By Elias Bejjani
On Thursday, 1st October a preplanned and scheduled Brazilian samba show was banned and torpedoed in the historical southern Lebanese city of Tyre after about 100 Shiite clerics under the chairmanship of Sheikh Ali Yassin, a powerful Hezbollah follower, met and issued a fatwa (religious decree) forbidding it and declaring it sinful.
A statement by the clerics condemned the open-air Brazilian samba display by a dance troupe that has been touring Lebanon and said: “The naked festival is incompatible with the religious and Islamic morals of Tyre”. The statement blamed the city's municipality for licensing the performance of the festival and held it accountable”. “We support tourism but are against obscenity,” said Sheikh Ali Yassin, who led the 100 Shiite clerics’ protest.
The troupe, including musicians and scantily clad dancers, performed last month in central Beirut's Martyrs' Square and in the Lebanese cities of Zahle and Joanieh without any kind of problems at all. On the contrary, they were greatly liked and admired by the public. Thousands of Lebanese and tourists from all over the world attended the shows and enjoyed them.
The Brazilian embassy officials in Beirut were saddened and shocked by the unjustified uproar raised by the Hezbollah clerics. The cultural attaché in the embassy told the French news agency that all needed measures were taken weeks ago by both the troupe and the embassy with regard to the religious sensitivities of the city that has a Shiite majority, including ensuring proper modest attire for the dancers rather than the traditional revealing “bal samba” costumes
The Tyre local city council was forced by all means of intimidation and terrorism to revoke its positive decision and had to cancel the show after consulting with politicians and security officials. The council’s statement said it all: “The Tyre municipality is keen to confirm to the public opinion that the Brazilian festival did not infringe on religious values or morals and was not pornographic as proclaimed by some people. Therefore and on instructions and directives from Tyre's Mount Amel Grand Mufti, Judge Sheik Hassan Abdullah, the municipality has decided to cancel the festival show in the city. Meanwhile, the council reaffirms its commitment to the genuine and well established Lebanese-Brazilian relationship and greatly thanks the Brazilian embassy in Lebanon”.
Tyre NGOs, civil associations, cultural and trade union bodies issued a courageous statement of condemnation addressing Hezbollah's dictatorship. The statement said: “In support for civil liberties and freedom of opinion and expression, representatives of a number of Tyre NGOs, civil associations, cultural and trade union bodies held a joint meeting and discussed the unjustified arbitrary cancellation of the Brazilian samba festival that was scheduled to perform in Tyre with the consent of the city's municipality and in numerous Lebanese regions in the realm of tourism and summer cultural activities. The representatives recorded the following observations:
1 - The ban harms Tyre’s tourism reputation, blemishes its civilized image and reflects negatively on its tourism activities.
2 - There is the fear that this ban will become a precedent to be followed by intrusions on freedoms in both Lebanon, the country of coexistence and Tyre, the city of openness.
3 - It is feared that this enforced cancellation is a sign and a forerunner for future measures that will affect individual and public freedoms and force Tyre to join the list of other cities that are shackled by measures of repression and religious decrees.
4 - The emphasis was on the right of all citizens to express their opinions without imposing them on others; the respect for others’ feelings and the inadmissibility of banning freedoms and transgressing on them in violation to what is guaranteed by the country's constitution.
We should offer tribute to the Tyre municipality council, NGOs, civil associations and cultural and trade union bodies for all of them refused to succumb to Hezbollah's terror and intimidation despite their blatant threats and religious manipulations.
They loudly and publicly voiced their strong peaceful condemnation with pride and dignity. They courageously witnessed for the truth without being deterred by Hezbollah's show of power, heretics or bragging.
It is so sad, frustrating and unfortunate that Hezbollah, the Iranian religious and armed fundamentalist militia, could time after time impose on the Lebanese people and authorities its dictates and stone age despotic lifestyle in such an oppressive and intimidating Stalinist and Nazi pattern. Last July Hezbollah through its bold terrorism and fanaticism tactics openly intimidated the famous French-Moroccan comedian Gad Elmaleh to cancel his participation in the Beiteddine Festival.
