Hezbollah denies rocket attack on Druze village, a twist in the conflict - editorial

At least nine children were killed, and dozens more were injured yesterday when a rocket made an impact on a soccer field near a playground in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights.

The rocket came from Lebanon, from where Hezbollah has been striking Israel relentlessly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The IDF confirmed that Hezbollah fired the rocket.

But for once, Hezbollah denied the accusation. Shortly after the attack, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen network reported that a barrage of 100 rockets was launched shortly after the hit in Majdal Shams.

Druze community leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif said the attack “crossed every possible red and black line.”

Why is this attack different from all other attacks?

After all, until now, all other attacks launched from Lebanese territory have very quickly been attributed to Hezbollah and have been met with no denial on their end.

Two people were seriously wounded after a kamikaze drone launched by Hezbollah hit the Metulla area in May, for example, and Hezbollah came running forward, hand stretched in the air, excitedly taking the credit.

That same month, during a heavy rocket barrage, one soldier was seriously wounded, and two others were lightly wounded under Hezbollah fire.

Finally, in one of the largest Hezbollah attacks since the war began, 14 IDF soldiers and four civilians were wounded by two Hezbollah drones and two anti-tank missiles.

It is news to no one that Hezbollah, a terrorist organization hellbent on destroying the Jewish State and the Jews within it, has somehow managed to play the sympathy card with anti-Israel mobs abroad. The pressure on the terrorist organization to halt its violent campaign towards northern Israel is far less pronounced than on Hamas because of this.

Hezbollah flags have flown at many an anti-Israel protest in recent months, including: outside a synagogue in Queens earlier this month; at an anti-Israel, anti-US President Joe Biden protest at the Manhattan Center in New York City in June; at a protest outside the Nova massacre exhibit in New York City the same month; and throughout New York City during the mass protests held against Israel in April.

This is because Hezbollah has somehow managed to reframe its hateful, terror-filled campaign against Israel as a humanitarian campaign for justice for Palestinians.

Needless to say, this makes little sense; how is killing civilians in northern Israel saving Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip?

Nevertheless, the argument stands: Hezbollah has made friends within the Progressive West. It can justify its actions in its warped views as long as it is attacking representatives of the so-called Zionist occupation.

What happens, though, when the occupation mentioned above is not Jewish? Exactly what we saw on Saturday: a denial of any wrongdoing.

After all, Majdal Shams is a Druze village. It is occupied primarily by an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Suddenly Jews are out of the equation, and Hezbollah blatantly denies the attack, completely contradicting its previous actions.

What this tells us is exactly what Israelis have known all along: that Hezbollah uses anti-Zionism as an excuse to eliminate Jews.

Eliminating young children of Golan Heights Druze, the vast majority of whom do not accept Israeli citizenship (despite US recognition in 2017 of Israeli annexation) was clearly a very big mistake. We have every evidence needed to know the attack was conducted by Hezbollah. There is no reason for them to deny it unless the thing they actually take pride in is the killing of Jews, not of Zionists.

Much of the world’s blindness to what Israel has endured has now faced another hurdle. The question is, will Israel’s detractors wake up and smell the flowers and stop at nothing in their support of terrorist organizations and denial of Israel’s right to defend itself.