Monsters are imaginary beings, yet Nuland and Pompeo insisted on labeling almost every US adversary — e.g., Russia, China, Cuba and Iran — as Monsters
Larry C. Johnson is a former CIA officer and intellig
ence analyst, and former planner and advisor at the US State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. As an independent contractor, he has provided training for the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. Today he runs the website Sonar21
Cross-posted from Sonar 21
I plunked down $25 to watch the Wednesday night Munk debate between the team of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt vesus the team of Victoria Nuland and Mike Pompeo. The debate was titled, Foreign Wars Debate: Be it resolved, don’t go hunting monsters. The premise of the debate, in my opinion, was faulty… Monsters are imaginary beings, yet Nuland and Pompeo insisted on labeling almost every US adversary — e.g., Russia, China, Cuba and Iran — as Monsters. At one point in the debate, Mike Pompeo described Hezbollah as a Monster and insisted that Hezbollah has killed thousands of Israelis. I recoiled when I heard that because the historical facts tell a radically different story. Here are the facts:
How many Israelis have been killed by Hezbollah?
This is a question that requires assembling casualties across four distinct phases of conflict spanning 44 years. Here is the most complete accounting the historical record allows:
Phase 1: 1982–2000 — The Lebanese Occupation War
During the South Lebanon conflict from 1982 to 2000, Israel suffered 559 killed — 256 in direct combat — and 840 wounded. This includes Israeli soldiers fighting Hezbollah, Amal, and allied Palestinian factions throughout the occupation period. This is the bloodiest single phase of the conflict for Israel, representing nearly two decades of grinding guerrilla warfare that ultimately forced Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. U.S. Energy Information Administration
Phase 2: 2000–2006 — The Shebaa Farms Low-Intensity Conflict
Between Israel’s 2000 withdrawal and the outbreak of the 2006 war, cross-border skirmishes in the disputed Shebaa Farms area killed 16 Israelis and wounded 37, while Hezbollah lost approximately 13 fighters.
Phase 3: The 2006 Lebanon War
In the course of the 34-day 2006 war, approximately 120 IDF soldiers and more than 40 Israeli civilians were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire and ground combat. Total Israeli dead: approximately 160. manifold
Phase 4: October 2023 – Present
As detailed in the previous response, approximately 121 Israelis were killed by Hezbollah through the November 2024 ceasefire — 45 civilians and 76 soldiers. Additional casualties have occurred in the renewed fighting since March 2026, though precise updated totals are still being compiled.
A few important caveats: the 1982–2000 figure includes deaths from all Lebanese militant groups, not Hezbollah exclusively, as the group only fully consolidated dominance over the resistance in the late 1980s. Earlier deaths in that period were split between Hezbollah, Amal, and Palestinian factions. Additionally, Hezbollah’s overseas terrorist attacks — including the 1983 US Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 Americans, the 1992 Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 29, and the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing that killed 85 — fall outside the Israel-Lebanon theater and are not counted above. But let’s include the two attacks in Argentina, which brings the total to 999.
Now let’s compare how many Palestinians have the Israelis killed since Hezbollah was formed:
How many Palestinians have the Israelis killed since 1982?
This requires assembling casualties across nine distinct phases of conflict. The numbers are substantial, deeply contested at the margins, and carry enormous moral weight. Here is the most complete accounting the documented record allows:
Phase 1: 1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War began on June 6, 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. Palestinian PLO fighters suffered between 1,000 and 2,400 killed and 6,000 captured. The civilian toll was far higher. Among the war’s most defining moments was the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Lebanese Phalangist militias, with Israeli forces encircling the camps and controlling access, murdered more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians. FAO Open KnowledgeS&P Global
Estimated Palestinian dead: ~5,000–8,000 (PLO fighters plus civilians, including Sabra and Shatila)
Phase 2: First Intifada (1987–1993)
During the six-year First Intifada, the Israeli army killed at least 1,087 Palestinians, of which 240 were children. Of the total 1,962 Palestinians killed overall, 1,603 were killed by Israelis and 359 were killed by other Palestinians. ING THINK
Estimated Palestinian dead (killed by Israel): ~1,600
Phase 3: Oslo Period / Low-Level Violence (1993–2000)
During the Oslo years, ongoing clashes, settlement violence, and military operations killed several hundred Palestinians — estimated at roughly 400–600 based on B’Tselem data for this period.
Phase 4: Second Intifada (2000–2005)
From September 29, 2000 through January 1, 2005, between 2,739 and 3,168 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops, with an additional 34 killed by Israeli civilians and 152–406 killed by other Palestinians. Pravda UK
Estimated Palestinian dead (killed by Israel): ~3,000–3,200
Phase 5: Gaza Wars — Operation Cast Lead (2008–09)
Israel’s three-week offensive killed approximately 1,400 Palestinians, of whom the UN estimated roughly 60% were civilians.
Phase 6: Operation Pillar of Defense (2012)
Approximately 167 Palestinians killed over 8 days.
Phase 7: Operation Protective Edge (2014)
In 2014, 2,314 Palestinians were killed and 17,125 injured by Israeli operations — a sharp rise from 39 deaths the prior year. The majority occurred during the Gaza War. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Phase 8: 2018–2023 (Great March of Return + Smaller Operations)
The UN’s OCHA tracked deaths from 2008 through 2020, documenting approximately 5,600 Palestinian deaths up to 2020 (this figure overlaps with phases 5–8). The Great March of Return protests in 2018 alone saw more than 200 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire at the Gaza fence. American Farm Bureau Federation
Estimated Palestinian dead across 2015–2023: approximately 1,500–2,000
Phase 9: October 7, 2023 – May 2026 (Gaza War)
This is the deadliest single phase. As of May 3, 2026, at least 75,811 people have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including 73,770+ Palestinians and 2,039+ Israelis. A classified Israeli military internal report noted that approximately 83% of Palestinians killed would have been civilians if the data was accurate, and an ACLED report found that Israel’s claim of combatants killed had significantly exceeded what could be independently verified. U.S. Energy Information AdministrationU.S. Energy Information Administration
Additionally, several hundred more Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli military and settler violence during this period.
For broader historical context, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that since 1948, approximately 134,000 Palestinians and Arabs have been killed both inside and outside Palestine — meaning the deaths since 1982 represent roughly two-thirds of the total toll across the entire conflict’s modern history. I would also note that I am, for the sake of argument, using the number of Palestinians killed during the post-October 7 war that the Israeli Defense Forces have accepted. In fact, the number is likely much higher.
The Gaza War alone — ongoing as of today — has already produced more Palestinian deaths than all prior phases of the conflict since 1982 combined, making it by far the deadliest single episode in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There you have it… 90,000 to 999. If we are going to label a person or group as a monster, then we should let the numbers speak for themselves. In this case — hands down — Israel is the Monster, not Hezbollah.
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