Noura Jumblatt, head of the festival's organizing committee, said the group had received threats against allowing Elmaleh to perform.
The Hezbollah terrorist organization challenges the Lebanese constitution on a daily basis and breaks by force all the laws and regulations that ensure and guarantee public freedoms. Its ongoing enforced endeavors to abolish Lebanon’s multicultural, free, democratic and mosaic society is dragging the country into havoc, poverty, isolation, and forcing thousands and thousands of Lebanese nationalists to emigrate.
The most threatening and frightening element in Hezbollah's daily criminal mercenary infringements lie in its preset vicious scheme to destroy the country's peaceful, civilized, and democratic educational system and replace it with the Iranian mullah's religious ideology of death, wars, jihad, invasions and suicide. It is worth mentioning that the majority of the Lebanese people reject such an islamist indoctrination, including the majority of the Lebanese Shiite community which Hezbollah controls by force.
Hezbollah bears the full responsibility for this deplorable repression of the artistic image of Tyre that is deeply rooted in history and civilization. Tyre throughout its 7000 years of history was a haven for multiculturalism, freedom, art, democracy and peace. It gave the world great leaders like Hannibal, famous poets like Miligar, Historians, artists, writers, thinkers, inventors, creators, geniuses and philosophers. Tyre will never be a city of fanaticism, awkwardness, insularity, intolerance or barbarism.
The great Tyrean poet, Mliqar (140-70 BC), told the whole world about Lebanon's openness, love of civilization, peace and tolerance and requested that the following message be carved on his gravestone (in Cyprus): “Yes, I am Mliqar, Tyre raised me, and I saw the light through its skies and Athens taught me. Dear, do not be surprised we live in one country, its name is the "world”.
The ongoing war of suppression and terrorism that Hezbollah is waging and forcing on Lebanon is escalating. This war confirms without any shred of a doubt that the current serious ongoing conflict in Lebanon is between two educational systems and cultures: the first is the Iranian mullah's evil teaching of jihad, death, suicide, fanaticism, oppression, terrorism, rejection of the other, awkwardness and isolation; and the second one is the historical Lebanese education and culture of peace, human rights, civil society, openness, multiculturalism, democracy and freedom.
In the event that the Lebanese yield with no heroic resistance to Hezbollah's derailed mullah's logic that torpedoed the Brazilian samba band, Lebanon is definitely very soon going to lose its identity, history, and civilization, as well as its freedoms, creativeness, education and the deeply rooted mosaic society of different cultures, religions and ethics.
Meanwhile, it is so sad and disgusting that some Lebanese politicians and leaders who rhetorically brag to be advocates for secularism, equality, human rights and freedom like MP Michel Aoun and MP Ghassan Mikieber, and many others have swallowed their tongues regarding Hezbollah's enforced ban on the Brazilian samba dance troupe. They were selectively blind, deaf and mute and cowardly refrained from criticizing Hezbollah's blatant infringement on the basic freedoms of Lebanese society.
May God protect Lebanon and its people from the ignorance, terrorism and fanaticism that Hezbollah is trying to force on them by all its means of money, power, cruelty, intimidation, threats and manipulation.
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, October 8, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Harper's Courageous Anti-Ahmadinejad Stance
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
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
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
Monday, August 10, 2009
Mr. President: Bring Back our People from Israel
By: Elias Bejjani*
On August 06/09, the Lebanese official National News Agency published on its website, the following slanderous and desecrating report: “The International Red Cross received today from within the occupied Palestinian territories and via the Naqoura gate, (check post on the Lebanese-Israeli borders) the body of the agent, (Amiel) Elias Joseph Agiel, 52 years old, who died in one of the hospitals in the occupied Palestinian territories. The deceased entered occupied Palestine (Israel) in the aftermath of the Israeli army defeat in year 2000. The International Red Cross Committee handed over Agiel's body to his family in the town of Niha - Chouf district”. It is worth mentioning that the Arabic term "Amiel" means a traitor and conspirator.
