‘Hezbollah’s best friend’: WSJ editorial slams UNIFIL for focusing energy on Israel, not terrorism

UN peacekeepers have failed to stop Hezbollah’s terrorism from taking root in Lebanon, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board charged in a condemning editorial published on Tuesday.  

Noting that UNIFIL “had one job: Keep armed terrorists out of southern Lebanon,” the editorial board attributed the new expansion of the war to UNIFIL’s failure to fulfil its duty. 

Further condemning the peacekeepers, the board noted that UNIFIL was now refusing to fight to remove terrorists or move from bases with Hezbollah infrastructure - putting their staff at risk of being caught in the crosshairs. 

Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel on October 8, a day after Hamas invaded southern Israel and massacred over 1200 people. The rocket and drone attacks forced Israel to evacuate tens of thousands of residents and saw a number of civilians killed. In one of the most devastating attacks, a Hezbollah drone killed 12 Druze children in the town of Majdal Shams.

Since beginning ground operations in Lebanon, the IDF has discovered underground tunnels into Israel and plans for the terror group to enact its own Oct.7-style attack. 

Noting that much of the damage inflicted by Hezbollah occurred “under UNIFIL’s nose,” the Journal’s board accused the UN mission of “getting in Israel’s way” - continuing to condemn Israel for damage sustained while ignoring military instructions to remove itself from areas inhabited by Hezbollah. 

The numerous complaints of injuries to peacekeepers by UNIFIL has led to international condemnation against the Jewish state - Which the editorial board noted highly benefited the terror group shielding itself behind the UN workers. 

“Hezbollah couldn’t have scripted it better,” the board wrote, noting that UNIFIL had put more energy into condemning Israel than fulfilling its purpose of preventing Hezbollah from building a stronghold.

The issues raised by the Journal’s editorial board mirror those raised by the Jerusalem Post’s editorial team on Wednesday. 

“Given that UNIFIL has done little to prevent Hezbollah from bombarding Israel from southern Lebanon since October 8, and given that it did nothing to report Hezbollah’s massive buildup in the region over the years, the claim by the European foreign ministers that the organization is a force for stability, is utterly baseless,” the Post’s editorial team wrote, also insisting that “UNIFIL, to ensure that its personnel are not harmed, should withdraw from southern Lebanon.”

The UN's failure to stop terrorism in Gaza

UNIFIL is not the first UN institution to come under fire since October 7, with significant evidence pointing to failings within The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza. 

Staff members from UNRWA were accused of participating in the October 7 massacre and, according to a Channel 12 report, are now seeking immunity for their role in the attack.

Last month, it was discovered that several terrorists were eliminated during a strike on a Hamas stronghold embedded in a school were also employed by UNRWA. 

Similarly, The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) eliminated Hamas's leader Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin in Lebanon. El-Amin, while a leading figure in a terrorist organization, was also notably the head of the UNRWA teachers' association in the country.  

Additionally, throughout the war, the IDF has uncovered multiple cases of Hamas infrastructure being built within UNRWA schools and headquarters.