By: Elias Bejjani*
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has proved once again that he is a great leader and that his dedication to worldwide peace and the fight against terrorists and terrorism in all its forms is genuine and committed.
Sincere thanks are offered to Mr. Stephen Harper from the Lebanese Canadian Coordination Council (LCCC) and all the members of the Canadian Lebanese community throughout Canada who fully share the Council's objectives, principles, love for peace and freedom, respect for democracy and the rule of law, and their commitment to human rights, tolerance, diversity and the acceptance of others.
Thanks for letting Mr. Ahmadinejad know what Canadians think about his inhuman and anti-peace rhetoric.
Iran's dictator, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, definitely does not deserve the ears of the world with his fanaticism, paranoia, so-called divine policies, pompousness, mad ravings, empty threats and evil advocacy for suicide, hatred and killing.
Well, the UN gives freedom to all world leaders to deliver their speeches and express their ideas, but at the same time it does not actually force any country's delegation to listen to leaders' speeches which they sense as a threat to peace, human rights and worldwide ethical codes and order.
Prime Minister Harper has taken the right decision to boycott Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN General Assembly. This deluded and fanatical man has said and done things that are absolutely repugnant, brutal, disgraceful and totally unacceptable. Accordingly it is improper that somebody like him should not be given any legitimacy to parrot his speech full of madness to the UN General Assembly.
This defiant man does not abide by any articles of the UN Charter of Human Rights, oppresses, persecutes, intimidates, kills and tortures his own people. Meanwhile he is challenging the whole free world and continuing with Iran's endeavors to develop nuclear weapons.
One can imagine what this lunatic leader would do once he gets his hands on nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that initially he would not hesitate for a moment to use these weapons of mass destruction in invading and occupying Iran's neighboring countries, and once he possesses long range missiles the whole world will be in real danger.
Ahmadinejad is currently a small Hitler in each and every aspect; the free world has an obligation to see that he does not grow to be another actual Hitler. All available ways and means MUST be used to stop this man from turning Iran into another Nazi power.
Because of Ahmadinejad's Iranian mullah's regime’s evil interference in Lebanon, the country and its people are severely suffering on a daily basis. Hezbollah, Iran's armed militia, has taken Lebanon and its people hostage and is hindering all efforts to reclaim independence, freedom, peace and democracy. Iran has turned Lebanon into an arena and battlefield for its wars not only against the Arab countries, Israel and the West, but sadly against the Lebanese people themselves.
As a Canadian - Lebanese, I fully sympathize with my people back home in Lebanon and hail their endurance and courage. Ahmadinejad's Iranian regime is behind all Lebanon's agony and turmoil. Hezbollah is devouring Lebanon piece by piece and if the Western world does not come to the rescue of the Lebanese people, Lebanon will very soon be lost as an independent and free country and transformed into an Iranian satellite state.
Meanwhile, let those who criticized Mr. Harper's stance know that Hezbollah is not a Lebanese party by any criteria, but rather an Iranian army in Lebanon. Its decision-making process, financing, ideology, training, supplies and weapons all come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ headquarters and leadership. It has been well documented by several informed sources that Iran annually pays Hezbollah billions of dollars. This group was founded in Lebanon by the Iranian mullahs in 1982 and it is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's main mission was and still is to export, advocate and spread the Khomeini’s religious ideology to all Middle Eastern countries and cause chaos all over the world.
Hezbollah's Iranian mission has never been a secret and each and every Lebanese person is reminded of this Iranian agenda daily with posters and billboards of Hezbollah’s divinity on every street.
Many thanks to Mr. Harper's integrity, courage, moral responsibility, devotion, commitment and transparent stance against terrorism and terrorists.
From day one in office our Prime Minister has fulfilled all his promises with regard to the global war on terrorism and continues to practice what he preaches.
**Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Lebanon's “Madoff” : A Divine Bankruptcy
By Elias Bejjani*
08/09/09 Al Manar Hezbollah website: “On the businessman, Salah Ezzeddine’s, bankruptcy case, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah pointed out that Hezbollah Party, its leadership and the organization had no association whatsoever with this issue from the beginning to the end, stressing that the leadership does not have any of the money claimed. He added that the aim of several media facilities which have shed light on this issue that is in the hands of the judiciary is to tarnish the image of many of the party’s cadres. Sayyed Nasrallah stated that his party is in the process of issuing a detailed release on this sensitive issue that affects the people's money”.
No matter how hard Sayyed Nasrallah or other Hezbollah mullahs try to camouflage, hide, justify, deny or twist facts, the bitter reality shows that an actual devastating financial earthquake has severely hit the Lebanese Shiite community in Lebanon and abroad. This shocking disaster took place earlier this month after the famed Lebanese Shiite financier, Salah Ezzeddine, filed for bankruptcy and was placed under arrest.
From wealthy Lebanese Shiite expatriates in the Arabian Gulf oil countries, Africa, USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and other countries, to local villagers all over Lebanon, to top notch Hezbollah clergy, officials and MPs, Ezzeddine spared no one as he allegedly concocted a Ponzi scheme that saw almost USD 2 billion go up in smoke.