For the record, the deceased was not neither a traitor, nor a conspirator, but a mere victim. In the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, he was among more than 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families that had no option but to leave their towns, villages and abandon all their properties and hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, “We will enter their bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.”
It is sad, sickening and shameful that the official Lebanese National News Agency has resorted in its hostile, defaming, inhuman and defiling report to Hezbollah's jihadist lexicon and abided by its Iranian criteria of fundamentalism and terrorism for defining who is a traitor and who is a patriot.
The report did not respect or regard the fact that the deceased is a Lebanese citizen and a human being, and definitely not an agent or a traitor. By tagging him when he is dead as a traitor the news agency has openly and savagely annulled all the deeply rooted Lebanese cultural traditions that honor the sacredness of death. Meanwhile, it also violated all judicial laws that consider the accused innocent until found guilty by a court of law.
The question is: who runs this news agency that supposedly is an official department that belongs to the Lebanese Ministry of Information? Is it the Lebanese government or Hezbollah? There is no doubt that the journalist who worded the report and his superiors who approved it are all without any normal human feelings or otherwise how could they viciously dare to defy the sanctity of death?
The wording of the report incites a great deal of moral, ethical and religious vilification. It not only dishonors the sanctity of death, but also presents a flagrant violation on the deceased’s rights and dignity, as well as provoking blatant contempt, defamation, belittlement and threats on the deceased family, relatives and his hometown residents.
It would have been understandable if Hezbollah's, Al-Qaeda’s, or any of their jihadist proxy media facilities had worded and disseminated such a degrading and provocative report, because none of them recognize the UN Human Rights Charter or have any respect for the dignity of the living or the dead and are not states or members of the UN, and openly advocate their doctrines through terrorism. Meanwhile, too many questions need to be raised when the official Lebanese National News Agency adopts such a lexicon and such an approach!
It is worth mentioning that while for the past nine years, the Lebanese government on all levels has been abandoning its own citizens who took refuge in Israel, and unjustly insists on tagging them as agents and traitors, we find that Israel, the so- called enemy, is embracing them and doing its best to help them. In this context the Israeli cabinet appointed on August 02/09 Minister Yossi Peled as the responsible minister for the care of former South Lebanese Army members in Israel. Peled was assigned to head an inter-ministerial team that will address housing, employment, education, and citizenship needs of former SLA members living in Israel since 2000 when the IDF withdrew from Lebanon. Peled said, "The State of Israel has a moral obligation to the people of SLA, its allies, who fought alongside it shoulder to shoulder."
This notorious report is by all standards a very serious atrocity and an alarming sign because it shows clearly the depth and extent of Hezbollah's infiltration and penetration to all the Lebanese state's institutions, not only through its well trained manpower, but most dangerously through its jihadist doctrine, Iranian mullah's lexicon, and the escalating manipulation of the government’s decision making process including the last word on war and peace.
What about the deterrent judicial role the Ministry of Justice is supposed to play in accordance with the country's constitution, and what measures is it going to take? And in case it tries to play its role, will Hezbollah allow that to happen? Definitely not, because the Lebanese state's institutions including this ministry are actually and practically fully dominated and controlled by Hezbollah.
One wonders also why the main Lebanese Christian parties in both March 14 March 8 coalitions are burying their heads in the sand, although the majority of the South Lebanese Army were from their members. Could it be that they have been hit by the contagious dhimmitude ailment and are doing what the well known Chinese proverb says: I don't see, I don't hear, I don't talk?
It is time for these parties to get out of their self imposed coma and start to do their job.The ongoing humanitarian suffering and dilemma of the Lebanese refugees in Israel make every official, clergyman, politician and intellectual in Lebanon accountable, and accordingly they all have an obligation to speak out loudly and fairly for the preservation of their rights and dignity.
