Nadene Goldfoot
Caroline Glick (Hebrew: קרולין גליק; born 1969) is an American-born Israeli conservative columnist, journalist, and author. She writes for Israel Hayom, Breitbart News, The Jerusalem Post, and Maariv. She is adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy, and directs the Israeli Security Project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In 2019, she was a candidate on the Israeli political party New Right's list for Knesset.Glick was born in Houston Texas, U.S., to a Jewish family. They moved to Chicago when she was a baby, and she grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood. She graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University, in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.
Did you know that the USA is involved with the welfare of the Lebanon Armed Forces? I've just learned this from listening to a Caroline Glick show with Tony Badran. So with the help of Wikipedia, I'll review what I do know about The Christian Lebanese help given to Israel at one time from 1980-1985.
The Lebanese Armed Forces' primary missions include defending Lebanon and its citizens against external aggression, maintaining internal stability and security, confronting threats against the country's vital interests, engaging in social development activities and undertaking relief operations in coordination with public and humanitarian institutions.
The armed forces consist of 84,200 active personnel with the ground force consisting of approximately 80,000 troops, the air force 2,500 personnel and 1,700 in the naval force. The remaining personnel are commanders, advisors, engineers and members of the special forces. The LAF is an all-volunteer force. All three branches are operated and coordinated by the LAF Commander; a position customarily held by a Maronite Catholic Christian, from the ministry of defence which is located in Yarzeh, east of Lebanon's capital, Beirut. The current commander in chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces is General Joseph Aoun.
I remember that Major Haddad of Lebanon helped Israel by having his soldiers and himself guard the border with Israelis when I lived in Israel from 1980-end of 1985. Israel promised that if anything happened to him, they would take in his family. I saw some of his family taking a break in the same restaurant my husband and I were visiting one evening. How this all came about was when The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was created by the United Nations, with the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 426 on 19 March 1978, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which Israel had invaded five days prior, restore international peace and security, and help the Government of Lebanon restore its effective authority in the area. The first UNIFIL troops were deployed in the area on 23 March 1978; these troops were reassigned from other UN peacekeeping operations in the area (namely the United Nations Emergency Force and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone).
Christian Militia Leader Major Haddad Threatens to Declare an Independent South Lebanon | April 1979
Footage of Major Saad Haddad, the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) warning that an independent Christian state would be created in southern Lebanon if units of the regular army of Lebanon joined the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).The warning was addressed to the Secretary General of the UN, Kurt Waldheim. Sheets of its content were distributed to camps manned by UNIFIL troops as well as to newsmen in Metullah, the northernmost township in Israel. Several Christian and right-wing militias claimed that UNIFIL was "trained and directed" by Syria. They were also worried that "the Good Fence"; the unofficially open border between Israel and Christian enclaves in southern Lebanon, would be closed.
During the 1982 Lebanon War, UN positions were overrun, primarily by the South Lebanon Army forces under Saad Haddad. The UN Forces were said to be be that reliable. One time they were told to leave and they did, by Israel's opposition. They've since been working with outdated equipment. The United States remains a key partner for Lebanon in this improvement process. About 85% of the LAF's equipment is US-made, with the remaining being UK, French, and Soviet-made.
Now it's 2023 and the LAF does not have the same reputation as being helpful for Israel. The USA, since Obama, Trump and now Biden, have been running interference with Israel in Lebanon and Syria involving Hezbollah and they've been making a mess of things, not really knowing past history nor caring, it looks like. All three are guilty of giving Israel bad advice; and they've held a lot of clout over each PM's head.
Hezbollah is a major concern along with all the other enemies that keeps Israel awake and active. The emerging Hezbollah (Party of God), was founded in 1982, soon to become the preeminent Islamic militia, evolved during this period. Iran's Revolutionary Guards created them. However, scholars disagree as to when Hezbollah came to be regarded as a distinct entity. Over time, a number of Shi'a group members were slowly assimilated into the organization, such as Islamic Jihad members, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, and the Revolutionary Justice Organization.
In 1983 Hezbollah killed 241 USA marines by suicide bombers driving a truck, and bombing of US marine barracks and embassy in Beirut. They attacked and killed 29 at Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992; 96 at Israeli Cultural Center in same country in 1994, and performed 813 terrorist attacks just from 1990 to 1995; and 183 terrorist attacks from May 2000 to May 2004. There has been more before and since. They're terrorists.