Tagged as “Lebanon's Bernard Madoff”, Ezzeddine made headlines earlier this month in the local and international press. His dubious bankruptcy has left many serious unanswered questions, all related to his very cozy and privileged relationship with the terrorist organization, Hezbollah. A shroud of mystery still surrounds the whole matter.
Any sane Lebanese citizen who has a free conscience and is familiar with the unfolding events in his country would take Nasrallah’s statement above as a personal insult to his intelligence and a flagrant infringement on the plain truth. There is no doubt that Nasrallah has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the simple fact that the majority of his Shiite community members are fully aware of the kind of intimate and very close relationship that Ezzeddine enjoyed with Hezbollah and its high ranking leadership, including Nasrallah himself, as well as his close associates.
The Kuwaiti Al-seyassah daily reported on September 05/09 that Nasrallah himself and some of his family members were investing USD 2 million in Ezzeddine's businesses. According to the Lebanese media three other senior Hezbollah operatives were also among those who invested and lost funds with Ezzeddine. One of the three is Wafik Safa, chief of internal security. The other two as reported by Al-Arabiya were the leader of Hezbollah's parliament bloc, Mohammad Raad, and a member of the bloc, Amin Sherri. The report did not say whether they had lost their own private funds or those of the organization. Sources affiliated with Hezbollah have estimated Ezzeddine's losses at around USD 1 billion, and a Kuwaiti daily reported that the organization had lost USD 683 million.
A report published on September 12/09 also by the Kuwaiti Al-seyassah daily said that many senior political and military Syrian officials had lost huge amounts of money with Ezzeddine's bankruptcy, and that they are now trying to recover a portion of it from the Hezbollah. The report stated that Hezbollah had collected about EUR 17 million from Ezzeddine before he was handed over to the Lebanese judiciary. According to the same report, the Syrian president's brother, Maher Assad, his uncle's sons, Rami Hafez Makhlouf, Vice President Faruq al-Shara, Major General Mohammed Nassif, Maj. Gen. Rustom Ghazali, the family of the late Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan, in addition to a number of senior army and intelligence officers had all invested with Ezzeddine and had lost their money. It is interesting to know that USD 200 thousand was the minimum amount of money that Ezzeddine would accept for investment.
According to anonymous Lebanese neutral financial and sociology experts' assessments that were based on actual facts and firsthand experience, Hezbollah was the sole predisposing and precipitating evil vehicle that stood behind Ezzeddine's scheme from day one until its deadly end. They all concluded that Hezbollah is to be solely blamed for the tragedy due to the simple fact that this armed Iranian militia fully controls the Shiite canton and runs its affairs with an iron fist. Nothing at all happens inside this canton without Hezbollah's approval and full awareness.
The worst part of the scandal for the Hezbollah party might not come in only dollars and cents but in the damage done to its faked and disguised reputation for honesty, competence and integrity especially among its own Shiite community. Journalist Ali Halawi in a report published by the Elaph website on September 16/09 said: “It seems that Hezbollah from the top of its hierarchy represented by its Secretary General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has made a serious decision to contain Ezzeddine's bankruptcy, which is described as very closely linked to the party. The bankruptcy is causing a great deal of embarrassment to the Hezbollah party due to the fact that a significant number of its political and security officials are among the thousands of Shiite depositors who invested their money in Ezzeddine's projects for annual profits that reached around 40 percent. In parallel with the decision of containment, some clerics in the party have issued a special religious decree (very close to a Fatwa) forbidding anyone to mention or relate the party to the bankruptcy under any circumstances in a bid that Israeli and American propaganda would not tarnish the party's reputation”.
Based on Hezbollah's suffocating grip on the canton's, residents, security, banks, media, schools, hospitals, communications, life style, businesses, and worship facilities, there is no way at all that Ezzeddine would have been able to run his very sensitive money business for so many years without not only the approval of Hezbollah, but also without being a member in this very rich organization. Numerous reports even claimed that Ezzeddine was investing for Hezbollah and not for himself.
It worth mentioning that Hezbollah does not approve or believe in the banking system of earning interest and considers it religiously unlawful. Instead its leadership and clergy advocate what they call a “business partnership”. Ezzeddine was using this religious doctrine and smartly manipulating it to his advantage. All those who put their money in his coffer presumably considered themselves partners in his investments. Ezzeddine was promising his so called “partners” annual returns of 40 to 50 percent.
More than 11 thousand Lebanese Shiites were hit by Ezzeddine's bankruptcy . Many of them can’t sue him or even file publicly for their losses because they live in countries like Canada, Australia and the USA where tax departments would expose them to very tough financial monitoring if their loses were officially declared. A Lebanese daily has stated that a Shiite family residing in Canada that had invested with Ezzeddine alone lost more than USD 1 million. According to the report, this family doesn’t even have a receipt from Ezzeddine for their money.
Meanwhile, many prominent Hezbollah members are also afraid to fully admit their losses to avoid questions about the origins of their questionable wealth.
