Neighborhood bully, revisited

Here is the beginning of wisdom: In a war of words, the man with the gun always wins.

If you do not learn this lesson, you are guaranteed a short life or a foolish one.

Does this mean violence is better than non-violence? Heaven forbid. Violence is a curse upon the earth, and anyone who dies in passive Christ-like resistance to violent men is a martyr who should be remembered in our prayers.

But unless you want to be the martyr, who is just as dead despite being right, I advise you in all sincerity to either get out of the way of an angry man with a gun or shoot him first.

Does that sound offensive? It should not be. I am just trying to save your life, same as I would tell my children not to go swimming with chains around their ankles.

No, I don't look forward to a world where we all shoot each other, but I don't particularly look forward to waking up in a world where every day some innocent people are slain and murdered because they did not know how to defend themselves either.

Which brings us to the Middle East.

Israel is being criticized by some people for defending itself too aggressively against Hezbollah terrorists who want to wipe the nation off the face of the earth.

It sounds like a sick joke, doesn't it?

I mean, how do you defend yourself too aggressively against people who have taken a blood oath to kill you? How do you respond with words alone when your enemy is shooting real bullets at you?

I guess the theory is that since Hezbollah only kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and shot and killed only eight others, then Israel should have been grateful it wasn't worse and gotten back to business.

They could have always "negotiated" with the terrorists and tried to get the soldiers back through peaceful means. After all, that was what Hezbollah wanted, right? Just a prisoner exchange, so they could get their killers back and the Israelis could get their soldiers back. If the Israelis were being "reasonable," wouldn't they just talk with the people who want to see them all dead instead of responding with missiles and a ground war?

Reason? Is that what it's called when you let your neighbor come into your house and take your children away? Is that what it's called when you pretend that the neighbor who tried to kill you deserves to be treated with respect?

Reminds me of the Bob Dylan song "Neighborhood Bully":

"The neighborhood bully just lives to survive.

He's criticized and condemned for being alive.

He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin.

He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.

He's the neighborhood bully."

That pretty much sums up the view of most of the world about Israel, doesn't it? We hear complaints about Israel's response to Hezbollah's kidnap raid and missile attacks being "disproportionate." The U.N. worries that Israel won't negotiate an end to hostilities, even though an "end" to hostilities really means letting Hezbollah off the hook for their crimes and giving them increased power in Lebanon, where they operate as a rogue militia.

But just maybe Israel isn't the problem.

Don't forget it was Hezbollah which attacked the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983 and killed 63 people. Don't forget it was Hezbollah which blew up our Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1981 and killed 241 American military personnel. Don't forget it was Hezbollah which hijacked TWA flight 847 and killed U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, who happened to be on board. Don't forget that Hezbollah has been launching Katyusha rockets into northern Israel for more than 10 years. Don't forget that this terrorist organization has been responsible for kidnapping and killing many Americans in Lebanon, including CIA operative William F. Buckley and Col. William Higgins, a U.S. Marine serving with a U.N. peacekeeping force.

And most especially don't forget how many times we and the rest of the world said, "Well, that's all right this time, but don't let it happen again!"

Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is: A) It wasn't all right the first time, and B) they (and we) did let it happen again. And again. And again. And again.

But since September 2001, when it happened one more time (this time under the direction of al-Qaida), with 3,000 dead on American soil, many of us around the world have said, no, it isn't all right. Some of us, at least, get it - It's the terrorists who are the bullies, not the governments they are trying to destroy.

And if you respond to terrorists' bombs with words of conciliation, you are not just a fool, you are a fool with a target on your back.