We strongly condemn the disgraceful and irresponsible conduct of the Lebanese government, the politicians and clergy are adopting with regard to the legitimate rights of our people in Israel. Justice is needed as well courage and conscience. We loudly call on Lebanon's President, Mr. Michel Suleiman, who had promised publicly in his inauguration speech on May 25/08 to bring back our refugees from Israel: "And here comes the role of perseverance to liberate our prisoners and uncover the fate of the disappeared and bring back our sons who have sought refuge in Israel. The nation is wide enough for everybody.", to move on and fulfill his promise.
Meanwhile, his Excellency, the president needs to take into consideration that these victims were forced by Hezbollah's terrorism to take refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000. Therefore, their return needs to be a priority, and it must be done with honor, dignity, respect and definitely without any kind of farce trials. These people are heroes and not traitors, and every Lebanese with faith and conscience is fully aware of this reality and substantially unshaken tangible fact.
Elias BejjaniCanadian-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
On August 06/09, the Lebanese official National News Agency published on its website, the following slanderous and desecrating report: “The International Red Cross received today from within the occupied Palestinian territories and via the Naqoura gate, (check post on the Lebanese-Israeli borders) the body of the agent, (Amiel) Elias Joseph Agiel, 52 years old, who died in one of the hospitals in the occupied Palestinian territories. The deceased entered occupied Palestine (Israel) in the aftermath of the Israeli army defeat in year 2000. The International Red Cross Committee handed over Agiel's body to his family in the town of Niha - Chouf district”. It is worth mentioning that the Arabic term "Amiel" means a traitor and conspirator.
For the record, the deceased was not neither a traitor, nor a conspirator, but a mere victim. In the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, he was among more than 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families that had no option but to leave their towns, villages and abandon all their properties and hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, “We will enter their bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.”
It is sad, sickening and shameful that the official Lebanese National News Agency has resorted in its hostile, defaming, inhuman and defiling report to Hezbollah's jihadist lexicon and abided by its Iranian criteria of fundamentalism and terrorism for defining who is a traitor and who is a patriot.
The report did not respect or regard the fact that the deceased is a Lebanese citizen and a human being, and definitely not an agent or a traitor. By tagging him when he is dead as a traitor the news agency has openly and savagely annulled all the deeply rooted Lebanese cultural traditions that honor the sacredness of death. Meanwhile, it also violated all judicial laws that consider the accused innocent until found guilty by a court of law.
The question is: who runs this news agency that supposedly is an official department that belongs to the Lebanese Ministry of Information? Is it the Lebanese government or Hezbollah? There is no doubt that the journalist who worded the report and his superiors who approved it are all without any normal human feelings or otherwise how could they viciously dare to defy the sanctity of death?
The wording of the report incites a great deal of moral, ethical and religious vilification. It not only dishonors the sanctity of death, but also presents a flagrant violation on the deceased’s rights and dignity, as well as provoking blatant contempt, defamation, belittlement and threats on the deceased family, relatives and his hometown residents.
It would have been understandable if Hezbollah's, Al-Qaeda’s, or any of their jihadist proxy media facilities had worded and disseminated such a degrading and provocative report, because none of them recognize the UN Human Rights Charter or have any respect for the dignity of the living or the dead and are not states or members of the UN, and openly advocate their doctrines through terrorism. Meanwhile, too many questions need to be raised when the official Lebanese National News Agency adopts such a lexicon and such an approach!
It is worth mentioning that while for the past nine years, the Lebanese government on all levels has been abandoning its own citizens who took refuge in Israel, and unjustly insists on tagging them as agents and traitors, we find that Israel, the so- called enemy, is embracing them and doing its best to help them. In this context the Israeli cabinet appointed on August 02/09 Minister Yossi Peled as the responsible minister for the care of former South Lebanese Army members in Israel. Peled was assigned to head an inter-ministerial team that will address housing, employment, education, and citizenship needs of former SLA members living in Israel since 2000 when the IDF withdrew from Lebanon. Peled said, "The State of Israel has a moral obligation to the people of SLA, its allies, who fought alongside it shoulder to shoulder."
