Hamlet In Lebanon. Hariri's Ghost Cries Out From The Grave

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is just the latest political leader to suggest that Lebanon and the international comunity let Hezbollah off the hook for assassinating the Lebanese head of state. He wants them to delay the release of their findings for a year. The problem isn't lack of evidence. There's an overwhelming case that Hezbollah (and by extension, its backers in Syria and Iran) carried out the murder. And there's further proof that the UN was collaborating with those who wanted to hush up the investigation.

The problem is that thanks to the United Nations singular inability to prevent a flood of weapons to Hezbollah, the genocidal movement is now pulling the strings in Lebanon. Even the son of the murdered leader, Lebanese PM Saad Hariri, is too cowed to speak out against the alleged assassins. He doesn't even want journalists talking about this.

One imagines the son to be a Lebanese version of Hamlet. He hears his father's ghost cry "Avenge me!" Yet he is hopelessly unsure about how to carry out his revenge without risking all. And in the meantime, the lost son remains a potential target for more murder.

Lebanon has two choices. The government can keep waiting and hoping to avoid a civil war, while Hezbollah continues to stockpile even more weapons and recruit even more fighters, which likely as not will be eventually deployed in Beirut, not against Israel. Or they can finally confront these jihadi maniacs now, while they have the moral high ground and the support of the international community. There are no good choices here: forestall a coup or wait for a civil war that's coming anyway. But there is a least bad choice they can make.

Justice delayed is justice denied. And the Lebananese government needs to show they will not be held hostage by one bullying faction that acts as a proxy for the worst regimes in the Middle East.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist