to disarm Hizbollah, it could have. The United States missed an opportunity to have Israel deal a death blow to Hizbollah.

Rather than calling for a multi-national force to separate an armed Hizbollah from Israel, France, and other European countries, as well as the United States, should be joining Israel in this fight to destroy the jihadists.

Rather than calling for a cease-fire, the Western countries should let Israel finish the job that needs to be done on their behalf.

This fight will come to the United States in one form or another, sooner or later. Better to have Israel do what damage it can in the Middle East now then face the damage that will come to the United States because of its failure to understand the mentality of the Islamic jihadists and the majority of Muslims in the Middle East.

The majority of Muslims in the world want the total destruction of the State of Israel, and many also want the destruction of the United States.

When will we realize that? How many more opportunities will we miss?

Dr. Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute, said it well.

“Israel must continue its war in Lebanon until it obliterates Hezbollah’s presence there. And the leaders of every civilized country should be urging Israel to do just that.

“Israel is Western civilization’s frontline in the war against Islamic totalitarianism, a religious ideology that seeks to subjugate the whole world to Islam.

“It is in the self-interest of every free or semi-free country in the world that Israel defeat Hezbollah, an Islamic terror group sponsored by the Islamic republic of Iran.

“The Islamic totalitarians will not be defeated until we in the West support Israel and gain the courage and the moral certitude to fight them without restraint.”

When will we wake up and realize that we, here in the United States, are involved in war for our existence and for the existence of the entire civilized world?