Israeli government spokesman David Mencer quoted Psalm 120, verse 7 on Tuesday when asked about potential peace overtures to the Lebanese people ahead of a possible war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is occupying southern Lebanon illegally, in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1707, which concluded the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and barred Hezbollah from the area. Neither the United Nations (UN) nor the American-funded Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have bothered to enforce the resolution. As a result, Hezbollah has been able to build up forces on the border, and to attack northern Israel with missiles since October.
Some 60,000 Israeli civilians have become internal refugees as a result of the constant Hezbollah attacks. Israel has said that it is prepared to go to war to push Hezbollah back from the border if a diplomatic solution cannot be found.
Breitbart News asked Mencer — for the second time in as many weeks — why Israel did not make a public overture directly to the Lebanese people. Even if they cannot control Hezbollah, which essentially runs Lebanon on Iran’s behalf, the gesture of the Israeli people reaching out to the Lebanese people, neither of whom actually want to fight one another, would serve a public relations purpose, and perhaps encourage international pressure on Hezbollah.
Mencer said that he appreciated the suggestion, but warned that it would come to naught.
“It was King David, the Psalmist King of Israel, who wrote, ‘I am for peace, but whenever I speak of peace, they come to wage war’,” Mencer said, quoting Psalm 120:7.
“Then as now, King David and Israel are pained by having to live among people at our borders who spurn our bid of peace, again and again.”
He added: “All options are still on the table,” including diplomacy, but that the situation would be resolved through other means if necessary, “one way or another.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