In February 1985, Israel withdrew from Sidon and turned it over to the Lebanese Army, but faced attacks: 15 Israelis were killed and 105 wounded during the withdrawal. Dozens of pro-Israeli Lebanese militiamen were also assassinated. From mid-February to mid-March, the Israelis lost 18 dead and 35 wounded. On 11 March, Israeli forces raided the town of Zrariyah, killing 40 Amal fighters and capturing a large stock of arms. On 9 April, a Shiite girl drove a car bomb into an IDF convoy, and the following day, a soldier was killed by a land mine. During that same period, Israeli forces killed 80 Lebanese guerrillas in five weeks. Another 1,800 Shi'as were taken as prisoners.
Israel withdrew from the Bekaa valley on 24 April, and from Tyre on the 29th. In June 1985, the IDF unilaterally withdrew to a security zone in southern Lebanon along with its principal Lebanese ally, the South Lebanon Army, completing its troop withdrawal to the security zone on 5 June.
Despite this being considered the end of the war, conflict would continue. Hezbollah continued to fight the IDF and SLA in the South Lebanon conflict until Israel's final withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
US meddling? Obama? Josh Meyer wrote about one thing: An ambitious U.S. task force targeting Hezbollah's billion-dollar criminal enterprise ran headlong into the White House's desire for a nuclear deal with Iran. It's been that way ever since. The USA wants to appease Iran without causing a scene or war. Michael Rubin wrote about how Biden sent gifts to Hezbollah. He started with his own experience:
As I approached Nabatiyeh, one of southern Lebanon ’s larger towns, Hezbollah flags began to outnumber Lebanese flags. Banners with the faces of Hezbollah members killed fighting in Syria fluttered from lampposts. It was two years ago, at the height of the U.S. maximum pressure campaign. I sat down for coffee with a number of locals, including men who spent time in Israeli prisons for terror offenses. Nothing prepared me for the anger. Not at Israel or the United States, but at Hezbollah and its patron, Iran. Enter Biden’s negotiators, who, in their seemingly endless capacity to punish allies and reward adversaries, pressured Israel’s interim government to accept a formula apparently crafted by Amos Hochstein, an unconfirmed special envoy last seen impeding Israel-Cyprus-Greek cooperation in favor of Turkish projects. Amos has been under Obama and now Biden. Hochstein was born in Israel, the child of American Jewish immigrants, and served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1992 to 1995. He began working as a foreign policy adviser to Democratic Party members of the U.S. government House Foreign Affairs Committee from 1994 to January 2001.His deal leaves Israel almost nothing and Hezbollah celebrating. Rather than advance peace, the Biden administration’s efforts impede it. Believe me, I can't understand Hochstein's position. He's a shock. And yet, he identifies as a Modern Orthodox Jew. He is married to Julie Rae Ringel; they have four children together and live in Washington D.C. His wife works for the Georgetown University Continuing Education School in the executive leadership coaching program.
Lebanon now rejects a maritime security zone and refuses to attend a signing ceremony with Israelis. Hezbollah celebrates Israel’s humiliation as it seeks to move in on the oil industry, much as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took over Iran’s oil infrastructure. Today, Biden’s decisions infuse billions of dollars into Revolutionary Guard coffers at a time when Iranians have the regime on the ropes. Its strategy in Lebanon shows such incompetence if not malfeasance to be the rule rather than the exception.
How sad it is that the U.S. pursues strategies that empower terrorists, betray allies, and set back the cause of freedom time and time again.
Now I know what Caroline Glick was telling us. She and Tony were right about our past president's interference with Israel's politics. I wonder if Israel's Judicial system was made aware of all this going on? Finally, and I have been doing a lot of praying, Netanyahu is knocking off enough of the Judicial power to make it even with the government, etc.more like the USA's judicial system's power. It's great to have a big brother and ally, but not if they treat you like Iran is treating Lebanon.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Glick
file:///C:/Users/Nadine/Downloads/TZC%20Newsletter%202023-07-29%20-%20Glick%20Addendum.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Armed_Forces
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/biden-sends-gifts-to-hezbollah/
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