7/28 Links: PA TV - Female terrorists Are Role Models, Another Mysterious Airstrike in Syria

From Ian:

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Another peace process charade

The major changes in our region -- in Egypt, Syria and in Iran -- not only place challenges before the State of Israel but they also create considerable opportunities for us."
The prime minister's language is worth noting, particularly the phrase "exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians." Does this suggest that when 9 months are up and another stalemate has been achieved, that Israel will resist further American pressure to continue the futility?
There is another way to read the time horizon for the effort. It may be that during the upcoming 9 months, perhaps in the first few months of the process, that Israel alone, or Israel and the United States will take military action or other action required to shut down Iran's nuclear program. The peace talks with the Palestinians may also be the smokescreen needed to insulate Israel from any major international condemnations, if it moves unilaterally (wink, wink first to the Americans ) against Iran.

On the Release List: Terrorists who Murdered Children

On the list are Mahmoud Salam Saliman Abu Harabish and Adam Ibrahim Juma'a-Juma'a, who in 1988 murdered 26-year-old schoolteacher Rachel Weiss, her three young children, and a young soldier. The two hurled firebombs at a civilian bus, sending it up in flames; Weiss and her children ages 3, 2 and 9 months were unable to escape.
Soldier David Delarosa died trying to save them.
Also on the list is the terrorist who committed a similar murder the year before. The 1987 firebomb attack on a family car killed pregnant Ofra Moses and her young son Tal Moses. Father Abie Moses and three other young children were badly burned but survived.

‘Why Hunt Down German Nazis, but Release Muslim Nazis?’

Twenty-two years ago Rabbi Eliezer Weiss lost his wife Rachel and their three young sons in a brutal terrorist attack. The four burned to death in a bus targeted in a firebomb attack.
On Sunday morning, Rabbi Weiss learned that his children’s murderers are expected to go free in a mass terrorist release. The government is planning to free over 100 terrorists, several of them murderers, in a “gesture” to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

MKs: Has America Ever Freed Murderers?

“It isn’t moral to release murderers. It isn’t safe to release murderers… Has the United States ever released murderers as a concession to terrorism?” asked MK Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi).
“The United States hasn’t even freed Jonathan Pollard, after he served his sentence and has been in prison for more than 28 years,” he noted.
“Negotiations based on releasing killers have nothing to do with peace, or security, or morality, or truth,” Yogev warned.

PMW: Female terrorists Dalal Mughrabi, Wafa Idris, and others are role models for students, on PA TV


NGO Monitor: The EU's closed feedback loop

These same organizations work to undermine Israel's relations with the rest of the world. They want to force their agenda on the Israeli public. Any issue related to the conflict is oversimplified and used to vilify Israel. Under these absurd circumstances, senior European officials are fed unreliable, inaccurate and distorted information from organizations that they themselves fund (under the pretense that they represent Israeli "civil society"). On the basis of these falsehoods, they criticize Israel and make policy decisions that are disconnected from reality. It is a closed feedback loop that turns Europe's decision-making process into a failure. It prevents educated discussion and raises the question of whether it is appropriate for political NGOs and European governments to influence the Israeli and Palestinian publics.

Erasing Jewish Jerusalem from Apple maps

Although this city was developed after 1967, much of the land was bought by Jews in the 1930s. On the basis of Jordan's illegal occupation of this land during 1948-67 the 'international community' regards it as 'occupied territory' even though it did not belong to any state. Any rational person who has actually travelled through this and other Jewish areas of 'occupied Jerusalem' knows that this land will never be 'given up' under any 'peace agreement'. Yet, bizarrely, when I tried to navigate to Pisgat Zaev using the Apple iPad Maps application (not Google Maps) I discovered to my astonishment that not only does no such place exist but there is a completely empty space on the map where it is physically located. The same is true for all other Jewish areas of 'occupied East Jersusalem' such as Gilo; yet, far smaller Arab areas of East Jerusalem such as Silwan are on the app. The most bizarre omission of all is the completely empty space where the old city of Jerualem should be.

UN Watch: Noam Chomsky in Geneva with support of Swiss government

Chomsky’s lecture was entitled “USA, Iran, Israel and the Arab World: Where are we?” In his 35 min speech he only kept accusing “neocolonialist” Israel and its American backers. Only in the last minute did he say he worried about the situation in Syria and Egypt.
His talk was incoherent, using selective evidence, poorly-formulated arguments, distorting historical facts and with conspiracy theory undertones such as “the American media is hiding the truth from us.” Among his claims was that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and, if it does, it is for defensive purposes only. Also he thought the model of the Ottoman Empire is something we could use in the Middle East, forgetting that the Ottoman military was guaranteeing the stability of the empire.

