Hezbollah loves Human Rights Watch - and the feelings seem mutual

Hezbollah's Al Manar newspaper has an article on the latest anti-Israel HRW report.

Zionist soldiers and police have been incited by some of the country’s top politicians to ignore protocols when engaging with Palestinians who initiate attacks, Sari Bashi, Human Rights Watch’s ‘Israel/Palestine’ Advocacy Director, said.

In a special report of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, HRW said that “some senior Israeli officials have been encouraging Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians they suspect of attacking Israelis even when they are no longer a threat.”

Hezbollah and Human Rights Watch fit perfectly together. Not only can the Lebanese terror group pretend to care about human rights by quoting HRW, but they are secure in knowing that HRW will never hold Hezbollah to the standards that they hold Israel to - or to any standards whatsoever.

While HRW writes reports on Israeli politicians' statements meant to dissuade terror, it has not once written about direct threats to Israeli lives given, explicitly, by Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Like this one last year:

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah organisation, has threatened to attack Israeli gas facilities which could result in the deaths of up to 800,000 people. The Shia militant leader said the group has the capability to strike the ammonia gas storage tanks in Haifa if the confrontation with Israel escalates.
"Israel knows Hezbollah has missiles and rockets that can strike anywhere in its territory," he said during a televised address in Beirut to mark the deaths of past leaders. "The inhabitants of Haifa are afraid of an attack... that will lead to the death of tens of thousands of inhabitants out of a population of some 800,000. What does this mean? It means that a few missiles on this ammonia site could have the result of a nuclear bomb."

Calling on police to kill terrorists in the seconds after they attack is a heinous crime according to HRW.

But calling to annihilate hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians with an attack that Hezbollah itself likens to a nuclear explosion? Not worth mentioning by the moral arbiters at Human Rights Watch.

This isn't all that HRW ignores from Hezbollah.

 Hezbollah and Syrian army troops have reportedly killed civilians attempting to flee a Sunni-populated town near the Lebanese border that has been besieged by pro-regime forces since the summer.

“Three civilians, including a pregnant woman and her daughter, were martyred and four other female citizens were injured when regime forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah opened fire on them in the outskirts of Madaya,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday morning.

The monitoring NGO said that a total of five people have died in Madaya the past 24 hours.

“This brought the number of martyrs [killed] in the town since it was surrounded by regime forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to at least 23 as a result of IED explosions, sniper fire or poor health [coupled with] lacking sustenance and necessary medical treatment,” the SOHR added.

HRW never reported on the murder of the civilians in Madaya by Hezbollah. Nor did it mention Hezbollah killing Sunnis in Lebanon itself in 2008.

After all, Hezbollah shares Human Rights Watch's most important priority.

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Nasrallah tries to play the Israel card to justify Hizballah in Syria

From Now Lebanon:

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday rejected withdrawing his Shiite party’s fighters from Syria in exchange for joining a new cabinet in Lebanon amid a deepening political deadlock in the country.

“Those talking about our withdrawal from Syria as a term for the formation of a government are proposing an impossible condition,” he said in a speech delivered in person in Beirut’s Dahiyeh on the occasion of the Shiite mourning day of Ashura.

“We are not in a position to bargain Syria for a government.”

The pro-Western March 14 alliance’s largest party—the Future Movement—has repeatedly voiced its refusal to join a government along with Hezbollah as long as the party continues to provide military support to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

The Hezbollah chief also said that his party’s presence in the fighting in Syria aimed to “defend Lebanon, the Palestinian cause, and Syria, which defends the resistance.”

Here are the relevant quotes from the Hizballah mouthpiece Al Manar:

"First, we reassure our adherence to the resistance, its capabilities, and weapons, as a main path for protecting our country, its goods and wealth. Some in Lebanon talk to us about the French resistance which submitted its arms, neglecting the fact that this took place after the threat was over. However, the resistance in Lebanon liberated the land but the enemy still exists and is still threatening, spying, and preparing for wars; so are we required to empty the battlefield for this enemy? As long as the reason for resistance is present, the resistance will continue to confront this Israeli threat,” his eminence said.

“Second, we should remind the entire Arab nation of the central cause which is Palestine, as we must not abandon this cause no matter what the situations were, and Muslims must all stand by the Palestinian people so that they liberate their land and sanctities,” Sayyed Nasrallah added, stressing that despite all the crises facing our country or the region, Palestine should always be the central cause.

Third, his eminence reassured his “rejection to any kind of division, and emphasized the importance of holding on to the unity of every land and country and finding political solutions to internal crises through dialogue.”

I don't need to point out Nasrallah's hypocrisy here, and it is just as obvious to the Lebanese who are trapped under his effective control of the country.

In a separate speech, Nasrallah said Israel wants to go to war with Iran and he slammed Arab countries for their pro-Israel stance:

“What is the alternative to a deal with Iran and the countries of the world,” he asked. “The alternative is war in the region.”

And he pointed the finger at Israel, accusing it of being in league with Arab countries.