This notorious report is by all standards a very serious atrocity and an alarming sign because it shows clearly the depth and extent of Hezbollah's infiltration and penetration to all the Lebanese state's institutions, not only through its well trained manpower, but most dangerously through its jihadist doctrine, Iranian mullah's lexicon, and the escalating manipulation of the government’s decision making process including the last word on war and peace.
What about the deterrent judicial role the Ministry of Justice is supposed to play in accordance with the country's constitution, and what measures is it going to take? And in case it tries to play its role, will Hezbollah allow that to happen? Definitely not, because the Lebanese state's institutions including this ministry are actually and practically fully dominated and controlled by Hezbollah.
One wonders also why the main Lebanese Christian parties in both March 14 March 8 coalitions are burying their heads in the sand, although the majority of the South Lebanese Army were from their members. Could it be that they have been hit by the contagious dhimmitude ailment and are doing what the well known Chinese proverb says: I don't see, I don't hear, I don't talk?
It is time for these parties to get out of their self imposed coma and start to do their job.The ongoing humanitarian suffering and dilemma of the Lebanese refugees in Israel make every official, clergyman, politician and intellectual in Lebanon accountable, and accordingly they all have an obligation to speak out loudly and fairly for the preservation of their rights and dignity.
We strongly condemn the disgraceful and irresponsible conduct of the Lebanese government, the politicians and clergy are adopting with regard to the legitimate rights of our people in Israel. Justice is needed as well courage and conscience. We loudly call on Lebanon's President, Mr. Michel Suleiman, who had promised publicly in his inauguration speech on May 25/08 to bring back our refugees from Israel: "And here comes the role of perseverance to liberate our prisoners and uncover the fate of the disappeared and bring back our sons who have sought refuge in Israel. The nation is wide enough for everybody.", to move on and fulfill his promise.
Meanwhile, his Excellency, the president needs to take into consideration that these victims were forced by Hezbollah's terrorism to take refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000. Therefore, their return needs to be a priority, and it must be done with honor, dignity, respect and definitely without any kind of farce trials. These people are heroes and not traitors, and every Lebanese with faith and conscience is fully aware of this reality and substantially unshaken tangible fact.
Elias BejjaniCanadian-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, August 2, 2009
Hezbollah Runs Lebanon's Foreign Ministry
By Elias Bejjani*
It has become clear even to the blind that the Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah Mullah's leadership. This terrorist militant organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process through cancerous infiltration, intimidation, and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval.
In this context, Hezbollah forced the Lebanese state to adopt all its derailed concepts, vicious justifications, bizarre explanations and plain fabrications in a bid to camouflage and cover up the actual causes of the massive series of explosions that occurred on July 14/09 in the southern Lebanese town of Khirbat Silm, located about 10 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border. In fact, Khirbat Silm was hit seriously due to a series of Hezbollah's huge underground weaponry caches.
Observers and local residents have confirmed that the Hezbollah militiamen did not allow the Lebanese army or the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to approach the scene of the blast until after they had removed all the burned weapons and ammunition, and transferred all the weapons that did not explode to nearby depots located in a number of civilian houses in the town itself.
The Hezbollah civilian militiamen with their families in the town attacked the UNIFIL soldiers (French contingent) with stones when they tried to search the houses close to the explosion location injuring 14 of them and aborting their search assignment.
At a time when Hezbollah leaders boast and brag openly that their stockpiles of missiles have doubled, their military capabilities are increasing and that they are militarily still as strong in the southern region adjacent to the Israeli borders as they were before the war in July 2006, the Lebanese state only buries its head in the sand and adopts stances that are childish, forged, naive and void from any kind of actuality or credibility.
Official statements issued by the UNIFIL forces confirmed clearly and explicitly that the weaponry caches that exploded in the town of Khirbat Silm belonged to Hezbollah and tagged the incident as a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision stating that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of its operations between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
In spite of the solid facts that the UNIFIL statements presented, the Lebanese authorities turned a blind eye on all the infringements that were committed by Hezbollah, not only in regard to the explosion of its weaponry caches, but also on the two others incidents that targeted the UNIFIL forces afterwards that were engineered and executed by Hezbollah.