Muslim Brotherhood: 120 Dead in 'Massacre'

Graphic video shows bodies at morgue, reportedly shot by security forces in weekend violence involving pro-Morsi rioters.
A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson, Ahmed Aref, said 66 people were killed, while another 61 are "clinically dead", and a further 4,500 people were injured. Of these, he claimed, 700 were wounded by live bullets.

Reports: Israel attacked another weapons convoy in Syria

Israel has attacked yet again, according to foreign reports, in Syria. Arab media outlets and websites affiliated with Syrian opposition forces reported on Saturday that Israeli fighter jets seen flying over Quneitra bombed a weapons convoy intended to reach Hezbollah.
It was also reported by Lebanese news outlet El-Nashra that Israeli jets bombed weapons warehouses at Syrian army outposts in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.

Pakistan may seek to trade hero Afridi for Al Qaeda-linked terrorist

Pakistan is preparing a proposal to swap the doctor who helped the CIA pinpoint Usama bin Laden for a notorious female neuroscientist and suspected Al Qaeda operative being held at a federal prison in Texas, FoxNews.com has learned.

Tom Jones to wrap up Israel’s ‘summer of nostalgia’

After hosting international stars like Barbra Streisand, Cliff Richard and the Pet Shop Boys, Israel will end its “summer of nostalgia” with a performance by ’70s heartthrob Tom Jones.
The Welsh “Sex Bomb” will be performing in Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena on October 26.

French and Israeli Scientists Use Stem Cells to Study Schizophrenia

Thanks to a simple human hair, French and Israeli scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding schizophrenia. French researchers at INSERM (the French equivalent of the British Medical Research Council) and an Israeli team from the Haifa Technion, have developed a new stem cell model in order to gain a better understanding of schizophrenia.

Will the Eastern Mediterranean become the next Persian Gulf?

The United States has for more than two decades taken Eastern Mediterranean maritime security for granted. The 1978 Camp David Accords ended the state of war between Egypt and Israel, and the fall of the Soviet Union diminished Moscow’s influence in the region. The triangular relationship between the United States, Israel, and Turkey also provided a foundation of stability. But with the recent discovery of vast oil and gas deposits in the region, the Eastern Mediterranean is in flux.
In 2010, the US Geological Survey estimated that the Eastern Mediterranean’s Levant Basin—which is surrounded by Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus—may hold up to 3,450 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil, putting it on par—at least when it comes to natural gas resources—with onshore lands and state waters off the Gulf Coast of the United States.

An Israeli Special Forces Soldier, An Arab Investor, A Religious Zionist -- And A Hot Start-Up Called Webydo

Webydo has removed software code developers and programmers from the picture – enabling professional graphic designers to create sites on the fly for ten times cheaper, and far faster.
Not only that, but the team that is doing this is a case study of what Israel’s “Start-up Nation” may look like in the years to come. Webydo is a collection of individuals that few might imagine joining hands on a venture — even inside a country that already boasts the most NASDAQ-listed companies per citizen. But the multi-cultural Israel – there are Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druse, Bedouin nomads, Bahai, Samaritans and so many others — has begun to fuse many of these groups into their modern economy. At Intel , for example, ultra-orthodox Jews (mainly women) now comprise 10% of its Jerusalem workforce, as FORBES reported this week. And high-tech collaborations between Israelis and Palestinians are increasing, as we also discovered and revealed.
At Webydo, one finds a microcosm of this new alchemy. (H/t EoZ)

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7/26 Links Part 2: A New Latma, Retaliation Against the EU and Like IDF Soldiers On FaceBook.

From Ian:

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Latma: Palestinian prisoners are concerned and Bibi's plan B


For Europe, Greed and Cowardice Trump Security and Justice

The EU’s willful blindness towards jihadist organizations, be they Sunni or Shia, is nothing new and seems to be motivated largely by greed. Buying Iranian oil and gas and selling Iran “dual use” products, which are sanctioned by the U.S., has always taken a priority over security. The Europeans accepted Hezbollah for more than 30 years. Only after last year’s bombing in Bulgaria, and a plot to assassinate Israeli and other diplomats in Cyprus, when the danger seemed closer to home, have they decided to send a message to the Iranian sponsored jihadi organization by designating Hezbollah’s “military wing” as terrorists.