Members in the Lebanese Shiite community placed their life savings with Ezzeddine because of his close connections with Hezbollah, which thus bears at least a moral responsibility for the bankruptcy scheme. The prominent outspoken Lebanese Shiite politician, Ahmad Alassad , blamed Hezbollah for the bankruptcy scheme. The Lebanese National News agency published his statement on September 11/09: "Ahmad Al Assad stressed Hezbollah's responsibility with regard to Ezzeddine's bankruptcy because he had a close relationship with them. Accordingly he said, “it is a crime if the party knew that his activities were wrong and kept silent. At the same time the party is accountable too if it did not know and did not carry out any kind of investigation to trace the sources of the high interest that he was paying to the investors. It is obvious that this man has invested in his relationship with Hezbollah to cover up his activities and to give the impression that he was supported by Hezbollah. Therefore Hezbollah's obligation was to carry out a probe into his activities at least for the benefit of the people for whose interests it claims to work”.
On September 14/09, Ezzeddine who has been under arrest since August 31/09, was formally charged by the Lebanese judiciary with fraudulent embezzlement, a crime, if found guilty, punishable for up to 15 years in prison. Five others have also been charged with involvement in the case, but all of them are on the run.
It is so sad, disappointing and frustrating for all of Ezzeddine's victims that because of Hezbollah's questionable and suspiciously friendly relationship with him, his bankruptcy case most probably will not proceed anywhere in the Lebanese judicial system, and he might even be found to be innocent, and subsequently not charged and released.
Hezbollah's role, intimidation and influence in the bankruptcy scandal are very obvious. This intimidation role is extremely noticeable in the fact that not even one investor from the 11 thousand Shiites that were hit did file a judiciary complaint against Ezzeddine yet.
Why? Because Hezbollah's mini state actually controls and runs the central Lebanese state and all its institutions by terrorism, crime, embezzlement, and corruption.
In conclusion, Lebanon will never be able to reclaim its independence, freedom, and sovereignty until Hezbollah is finally dismantled and disarmed, and whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
08/09/09 Al Manar Hezbollah website: “On the businessman, Salah Ezzeddine’s, bankruptcy case, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah pointed out that Hezbollah Party, its leadership and the organization had no association whatsoever with this issue from the beginning to the end, stressing that the leadership does not have any of the money claimed. He added that the aim of several media facilities which have shed light on this issue that is in the hands of the judiciary is to tarnish the image of many of the party’s cadres. Sayyed Nasrallah stated that his party is in the process of issuing a detailed release on this sensitive issue that affects the people's money”.
No matter how hard Sayyed Nasrallah or other Hezbollah mullahs try to camouflage, hide, justify, deny or twist facts, the bitter reality shows that an actual devastating financial earthquake has severely hit the Lebanese Shiite community in Lebanon and abroad. This shocking disaster took place earlier this month after the famed Lebanese Shiite financier, Salah Ezzeddine, filed for bankruptcy and was placed under arrest.
From wealthy Lebanese Shiite expatriates in the Arabian Gulf oil countries, Africa, USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and other countries, to local villagers all over Lebanon, to top notch Hezbollah clergy, officials and MPs, Ezzeddine spared no one as he allegedly concocted a Ponzi scheme that saw almost USD 2 billion go up in smoke.
Tagged as “Lebanon's Bernard Madoff”, Ezzeddine made headlines earlier this month in the local and international press. His dubious bankruptcy has left many serious unanswered questions, all related to his very cozy and privileged relationship with the terrorist organization, Hezbollah. A shroud of mystery still surrounds the whole matter.
Any sane Lebanese citizen who has a free conscience and is familiar with the unfolding events in his country would take Nasrallah’s statement above as a personal insult to his intelligence and a flagrant infringement on the plain truth. There is no doubt that Nasrallah has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the simple fact that the majority of his Shiite community members are fully aware of the kind of intimate and very close relationship that Ezzeddine enjoyed with Hezbollah and its high ranking leadership, including Nasrallah himself, as well as his close associates.
The Kuwaiti Al-seyassah daily reported on September 05/09 that Nasrallah himself and some of his family members were investing USD 2 million in Ezzeddine's businesses. According to the Lebanese media three other senior Hezbollah operatives were also among those who invested and lost funds with Ezzeddine. One of the three is Wafik Safa, chief of internal security. The other two as reported by Al-Arabiya were the leader of Hezbollah's parliament bloc, Mohammad Raad, and a member of the bloc, Amin Sherri. The report did not say whether they had lost their own private funds or those of the organization. Sources affiliated with Hezbollah have estimated Ezzeddine's losses at around USD 1 billion, and a Kuwaiti daily reported that the organization had lost USD 683 million.
A report published on September 12/09 also by the Kuwaiti Al-seyassah daily said that many senior political and military Syrian officials had lost huge amounts of money with Ezzeddine's bankruptcy, and that they are now trying to recover a portion of it from the Hezbollah. The report stated that Hezbollah had collected about EUR 17 million from Ezzeddine before he was handed over to the Lebanese judiciary. According to the same report, the Syrian president's brother, Maher Assad, his uncle's sons, Rami Hafez Makhlouf, Vice President Faruq al-Shara, Major General Mohammed Nassif, Maj. Gen. Rustom Ghazali, the family of the late Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan, in addition to a number of senior army and intelligence officers had all invested with Ezzeddine and had lost their money. It is interesting to know that USD 200 thousand was the minimum amount of money that Ezzeddine would accept for investment.
