September 30, 2024
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy applauds Israel’s precision targeting of the top Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon, expressing relief that the terrorist organizations’ stranglehold on Lebanon is broken and hope that Lebanese civil society will reassert itself, take back control of their country, and that Beirut will reemerge as the “Paris of the Middle East” it once was.
Jared Kushner called the killing of Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, and other top leadership the most important development for Middle East peace “since the Abraham Accords.” He argues that the destruction of Hezbollah now leaves Iran’s nuclear arsenal vulnerable to elimination.
“The top European and American foreign policy officials have argued for years that Hamas and Hezbollah were part of the framework that had to be appeased in order to achieve peace,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “Israel has refused to accept this received wisdom from the foreign policy establishment, and as a result has opened the possibility of renewed peace and prosperity, not only for Lebanon, but for the entire Middle East. The people of Lebanon are extremely relieved. Hezbollah was an anchor dragging the entire society down.”
“The Obama effort to re-align American foreign policy as favorable to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, in other words, to openly side with America’s Islamist enemies, has proven to be an abject failure,” continued AMCD co-chair John Hajjar. “The Islamic Republic is the enemy of the entire civilized world including those Sunni Arab states who reject fundamentalism and desire to join the modernity, namely the Gulf States and now Saudi Arabia”
“Israel may be able to push the remnants of Hezbollah in Lebanon north beyond the Litani River and this will enable the implementation of United Nations Security Resolution 1701, the disarming and disbanding of those remnants,” added foreign policy expert and AMCD advisor Walid Phares. “Israel is winning the psychological battle so that the civil population of Lebanon feels emboldened to turn against Hezbollah and retake control of their country.”
“The prospect for a counter-revolution in Iran has suddenly appeared as well,” added former AMCD executive director, Rebecca Bynum. “If Israel goes ahead and finishes the job by taking out or seriously degrading Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic may be unable to retain control of the population, which has been suffering under their brutal dictatorship since the revolution of 1979. Opposition leadership under the son of the late Shah, Reza Pahlavi, seems poised to take advantage of this unique opportunity.”
Said Mr. Pahlavi: “Hezbollah will be defeated. The Islamic regime in Iran will also be defeated. The Iranian people, and all those in the region who seek peace, will emerge victorious.” M. Pahlavi has previously expressed his desire for Iranian peace with Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has released a statement aimed at the Iranian people and offering them a better future: “Imagine if all the vast money the regime wasted on nuclear weapons and foreign wars were invested in your children’s education, in improving your healthcare, in building your nation’s infrastructure, water, sewage, all the other things that you need….When the Iranian people are free — and that moment will come a lot sooner than most people think — everything will be different. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace….Iran will thrive as never before.”
Israel, by its bold determination has reset the table in the Middle East. AMCD stands with leadership in the region working toward openness to the world, freedom for their people, and a true pluralist democratic outcome for both Lebanon and Iran.