In the first incident, about 100 of Hezbollah's civilians from the residents of the town of Khirbat Silm threw stones at the UNIFIL soldiers and injured 14 of them. In the second incident, a group of Hezbollah civilians crossed the Green Line of the Israeli-Lebanese border near Shabaa Farms and overran a non-guarded Israeli post. Meanwhile, the letter that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent to the United Nations regarding the Khirbat Silm explosions and the incidents that followed was void of any credibility, childish, and a mere mouthpiece for Hezbollah's stances. Anyone who had thoroughly read the letter would have known immediately that it was written by the Hezbollah leadership and not by the Lebanese Foreign Affairs diplomats.
The Lebanese political analyst, Bechara Charbel, described the letter as a "diplomatic joke" and said: "It would be great to know who is that genius diplomat that wrote the letter to the United Nations addressing the Khirbat Silm explosions because it is so bad and so fake that he in return deserves to be stripped of his university degrees, fired from his job, slapped on the face and kicked on the back".
The letter alleged that the explosions were due to a fire breaking out in an abandoned building that housed unexploded munitions from the summer 2006 war with Israel. It stressed that cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL was strong, adding that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of Resolution 1701, and that an investigation committee was formed by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL officers to supervise the scene of the explosion.
According to the letter, the investigations had been launched the day after the explosion, “because experts judged working the first day to be too dangerous since explosions continued until late July 14”. The letter said that the Lebanese soldiers stayed on location despite possible hazards, adding that one soldier had been injured.
The letter goes on to say that the investigations had revealed that the unexploded ammunitions bore writings in Hebrew and were of the type used during the summer 2006 war. It slammed Israel’s claims that Hezbollah endangered civilians by storing its weapons in populated areas. “Israel is trying to justify any future deliberate attack on Lebanese civilians,” the letter said.
Regarding the July 18 incident in which a UNIFIL team investigating the blast was hampered by civilians from the Khirbat Silm town, the Foreign Ministry’s letter revealed the Lebanese Army had decided to investigate leaks that unexploded ammunitions might have been transferred to three houses in Khirbet Silim. “UNIFIL was informed and decided to crack down on the three houses without being escorted by the Lebanese Army,” the letter said. “Clashes with the residents ensued,” it added. "As a result, 14 UNIFIL personnel were slightly injured".
The letter is not only diplomatic nonsense, but also a stupid joke and a mere forgery of the facts. For heaven sake, is there any sane individual that would take such a report seriously and grant any kind of credibility to those who wrote it and to the Lebanese government that adopted it? Definitely no one if we exclude Hezbollah and its Iranian masters, the Mullahs.
It is sad, shameful and heretical that the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Fawzi Salloukh, is actually Hezbollah's Minister for Foreign Affairs and has nothing to do with Lebanon. He is Hezbollah's man and its diplomatic mouthpiece.
In conclusion, Lebanon will remain a mere hostage, and will not become a free, democratic, and independent country again until the terrorist organization Hezbollah is dismantled and disarmed
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
It has become clear even to the blind that the Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah Mullah's leadership. This terrorist militant organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process through cancerous infiltration, intimidation, and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval.
In this context, Hezbollah forced the Lebanese state to adopt all its derailed concepts, vicious justifications, bizarre explanations and plain fabrications in a bid to camouflage and cover up the actual causes of the massive series of explosions that occurred on July 14/09 in the southern Lebanese town of Khirbat Silm, located about 10 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border. In fact, Khirbat Silm was hit seriously due to a series of Hezbollah's huge underground weaponry caches.
Observers and local residents have confirmed that the Hezbollah militiamen did not allow the Lebanese army or the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to approach the scene of the blast until after they had removed all the burned weapons and ammunition, and transferred all the weapons that did not explode to nearby depots located in a number of civilian houses in the town itself.