According to anonymous Lebanese neutral financial and sociology experts' assessments that were based on actual facts and firsthand experience, Hezbollah was the sole predisposing and precipitating evil vehicle that stood behind Ezzeddine's scheme from day one until its deadly end. They all concluded that Hezbollah is to be solely blamed for the tragedy due to the simple fact that this armed Iranian militia fully controls the Shiite canton and runs its affairs with an iron fist. Nothing at all happens inside this canton without Hezbollah's approval and full awareness.
The worst part of the scandal for the Hezbollah party might not come in only dollars and cents but in the damage done to its faked and disguised reputation for honesty, competence and integrity especially among its own Shiite community. Journalist Ali Halawi in a report published by the Elaph website on September 16/09 said: “It seems that Hezbollah from the top of its hierarchy represented by its Secretary General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has made a serious decision to contain Ezzeddine's bankruptcy, which is described as very closely linked to the party. The bankruptcy is causing a great deal of embarrassment to the Hezbollah party due to the fact that a significant number of its political and security officials are among the thousands of Shiite depositors who invested their money in Ezzeddine's projects for annual profits that reached around 40 percent. In parallel with the decision of containment, some clerics in the party have issued a special religious decree (very close to a Fatwa) forbidding anyone to mention or relate the party to the bankruptcy under any circumstances in a bid that Israeli and American propaganda would not tarnish the party's reputation”.
Based on Hezbollah's suffocating grip on the canton's, residents, security, banks, media, schools, hospitals, communications, life style, businesses, and worship facilities, there is no way at all that Ezzeddine would have been able to run his very sensitive money business for so many years without not only the approval of Hezbollah, but also without being a member in this very rich organization. Numerous reports even claimed that Ezzeddine was investing for Hezbollah and not for himself.
It worth mentioning that Hezbollah does not approve or believe in the banking system of earning interest and considers it religiously unlawful. Instead its leadership and clergy advocate what they call a “business partnership”. Ezzeddine was using this religious doctrine and smartly manipulating it to his advantage. All those who put their money in his coffer presumably considered themselves partners in his investments. Ezzeddine was promising his so called “partners” annual returns of 40 to 50 percent.
More than 11 thousand Lebanese Shiites were hit by Ezzeddine's bankruptcy . Many of them can’t sue him or even file publicly for their losses because they live in countries like Canada, Australia and the USA where tax departments would expose them to very tough financial monitoring if their loses were officially declared. A Lebanese daily has stated that a Shiite family residing in Canada that had invested with Ezzeddine alone lost more than USD 1 million. According to the report, this family doesn’t even have a receipt from Ezzeddine for their money.
Meanwhile, many prominent Hezbollah members are also afraid to fully admit their losses to avoid questions about the origins of their questionable wealth.
Members in the Lebanese Shiite community placed their life savings with Ezzeddine because of his close connections with Hezbollah, which thus bears at least a moral responsibility for the bankruptcy scheme. The prominent outspoken Lebanese Shiite politician, Ahmad Alassad , blamed Hezbollah for the bankruptcy scheme. The Lebanese National News agency published his statement on September 11/09: "Ahmad Al Assad stressed Hezbollah's responsibility with regard to Ezzeddine's bankruptcy because he had a close relationship with them. Accordingly he said, “it is a crime if the party knew that his activities were wrong and kept silent. At the same time the party is accountable too if it did not know and did not carry out any kind of investigation to trace the sources of the high interest that he was paying to the investors. It is obvious that this man has invested in his relationship with Hezbollah to cover up his activities and to give the impression that he was supported by Hezbollah. Therefore Hezbollah's obligation was to carry out a probe into his activities at least for the benefit of the people for whose interests it claims to work”.
On September 14/09, Ezzeddine who has been under arrest since August 31/09, was formally charged by the Lebanese judiciary with fraudulent embezzlement, a crime, if found guilty, punishable for up to 15 years in prison. Five others have also been charged with involvement in the case, but all of them are on the run.
It is so sad, disappointing and frustrating for all of Ezzeddine's victims that because of Hezbollah's questionable and suspiciously friendly relationship with him, his bankruptcy case most probably will not proceed anywhere in the Lebanese judicial system, and he might even be found to be innocent, and subsequently not charged and released.
Hezbollah's role, intimidation and influence in the bankruptcy scandal are very obvious. This intimidation role is extremely noticeable in the fact that not even one investor from the 11 thousand Shiites that were hit did file a judiciary complaint against Ezzeddine yet.
Why? Because Hezbollah's mini state actually controls and runs the central Lebanese state and all its institutions by terrorism, crime, embezzlement, and corruption.
