Anti-Israel types silent on similar conflict in Africa

Anti-Israel types silent on similar conflict in Africa

Where's Kofi Buchanan?

There are lots of people crying and gnashing their teeth about Israel's punishment of Hezbollah in Lebanon – as if it is the bloodiest conflict of the century.

Pat Buchanan and Kofi Annan are literally beside themselves, claiming Israel is overreacting to provocations by the Iranian-backed terrorists who murdered Israeli troops in northern Israel, kidnapped two others and repeatedly shelled civilian population centers from their strongholds in southern Lebanon.

In fact, condemnations of Israel's restrained response are coming from all over the world. You've heard them. You've seen them. You've read them. You would think Israel was wantonly murdering innocent bystanders instead of conducting a well-targeted attack that is a service not only to its own civilians, but to Lebanon and the rest of the free world.

Meanwhile, however, have you heard any condemnations from Pat Buchanan or his new ally Kofi Annan about a very similar war breaking out in Africa?

As we speak, Ethiopian troops have poured over the border in neighboring Somalia, where a very similar situation presents itself. The Somalian government is being challenged by radical jihadists who have reportedly assassinated nearly 700 in the last year. There is fear in mostly Christian Ethiopia that the Islamists are on the verge of taking power from the transitional government.

The situation went critical over the weekend when Somalia's top Islamic leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a friend of Osama bin Laden, declared a holy war against Ethiopia.

Compare and contrast:

* The death toll in Somalia is very comparable to the death toll in Lebanon and Israel;

* The reason for the conflict is very similar – Islamic radicals trying to impose their will on others by force and murder;

* A neighboring non-Muslim country justifying its actions as self-defense.

Let me make clear that I support the action by the Ethiopian government as well as the action by the Israeli government.

All over the world, radical Islam is conducting a war of attrition against all "infidels." In the Middle East, they attack Christians and Jews. In Africa, they attack Christians and animists. In India, they attack Hindus. In Europe, they attack secularists. It doesn't matter what the enemy believes. If they believe something other than Islamic fundamentalism, they are attacked without mercy.

Therefore, when countries like Israel and Ethiopia fight back, the free world should support them.

Instead, there is deafening silence about what is happening in Somalia and an out-of-control chorus of hysteria about what is happening in Lebanon.

If what Israel is doing in Lebanon is so bad, where are the same voices of condemnation with regard to Ethiopia's defensive actions in Somalia?

What is so special about the Middle East? Why is human life there so much more valuable? Why are the stakes so much higher?

Some might suggest what is happening in the Middle East threatens to explode into a regional war.

That is true.

And so does the Somalia-Ethiopia crisis. In fact, Ethiopia's neighbor Eritrea is behind the Somalian jihadists. Eritrea and Ethiopia have warred before.

In fairness to Kofi Annan, he has suggested the same solution to the Somalia conflict as he has proposed for Lebanon – "dialogue." But he has not condemned the incursion into Somalia by Ethiopia, while he has clearly and repeatedly condemned Israel's incursion into Lebanon.

But where's his new buddy Buchanan? Hasn't he figured out a way to blame Israel for the problems in Somalia?

What about the rest of the "international community"? Why aren't they speaking about the bloodshed in Africa while wringing their hands over Lebanon?

I'll tell you why: Because the folks I have dubbed "neo-coms" cannot with a straight face hold America's Zionist lobby responsible for Ethiopia's self-defense. They can't blame the Jews. They can't even blame America. So the subject doesn't interest them.