Western diplomats often describe ceasefires and truce deals in the Middle East with confidence. There will be monitoring, oversight, verification. But what happens when a ceasefire is violated? Too often, nothing. No sanctions. No military response. No consequences.
A recent JNS interview with EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann underscored this failure. When asked what should be done about Hezbollah rebuilding its arsenal, Mann pointed not to action, but to “monitoring mechanisms.” He rejected the idea of military enforcement and confirmed that the EU has no plans for new sanctions—not on Hezbollah, not on Lebanon. The preference, he said, was diplomacy. It always is.
Israelis have seen this movie before. A terrorist group agrees to a ceasefire. A monitoring body is put in place. Then the group violates the agreement, rearms, regroups, and attacks again. Western diplomats issue statements. But nothing happens.
There are two core reasons why this pattern persists. One is ideological and cultural. The other is political and procedural.
Flaw one: The logic of jihadist deception
To understand why groups like Hamas...
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