In conclusion, Lebanon will never be able to reclaim its independence, freedom, and sovereignty until Hezbollah is finally dismantled and disarmed, and whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Late Bachir Gemayal: The Grain of Wheat & the Yeast
By: Elias Bejjani
John 12:24: "Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
On September 14, 1982, on the day Lebanon was celebrating the Day of the Holy Cross, its President-elect, Sheik Bachir Gemayel, passed away into the hands of the Almighty God after carrying the cross of the country to heaven. He was not even 34 years old, but what he achieved for the freedom and dignity of Lebanon places him among the great men who left a stamp of glory on the history of Lebanon.
Bachir, the hero, dreamt of a sovereign, free and independent Lebanon, and his dream became the objective of all free-minded Lebanese men and women. And even as the hands of evil and hatred took him away through a cowardly assassination plot (14/09/82), his dream lives on in the fiber of our people and their conscience for as long as the Cedars of Lebanon tower over the country from their peaks.
Today we remember Bachir in our prayers. We also remember his fallen comrades who gave so much for our beloved country, and we learn from their sacrifice many a lesson. With this 27th remembrance day, our hopes are renewed, our determination is re-energized, and our commitment to the cause is re-confirmed.
Bachir’s bright star was high in the skies of Lebanon and with it the hopes of the Lebanese people. But the joy was killed and the hopes dashed when his star fell from the skies, a martyr to his noble ambitions aiming at building a strong Lebanon, confirmed in its sovereignty and independence.
Bachir believed that "the one Lebanon is the Lebanon of the 10,452 km2, that the Lebanese must win back completely so that it belongs to its sons and daughters in all their communities, creeds, and beliefs". But even as he departed, what he believed in remains in the hearts and minds of all the Lebanese people.
Bachir was raised on the cross of Lebanon on the day we remember the Cross. He was killed in a political act at the intersection of the interests of nations, individuals, and terrorist groups that feared for their own egotistical interests should a unified, free and sovereign Lebanon rise from its ashes. Bachir established the framework and then was unjustly taken from us too soon.
Those same regimes of evil, Syria and Iran, and groups and factions like the terrorists, Hezbollah, continue today to hold the Lebanese people and their country hostage to their greed, hatred, and savage schemes. They have mastered the art of subservience and bowing at the doorstep of the forces of occupation. They are shepherds of doom who have reneged on every pledge they made and abandoned their flock.
They are factions whose job is to drive wedges between the free people of the Land of the Cedars, assassinating their aspirations and hopes in deed, thought, decision and execution. They assassinate Lebanon every morning and every hour of their waking day, killing its sovereignty, its free decision-making, its democracy and culture.
Bachir's venomous assassination still lingers to this day in all its ugliness, its corruption and its neglect. It still lingers in its displacement and emigration, dhimmitude, apostasy, with economic, social, financial, political, security and patriotic decline.
It still lingers with the rule of personal over national interests. It still lingers with the dismemberment of the political parties; the politicization of the judiciary; the truncation of sovereignty with the imposition of foreign interference, and the abandonment of human, religious and ethical values.
Bachir’s dream is here to stay and will never disappear, because it is the dream of a people who want a dignified life, a dream that calls upon unity, sovereignty and peace.
We are today together to remember the martyrdom of Bachir and his 22 comrades, lifting our eyes and hearts in the midst of danger and trouble to the redeemer of suffering humanity, Jesus-Christ, who said "And if I were to rise above the earth, I shall take with me everyone" (John12/32). We ask Him for light, faith, strength, and hope to continue our march forward and lift ourselves, our homeland, and our people to victory, to peace, to righteousness, to freedom and to all that is good in this world. For Bachir is alive in our beings and in our minds.
Sheik Bachir, Lebanon's elected president who was assassinated before assuming his presidential responsibilities was and still is the patriotic blessed yeast that was brewed and produced solid foundations of freedom, sovereignty and independence, as well as perseverance and hope in all Lebanese minds and hearts.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp0_NJaLhb4 .
Terrorists and powers of evil could not destroy the dream that Bachir left for us. Even the gates of hell shall not be able to shake our deeply-rooted faith in peace, love and democracy. Bachir is the grain of wheat and the yeast. Bachir's dream is alive and glowing. As expressed in Galatians 5:9: "A little yeast grows through the whole lump".
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
John 12:24: "Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
On September 14, 1982, on the day Lebanon was celebrating the Day of the Holy Cross, its President-elect, Sheik Bachir Gemayel, passed away into the hands of the Almighty God after carrying the cross of the country to heaven. He was not even 34 years old, but what he achieved for the freedom and dignity of Lebanon places him among the great men who left a stamp of glory on the history of Lebanon.
Bachir, the hero, dreamt of a sovereign, free and independent Lebanon, and his dream became the objective of all free-minded Lebanese men and women. And even as the hands of evil and hatred took him away through a cowardly assassination plot (14/09/82), his dream lives on in the fiber of our people and their conscience for as long as the Cedars of Lebanon tower over the country from their peaks.
Today we remember Bachir in our prayers. We also remember his fallen comrades who gave so much for our beloved country, and we learn from their sacrifice many a lesson. With this 27th remembrance day, our hopes are renewed, our determination is re-energized, and our commitment to the cause is re-confirmed.
