It is not about the settlements, apparently

Before President Obama addresses the Arab world (which he and his advisers mistakenly assume to be the same as the Muslim world) and before Secretary of State Clinton (if she is allowed) becomes too involved in Middle Eastern negotiations, they should all read this interview with a supposedly high-ranking officer in Hezbollah.

"Mahmoud", one assumes, speaks for Hezbollah and its supporters (coyly not named). His description of the organization may seem wonderfully romantic from the way the BBC quotes and paraphrases but it is really a very nasty paramilitary, terrorist group who achieve their aims within Lebanese politics by force.

And the money quote:

But more recently, the United Kingdom government decided to distinguish between the two faces of Hezbollah - by talking to its politicians while keeping the military wing on the terrorist list.

But Mahmoud, the fighter, says the UK is fooling itself by making this distinction.

"We have two arms, but we belong to one body. There is no such things as the military wing or the political wing of Hezbollah - we are all part of one resistance," he said.

"Hezbollah will become a purely political party only when Israel ceases to exist," he said.

No, it is not about the settlements. They were taken down in Gaza and nothing changed. It is about the existence of Israel. Got that? Of course, there is no explanation as to what will happen if Israel were cease to exist. Would all the problems of the Arab countries magically disappear?

ADDENDUM: Denis Prager suggests the speech that President Obama ought to make in Egypt but, alas, will not. Possibly because many of those facts would be new to him as well.