Irish Examiner view: Statements of concern for Lebanon ring hollow  

The statements emerging from Tel Aviv in recent days are stark, explicit, and chilling

An explosion erupts from a building following an Israeli strike in central Beirut, Lebanon on March 18. File picture: Hussein Malla/AP

There comes a point in international affairs when the language of concern and restraint becomes a moral evasion rather than a diplomatic necessity, and we have long past it.

Israel’s declared intention to expand its occupation across southern Lebanon is further proof — lest it be needed — that it is a country intent on reshaping the geography of a region, all while enabled by a cast of compliant world leaders unwilling to show a morsel of moral courage by preventing it. The statements emerging from Tel Aviv in recent days are not couched in the coded language of security or deterrence. They are stark, explicit, and chilling.