Bachir’s bright star was high in the skies of Lebanon and with it the hopes of the Lebanese people. But the joy was killed and the hopes dashed when his star fell from the skies, a martyr to his noble ambitions aiming at building a strong Lebanon, confirmed in its sovereignty and independence.
Bachir believed that "the one Lebanon is the Lebanon of the 10,452 km2, that the Lebanese must win back completely so that it belongs to its sons and daughters in all their communities, creeds, and beliefs". But even as he departed, what he believed in remains in the hearts and minds of all the Lebanese people.
Bachir was raised on the cross of Lebanon on the day we remember the Cross. He was killed in a political act at the intersection of the interests of nations, individuals, and terrorist groups that feared for their own egotistical interests should a unified, free and sovereign Lebanon rise from its ashes. Bachir established the framework and then was unjustly taken from us too soon.
Those same regimes of evil, Syria and Iran, and groups and factions like the terrorists, Hezbollah, continue today to hold the Lebanese people and their country hostage to their greed, hatred, and savage schemes. They have mastered the art of subservience and bowing at the doorstep of the forces of occupation. They are shepherds of doom who have reneged on every pledge they made and abandoned their flock.
They are factions whose job is to drive wedges between the free people of the Land of the Cedars, assassinating their aspirations and hopes in deed, thought, decision and execution. They assassinate Lebanon every morning and every hour of their waking day, killing its sovereignty, its free decision-making, its democracy and culture.
Bachir's venomous assassination still lingers to this day in all its ugliness, its corruption and its neglect. It still lingers in its displacement and emigration, dhimmitude, apostasy, with economic, social, financial, political, security and patriotic decline.
It still lingers with the rule of personal over national interests. It still lingers with the dismemberment of the political parties; the politicization of the judiciary; the truncation of sovereignty with the imposition of foreign interference, and the abandonment of human, religious and ethical values.
Bachir’s dream is here to stay and will never disappear, because it is the dream of a people who want a dignified life, a dream that calls upon unity, sovereignty and peace.
We are today together to remember the martyrdom of Bachir and his 22 comrades, lifting our eyes and hearts in the midst of danger and trouble to the redeemer of suffering humanity, Jesus-Christ, who said "And if I were to rise above the earth, I shall take with me everyone" (John12/32). We ask Him for light, faith, strength, and hope to continue our march forward and lift ourselves, our homeland, and our people to victory, to peace, to righteousness, to freedom and to all that is good in this world. For Bachir is alive in our beings and in our minds.
Sheik Bachir, Lebanon's elected president who was assassinated before assuming his presidential responsibilities was and still is the patriotic blessed yeast that was brewed and produced solid foundations of freedom, sovereignty and independence, as well as perseverance and hope in all Lebanese minds and hearts.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp0_NJaLhb4 .
Terrorists and powers of evil could not destroy the dream that Bachir left for us. Even the gates of hell shall not be able to shake our deeply-rooted faith in peace, love and democracy. Bachir is the grain of wheat and the yeast. Bachir's dream is alive and glowing. As expressed in Galatians 5:9: "A little yeast grows through the whole lump".
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Friday, September 4, 2009
Has Hezbollah turned Lebanon into a Jihadist State?
By Elias Bejjani *
September 5/09All the unfolding destructive, shameful, terrorist and corrupting events that are currently hitting Lebanon and its peace-loving people illustrate with no shred of a doubt that the terrorist organization, Hezbollah, is merely grabbing hold of the Lebanese state and its institutions as hostages.
In reality, Hezbollah has completely assumed Syria’s notorious oppressive and murderous occupational role in the aftermath of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. This armed Iranian fundamentalist organization is currently the actual and primary obstacle to the country's cabinet formation, either through its huge arsenal and its powerful mini state, or through its threats to replicate its barbaric 7th of May 2008 invasion of Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
The following three recent documented reports clearly delineate and portray the extent of Hezbollah's deadly and cancerous influence not only on the state's decision-making process, but also on the social norms and fabrics that have been imposed on the Lebanese people in each and every aspect and issue of daily life.
Assafir Lebanese Daily published on 21/08/09 the report below under the title:" The Red Cross receives the body of a Lebanese from the occupied Palestine (Israel)": "The International Committee of the Red Cross received today from the Israeli occupational authorities at the gate of Naqoura the body of the Lebanese Nabil Hanna Asmar (45 years), who died in hospital in the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel) due to an incurable disease. The body was handed over to Asmar's family in the southern city of Jazine. Asmar had fled from the south to the Palestinian territories during the Israeli withdrawal (from South Lebanon) in 2000.
Al Mustaqbal Lebanese Daily, published this report on Friday, 28 August 2009, under the title: "Hezbollah buries a martyr in the Town of Yohmour-Ckeaf’: "The Islamic Resistance, Hezbollah and the Town of Yohmour-Ckeaf" residents laid to rest today Martyr Ali Hussein Aliek (28 years) who died while performing his duties. In the procession front line was Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, Hezbollah's in-charge-for-central social-activities and a military delegation from the leadership of the Third Brigade of the Lebanese army. The body was buried in the town's cemetery after prayers that were headed by Sheikh Obeid. Wreaths from the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leadership of the Islamic Resistance, the Lebanese army, and Yohmour town were placed on the tomb.
