Today, Mark Mellman, Democratic Majority for Israel President & CEO, issued the following statement:
“Israel is engaging in a limited ground incursion in southern Lebanon to achieve clear objectives—to push Hezbollah’s terrorist army away from Israel’s border and north of the Litani River, to prevent a planned October 7th style invasion of Israel and massacre of civilians, and to enable some 90,000 displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.
“In doing so, Israel is, in effect, enforcing United Nations Resolution 1701 of 2006 to which Hezbollah agreed, but which it has violated every day since. Neither the U.N. nor the international community ever took any action to force Hezbollah’s compliance with the resolution’s requirement that they move their armed forces north of the river.
“Since October 8th last year, Hezbollah has fired some 9,000 missiles and rockets at Israel in attacks President Biden properly labeled ‘unprovoked.’
“The U.S. has been working for many months to stop Hezbollah’s attacks, but Hezbollah and their Iranian masters have proved unwilling stop.
“Therefore, Israel has had no choice but to take action to remove the threats from its border and degrade Hezbollah’s military capability by attacking missile launchers and weapons storage facilities, as well as Hezbollah’s leadership.
“As President Biden and Vice President Harris have clearly stated, Israel has a right to defend itself against Iran and its proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas.”
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