“Israel does not want any accord that would avert war in the region. It is regrettable that some Arab countries take the Israeli side in its murderous choices.

“It is regrettable that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is the spokesman for some Arab countries.”

This was an apparent reference to Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are strong backers of the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with whom Iran and Hezbollah are allied.

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France, and the EU, cozying up to Hezbollah

Al Monitor has a very sobering article:

On July 22, 2013, all 28 European Union (EU) countries unanimously agreed to add Hezbollah’s military wing to the EU list of terrorist organizations. But less than three months later, Europe has opened its doors to Hezbollah as a special guest. On Oct. 12-14, the French Foreign Ministry received Hezbollah deputy Ali Fayyad of the Lebanese parliament as a guest lecturer for French diplomats, analysts and experts; he explained how Paris was wrong and Hezbollah was right.

...Once there, Fayyad met with officials of the Middle East department and the center of analysis and exploration in the ministry, where he gave a two-hour introduction and question-and-answer session.

According to Hezbollah sources, the French have decided to open up to Hezbollah, the most powerful Shiite organization in Lebanon, and are ready to start a new phase of French and European dialogue with the party, while the party asserts that it is adhering to all its positions and choices.

But what has changed in these three months? Hezbollah circles confirmed to Al-Monitor that since the EU’s decision in July, it was clear to the party that the issue was not serious and did not reflect Europe’s actual convictions. Even before the decision was issued, three European ambassadors in Beirut visited Hezbollah officials and informed them that they were not personally convinced about the decision. They also noted that their governments were not convinced about the decision that was about to be issued. Even after the decision was issued, a record number of meetings were held between Hezbollah officials and European diplomats in the Lebanese capital. Even the EU ambassador to Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst, visited Hezbollah’s international relations official Ammar Moussawi as well as Hezbollah cabinet ministers Mohammed Fneish and Hussein Hajj Hassan, within just one week of the decision.

[...]

Those watching the relationship between Paris and the southern suburbs of Beirut (Hezbollah’s stronghold) may note the various reasons behind the French and EU decision to invite Fayyad. Those reasons can be summarized as follows:

First, the French move came within the context of the recent American-Iranian openness. It is a factor that cannot be ignored with regard to the French initiative. It is as if those in Paris and Europe are trying to tell the Americans: “We are not mere followers or implementers of your policy. If Obama can contact President Hassan Rouhani, we too can host Hezbollah and hold dialogue with it directly.” Such French and European calculations don’t have to be read negatively. They can be interpreted positively: “Fine. You [the Americans] have decided to open up to Tehran. We too can help in this direction. And this is a small example of that.”

Second, Hezbollah’s visit to the French capital came in the context of the putative Russian-American agreement on Syria and the nearing of the Geneva II conference, in which Iran is likely to participate. It is clear that any settlement of the Syrian crisis will open up large horizons in the Levant, politically and especially economically. On the political level, there is the impression that the “Syrian solution” will be a model to be replicated to redraw the Levantine map as a whole and to resolve the wars and crises of most countries in the Arab region. That includes Lebanon, which France has historically cared about. Ending the Syrian war will also open up major investment opportunities in reconstruction and in energy sources and transportation routes in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean (Syria and Lebanon). Hezbollah is a key player in both countries and has a big impact on the developments there.

Third, those who are familiar with Hezbollah’s capabilities and its influence as a political force realize that the Shiite organization is present beyond Syria and Lebanon. It is present in Iraq, in all its detailed political composition. Some in Beirut say that representatives of the Iraqi political forces meet regularly in the cafes of Beirut’s southern suburb, where they discuss the outcome of their meetings with Hezbollah officials. Hezbollah is also present in Palestine, although to a lesser extent than before, given that its relations with Hamas have cooled somewhat. But Hezbollah still has contacts with Hamas and with other Palestinian factions. Hezbollah even has varying degrees of influence in Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait and even Saudi Arabia and various Arab Gulf states, where Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah can influence public opinion in each of these countries....

(h/r Herb)

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Syrian war keeps expanding into Lebanon

From Ya Libnan:

Clashes between gunmen of rival Lebanese sects in the northern city of Tripoli have killed seven people since clashes flared earlier this week, security officials said Thursday.

The latest round of fighting that began four days ago in Lebanon’s second largest city has wounded another 50 people, officials said. That comes as disputes from neighboring Syria’s civil war frequently inflame sectarian grievances in Tripoli.

The clashes pit gunmen from two impoverished Tripoli neighborhoods against each other, areas that are home to opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Bab Tabbaneh district is largely Sunni Muslim, like Syria’s rebels. The other neighborhood, Jabal Mohsen, mostly has residents of Assad’s Alawite sect, a Shiite Islam offshoot.

The latest bout of fighting began building after Oct. 14, when a Lebanese military prosecutor pressed charges against earlier this month against seven men, at least one whom from Jabal Mohsen, for their involvement in twin bomb blasts near two Sunni mosques in Tripoli on Aug. 23 that killed 47 people.