The March 14 website had this story on August 29, 2009: In an interview that the site conducted with Mrs.Yvette Hanna, on the first anniversary of the assassination of her son, the Lebanese Army officer pilot, Samer Hanna, in the hands of the Hezbollah militia while on board a military helicopter in south Lebanon, she stated: "The blood of all the martyrs of Lebanon have gone in vain, all of Lebanon is wasted in vain, toHell with the country, its politician, its policy and everything that is in it. We are in a country that is going with the wind. Nothing more could be said because I am upset from all that is happening"
What a tragic paradox of malice, deceit, licentiousness and cowardice. Nabil Hanna Asmar, a patriotic Lebanese citizen, and a real nationalist who fought for years defending his southern Jazine city returned back from Israel to his beloved homeland as a corpse and in a coffin. The Lebanese state was completely absent during the funeral and not even one official sent a wreath of flowers. Why? Because Hezbollah with its evil and cancerous influence and power has been manipulating the Lebanese state's decision making process and obstructing the honorable return of our Southern Lebanese people who were forced to take refuge in neighboring Israel in 2005, in the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Thousands of southern citizens who fled to Israel at that time are all tagged as collaborators, agents and traitors due to the fact that they did not want to fight their own citizens and because of the serious and actual threats to butcher them that Hezbollah's leaders voiced publicly.
Meanwhile, another Lebanese citizen, Ali Hussein Aliek (28 years), that Hezbollah recruited, like many of the other tens of thousands of Shiite Lebanese, trained, armed and was dispatched to fight in one of its jihadist battles. The Lebanese state which did not have any role in this whole process, did not know where this jihadist was killed, by whom and on which frontier he was fighting, bowing to Hezbollah's terrorism and abiding by its criteria of treason, patriotism, nationalism and martyrdom. A delegation from the Lebanese Army participated in this jihadist’s funeral and decorated him jointly with Hezbollah with the title of a martyr.
Hezbollah is not only taking the Lebanese state a hostage and dictating its Iranian denominational religious jihadist doctrines on the Lebanese people, but it is also is murdering with cold blood the country's army officers and soldiers. In this context its jihadist fighters downed on 28/08/08 a Lebanese army helicopter in South Lebanon (between Sojod and Armati) and forced it to make an emergency landing. When on the ground its pilot, 1st Lt. Samer Hanna, was shot and killed, while the co-pilot officer was savagely assaulted. Hezbollah handed over to the Lebanese Military judiciary one of its gunmen alleging that he was the assailant and that the incident was a mere regrettable mistake. Surprisingly, the killer was released after only 10 months.
One wonders how the state of Lebanon could be that biased against its own citizens to the extent that it glorifies the killers and condemns their victims?
How could it abandon all its governing responsibilities, infringe on the constitution and all the country's laws, succumb to Hezbollah's terrorism and officially decorate a Hezbollah gunmen with the title of martyr while keeping a blind eye on the horrible atrocities it inflicts on our own people in Israel legally, ethically and morally? Has Lebanon become a jihadist state run and controlled by Hezbollah, and abiding by its Iranian religious jihadist war doctrines?
Aren't the Lebanese people entitled to know on which Arabic, regional or international frontiers Hezbollah is fighting? Aren't the Lebanese people entitled to know where Ali Hassan Aliek was killed and according to which criteria or law he was decorated as a martyr?
On the other hand, because of Hezbollah's dictates this same state has been constantly obstructing the honorable return of its own people from Israel, although every patriot and conscientious Lebanese knows very well that these abandoned citizens are the real and actual heroes.
There will definitely be no credibility or any kind of respect for all those Lebanese officials, politicians and clergy who obstruct the return of our refugees from Israel either because of hatred and revenge complexes, or because of cowardice and dhimmitude. All are committing a crime against their own people.
It is time for Lebanon to open wide its doors and welcome back with dignity, gratitude and apologies our people who have been living as refugees in Israel since May 2005.
I conclude with what Prophet Isaiah said about such evil people: " Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed" (Isaiah 33/1)
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
September 5/09All the unfolding destructive, shameful, terrorist and corrupting events that are currently hitting Lebanon and its peace-loving people illustrate with no shred of a doubt that the terrorist organization, Hezbollah, is merely grabbing hold of the Lebanese state and its institutions as hostages.
In reality, Hezbollah has completely assumed Syria’s notorious oppressive and murderous occupational role in the aftermath of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. This armed Iranian fundamentalist organization is currently the actual and primary obstacle to the country's cabinet formation, either through its huge arsenal and its powerful mini state, or through its threats to replicate its barbaric 7th of May 2008 invasion of Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
The following three recent documented reports clearly delineate and portray the extent of Hezbollah's deadly and cancerous influence not only on the state's decision-making process, but also on the social norms and fabrics that have been imposed on the Lebanese people in each and every aspect and issue of daily life.