The Hezbollah civilian militiamen with their families in the town attacked the UNIFIL soldiers (French contingent) with stones when they tried to search the houses close to the explosion location injuring 14 of them and aborting their search assignment.
At a time when Hezbollah leaders boast and brag openly that their stockpiles of missiles have doubled, their military capabilities are increasing and that they are militarily still as strong in the southern region adjacent to the Israeli borders as they were before the war in July 2006, the Lebanese state only buries its head in the sand and adopts stances that are childish, forged, naive and void from any kind of actuality or credibility.
Official statements issued by the UNIFIL forces confirmed clearly and explicitly that the weaponry caches that exploded in the town of Khirbat Silm belonged to Hezbollah and tagged the incident as a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision stating that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of its operations between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
In spite of the solid facts that the UNIFIL statements presented, the Lebanese authorities turned a blind eye on all the infringements that were committed by Hezbollah, not only in regard to the explosion of its weaponry caches, but also on the two others incidents that targeted the UNIFIL forces afterwards that were engineered and executed by Hezbollah.
In the first incident, about 100 of Hezbollah's civilians from the residents of the town of Khirbat Silm threw stones at the UNIFIL soldiers and injured 14 of them. In the second incident, a group of Hezbollah civilians crossed the Green Line of the Israeli-Lebanese border near Shabaa Farms and overran a non-guarded Israeli post. Meanwhile, the letter that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent to the United Nations regarding the Khirbat Silm explosions and the incidents that followed was void of any credibility, childish, and a mere mouthpiece for Hezbollah's stances. Anyone who had thoroughly read the letter would have known immediately that it was written by the Hezbollah leadership and not by the Lebanese Foreign Affairs diplomats.
The Lebanese political analyst, Bechara Charbel, described the letter as a "diplomatic joke" and said: "It would be great to know who is that genius diplomat that wrote the letter to the United Nations addressing the Khirbat Silm explosions because it is so bad and so fake that he in return deserves to be stripped of his university degrees, fired from his job, slapped on the face and kicked on the back".
The letter alleged that the explosions were due to a fire breaking out in an abandoned building that housed unexploded munitions from the summer 2006 war with Israel. It stressed that cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL was strong, adding that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of Resolution 1701, and that an investigation committee was formed by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL officers to supervise the scene of the explosion.
According to the letter, the investigations had been launched the day after the explosion, “because experts judged working the first day to be too dangerous since explosions continued until late July 14”. The letter said that the Lebanese soldiers stayed on location despite possible hazards, adding that one soldier had been injured.
The letter goes on to say that the investigations had revealed that the unexploded ammunitions bore writings in Hebrew and were of the type used during the summer 2006 war. It slammed Israel’s claims that Hezbollah endangered civilians by storing its weapons in populated areas. “Israel is trying to justify any future deliberate attack on Lebanese civilians,” the letter said.
Regarding the July 18 incident in which a UNIFIL team investigating the blast was hampered by civilians from the Khirbat Silm town, the Foreign Ministry’s letter revealed the Lebanese Army had decided to investigate leaks that unexploded ammunitions might have been transferred to three houses in Khirbet Silim. “UNIFIL was informed and decided to crack down on the three houses without being escorted by the Lebanese Army,” the letter said. “Clashes with the residents ensued,” it added. "As a result, 14 UNIFIL personnel were slightly injured".
The letter is not only diplomatic nonsense, but also a stupid joke and a mere forgery of the facts. For heaven sake, is there any sane individual that would take such a report seriously and grant any kind of credibility to those who wrote it and to the Lebanese government that adopted it? Definitely no one if we exclude Hezbollah and its Iranian masters, the Mullahs.
It is sad, shameful and heretical that the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Fawzi Salloukh, is actually Hezbollah's Minister for Foreign Affairs and has nothing to do with Lebanon. He is Hezbollah's man and its diplomatic mouthpiece.
In conclusion, Lebanon will remain a mere hostage, and will not become a free, democratic, and independent country again until the terrorist organization Hezbollah is dismantled and disarmed
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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