Give Israel Time to Complete the Mission

Israel's necessary decisions to launch military campaigns against Hizballah and Hamas have created an opportunity to change the balance of forces between Israel and the terror networks that have plagued the Middle East since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The most important thing that Israel needs is time: time to root out the weapons caches stockpiled in private homes; time to hit the rocket and missile-launching sites and terrorist training camps Hizballah has established throughout Lebanon; and time to hunt down the jihadists in the Bekaa Valley whose life's work is to destroy the Jewish state.

In Lebanon and Gaza, Israel has a number of key goals in addition to freeing the soldiers kidnapped by terrorists: 1) forcing Lebanon and the PA in Gaza to prevent terrorists from operating out of their territory; 2) crippling the military capabilities of Hizballah and Hamas; 3) re-establishing the credibility of the Israel Defense Force's deterrence against terrorist groups; 4) deterring state sponsors of terror like Iran and Syria. All of these strike us as legitimate goals that are broadly consistent with U.S. foreign policy interests and merit Washington's support. President Bush has made clear that he is sympathetic with Israel's plight and understands that Israel is acting in self-defense.

But the central problem remains: the fact that for Iran and Syria, terror remains a largely cost-free exercise. Both regimes have been largely spared any of the consequences for their roles in sponsoring the terrorist groups responsible for igniting the current fighting in Gaza and Lebanon. Until the leaders of Iran and Syria lose the ability to fight to the last Lebanese and last Palestinian at no cost to themselves, look for the terror to continue.