Assafir Lebanese Daily published on 21/08/09 the report below under the title:" The Red Cross receives the body of a Lebanese from the occupied Palestine (Israel)": "The International Committee of the Red Cross received today from the Israeli occupational authorities at the gate of Naqoura the body of the Lebanese Nabil Hanna Asmar (45 years), who died in hospital in the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel) due to an incurable disease. The body was handed over to Asmar's family in the southern city of Jazine. Asmar had fled from the south to the Palestinian territories during the Israeli withdrawal (from South Lebanon) in 2000.
Al Mustaqbal Lebanese Daily, published this report on Friday, 28 August 2009, under the title: "Hezbollah buries a martyr in the Town of Yohmour-Ckeaf’: "The Islamic Resistance, Hezbollah and the Town of Yohmour-Ckeaf" residents laid to rest today Martyr Ali Hussein Aliek (28 years) who died while performing his duties. In the procession front line was Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, Hezbollah's in-charge-for-central social-activities and a military delegation from the leadership of the Third Brigade of the Lebanese army. The body was buried in the town's cemetery after prayers that were headed by Sheikh Obeid. Wreaths from the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leadership of the Islamic Resistance, the Lebanese army, and Yohmour town were placed on the tomb.
The March 14 website had this story on August 29, 2009: In an interview that the site conducted with Mrs.Yvette Hanna, on the first anniversary of the assassination of her son, the Lebanese Army officer pilot, Samer Hanna, in the hands of the Hezbollah militia while on board a military helicopter in south Lebanon, she stated: "The blood of all the martyrs of Lebanon have gone in vain, all of Lebanon is wasted in vain, toHell with the country, its politician, its policy and everything that is in it. We are in a country that is going with the wind. Nothing more could be said because I am upset from all that is happening"
What a tragic paradox of malice, deceit, licentiousness and cowardice. Nabil Hanna Asmar, a patriotic Lebanese citizen, and a real nationalist who fought for years defending his southern Jazine city returned back from Israel to his beloved homeland as a corpse and in a coffin. The Lebanese state was completely absent during the funeral and not even one official sent a wreath of flowers. Why? Because Hezbollah with its evil and cancerous influence and power has been manipulating the Lebanese state's decision making process and obstructing the honorable return of our Southern Lebanese people who were forced to take refuge in neighboring Israel in 2005, in the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Thousands of southern citizens who fled to Israel at that time are all tagged as collaborators, agents and traitors due to the fact that they did not want to fight their own citizens and because of the serious and actual threats to butcher them that Hezbollah's leaders voiced publicly.
Meanwhile, another Lebanese citizen, Ali Hussein Aliek (28 years), that Hezbollah recruited, like many of the other tens of thousands of Shiite Lebanese, trained, armed and was dispatched to fight in one of its jihadist battles. The Lebanese state which did not have any role in this whole process, did not know where this jihadist was killed, by whom and on which frontier he was fighting, bowing to Hezbollah's terrorism and abiding by its criteria of treason, patriotism, nationalism and martyrdom. A delegation from the Lebanese Army participated in this jihadist’s funeral and decorated him jointly with Hezbollah with the title of a martyr.
Hezbollah is not only taking the Lebanese state a hostage and dictating its Iranian denominational religious jihadist doctrines on the Lebanese people, but it is also is murdering with cold blood the country's army officers and soldiers. In this context its jihadist fighters downed on 28/08/08 a Lebanese army helicopter in South Lebanon (between Sojod and Armati) and forced it to make an emergency landing. When on the ground its pilot, 1st Lt. Samer Hanna, was shot and killed, while the co-pilot officer was savagely assaulted. Hezbollah handed over to the Lebanese Military judiciary one of its gunmen alleging that he was the assailant and that the incident was a mere regrettable mistake. Surprisingly, the killer was released after only 10 months.
One wonders how the state of Lebanon could be that biased against its own citizens to the extent that it glorifies the killers and condemns their victims?
How could it abandon all its governing responsibilities, infringe on the constitution and all the country's laws, succumb to Hezbollah's terrorism and officially decorate a Hezbollah gunmen with the title of martyr while keeping a blind eye on the horrible atrocities it inflicts on our own people in Israel legally, ethically and morally? Has Lebanon become a jihadist state run and controlled by Hezbollah, and abiding by its Iranian religious jihadist war doctrines?
Aren't the Lebanese people entitled to know on which Arabic, regional or international frontiers Hezbollah is fighting? Aren't the Lebanese people entitled to know where Ali Hassan Aliek was killed and according to which criteria or law he was decorated as a martyr?
On the other hand, because of Hezbollah's dictates this same state has been constantly obstructing the honorable return of its own people from Israel, although every patriot and conscientious Lebanese knows very well that these abandoned citizens are the real and actual heroes.
There will definitely be no credibility or any kind of respect for all those Lebanese officials, politicians and clergy who obstruct the return of our refugees from Israel either because of hatred and revenge complexes, or because of cowardice and dhimmitude. All are committing a crime against their own people.
It is time for Lebanon to open wide its doors and welcome back with dignity, gratitude and apologies our people who have been living as refugees in Israel since May 2005.
I conclude with what Prophet Isaiah said about such evil people: " Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed" (Isaiah 33/1)
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
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