Judging from the ICRC paper about the laws of occupation, I think a serious argument can be made that Lebanon is occupied, today, by Syria/Iran under international law.

The definition of occupation in that paper allowed occupation by proxy, if the group that runs the occupied territory is a puppet for the occupier. Since Syria did occupy Lebanon from 1976 to 2005, and now Hezbollah (which is an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards) effectively controls large parts of Lebanon as well as much of the government, that means that Lebanon is still occupied today, notwithstanding a few years when it was ostensibly free.

Syria of course does what Iran wants it to.

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Should Israel Get Some Credit?

Guest post by Challah Hu Akbar aka CHA

On January 26, 2011, Treasury designated Ayman Joumaa, as well as nine individuals and 19 entities as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers. According to Treasury, Joumaa’s network “used LCB [Lebanese Canadian Bank] to launder narcotics proceeds.” In addition, Treasury said that “Hizballah derived financial support from the criminal activities of Joumaa’s network.”

When Treasury designated the Lebanese Canadian Bank, on February 10, 2011, “as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern” it said that “Joumaa's organization uses, among other things, Hizballah couriers to transport and launder narcotics proceeds. Joumaa's organization pays fees to Hizballah to facilitate the transportation and laundering of narcotics proceeds.” According to Treasury, the investigation’s findings “exposes the terrorist organization Hizballah’s links to LCB and the international narcotics trafficking and money laundering network.”

The New York Times recently reported on the connection between the Lebanese Canadian Bank and Hezbollah and on December 15, a complaint was filed by the US government, which stated that “some of the funds move to LCB’s U.S. correspondent accounts via suspiciously structured electronic wire transfers to multiple U.S.-based used car dealerships—some of which are operated by individuals who have been separately identified in drug-related investigations.”

While much of the focus has since been on the 30 car dealerships reportedly tied to the Hezbollah scheme, one minor detail has been lost from the NY Times report.

For the United States, taking down the bank was part of a long-running strategy of deploying financial weapons to fight terrorism. This account of the serpentine, six-year inquiry and what has since been revealed is based on interviews with government, law enforcement and banking officials across three continents, as well as intelligence reports and police and corporate records.

So, what happened in February 2005, six years prior to the LCB's designation?

Israeli National Security Council Counterterrorism Director General Danny Arditi met with Treasury U/S Stuart Levey and his delegation on February 14 in Ramat Hasharon, near Tel Aviv…During his briefing for the USDEL, Brigadier General  Danny Arditi was joined by his Deputy for International Coordination Amnon Zehavi, Advisor for Terrorism Finance Lt. Col. Udi Levi, Advisor for Intelligence Uzi Shaya, NSA Legal Advisor Roy Dick, Israeli Embassy officer Eynat Shlien, Advisor for Intelligence Lt. Col. Amon Prodik, and a military staffer.  Treasury U/S for Enforcement and Head of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey was accompanied by Senior Advisor Adam Szubin, DAS Daniel Glaser, Senior Advisor Anne Wallwork, Public Affairs Specialist Molly Millerwise, IRS Senior Analyst Mark Weber, USSS Agent Jacqueline Marengo, USSS Agent Scott Salo, and Embassy notetaker.

…Levi charged that at least two banks (the Lebanese-Canadian Bank and the Societe Generale de Banque au Liban) are "connected directly to the financial infrastructure of Hizballah."  In addition, he said, a Bank of America branch in the tri-border area of South America is handling Hizballah funds.  Shaya added that the Chavez government is allowing Hizballah to operate in Venezuela. Levi claimed that several NGOs in the United States are also supporting Hizballah and asked for them to be included on the USG lists of organizations that finance terrorism.  He agreed to provide further details on the banks and NGOs during the next terrorism finance meeting in Washington.

Should Israel get some credit?

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Hezbollah ridicules idea of "political wing"

From the LA Times (h/t Carl in Jerusalem):

On one point, the United States agrees with Hezbollah's No. 2 leader, Naim Qassem, and not such allies as Britain.

Neither Qassem nor Washington distinguish between the Shiite militant group's political wing, which has members serving in the Lebanese Cabinet and parliament, and its military wing, preparing for the next round of battle against Israel. "Hezbollah has a single leadership," said the 57-year-old cleric in a rare interview with an American reporter recently.

"All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership," he said. "The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."

This article was published yesterday morning. It is an explicit refutation of Great Britain's decision in March to talk "only" with Hezbollah's "political wing."

Yet the story has not been picked up by any British media. So far it has only been reported in Israel, Iran and peripherally in the UAE.

And Ha'aretz reports on the interview - yet ignores this statement about Hezbollah's leadership, which led the story in the LAT!

Given what Great Britain did and what Europe is doing in legitimizing Hezbollah, isn't this kind of important? Wouldn't a responsible Western press pick up on something like this? It isn't as if the LA Times is a tiny newspaper. The story's been out for more than a day.

The media silence is perhaps more troubling than the story itself.

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