'Ya'alon orders freeze in permits for EU projects in West Bank'

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon ordered the IDF’s civil administration to cease cooperation in joint projects with the EU, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
This means that the IDF will refuse to grant new permits or renew existing permits for EU construction projects in Area C, which is territory under Israeli civil and military control. It also will not issue or renew any documents that EU personnel might need for travel in the West Bank or into Gaza from Israel.
In addition, IDF offices in the West Bank, such as the civil administration and the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, will no longer hold work meetings with EU officials or personnel.

Israel announces plans for West Bank train network

Since the planned routes of the network extend throughout the West Bank, including into areas A and B, which are governed by the Palestinian Authority, construction cannot begin without Palestinian cooperation, a Transportation Ministry official told The Times of Israel Thursday.
Palestinian officials have refused to cooperate publicly with the proposal, but the official insisted that Palestinian Authority officials quietly acknowledge that the plans, if implemented, would bring enormous economic benefits to PA-controlled areas.
“They support keeping the lands available for the trains,” the official said.

Telegraph reporter lazily asserts that “settler” Jews violate Geneva Convention

Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria—the West Bank—since ancient times, and, in fact, the only time Jews have been prohibited from living in these territories in recent decades was during Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967.
Whilst reasonable people can of course disagree with Israeli settlement policy – in the context of efforts to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians – lazy assertions that such settlements are “illegal” at best has a questionable basis in international law, and should certainly not be presented as an incontrovertible fact by a serious newspaper.

800,000 missing Jews: Guardian ‘refugee’ history includes glaring omission.

It’s one thing to parrot the Palestinian narrative of the “Nakba”, but what the Guardian did was to completely erase from the historical record the well-documented (and completely undisputed) forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews.
The Guardian’s ideologically inspired animosity towards the Jewish state has crossed a line, and the paper’s editors need to be held accountable for such completely ahistorical propaganda.

Shot Dagestan rabbi in stable condition after flight to Israel

A Chabad rabbi shot by a suspected terrorist in Russia Thursday was in serious but stable condition after being flown to Israel for treatment.
Ovadia Isakov, 40, the chief rabbi of Derbent, in the Republic of Dagestan, was returning from performing ritual slaughter for kosher meat when a gunman opened fire on him. Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that Isakov’s overt Jewish identity “is among the possible motives investigators are considering for the attack.”

Christian Students Without ‘Obvious Self-Interest,’ Seek to Legitimize Israel on Campus

Founded in 2009, CUFI on Campus has 120 chapters and has trained 2,000 students to advocate for Israel, officials say. Some chapters, such as Mukha’s, draw only a handful of members, if that many. “What you want them to do is try to do events that are well attended,” Brog said.
Sometimes the lack of interest is due to apathy, both Bain and Brog say. “At a lot of Christian schools, Israel is not a value that’s taught; we’re trying to change that,” Brog said. At other schools, where anti-Israel sentiment might be strong, people are afraid to support Israel publicly. “Not a lot of students, Jewish or not, have the guts to do it.”
That the CUFI activists aren’t Jewish can give them credibility that Jewish students, who some assume automatically will defend Israel, don’t always have. People “may wonder ‘what is this black guy from a small town in Dayton, Ohio, doing supporting Israel?” Bain said. That can help legitimize his message, he said, “because I don’t have an obvious self-interest, other than the fact I love the Jewish people.”

Report: Al Jazeera Reporter in Violent Confrontation with D.C. Police

A reporter claiming to work for Al Jazeera was involved in a violent confrontation with Washington, D.C., police on Tuesday evening after he was ejected from a pro-Israel conference for surreptitiously videotaping attendees and events, according to eyewitnesses.
Reporters identified as Matthew Cassel and Micah Garen were ejected from the Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) annual D.C. gathering after they were caught infiltrating and clandestinely filming events closed to the press.

Global startups vie to learn in Tel Aviv

High-tech companies from 14 countries are taking part in the Start Tel Aviv international competition whose top prize includes learning the secrets of Israel’s startup ecosystem.
Start Tel Aviv is sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel Aviv Global & Tourism and Campus Tel Aviv, powered by Google.
One company from each of the participating countries – United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Latvia, India, China, Korea, Mexico,Sweden and Colombia – will win a five-day paid trip to Israel.

Bynet Expo: Israel’s best high-tech secret

For the past 10 years, Israeli high-tech icons and brothers Yehuda and Zohar Zisapel have brought their family of companies together for a showcase: the Bynet Expo in Tel Aviv.
Selling services and products for telecom, IT security, wireless mobility, finance, defense, computing and networking, the Zisapel brothers formed RAD Bynet Group in the 1970s. Last year, its 16 different companies — which together form the mother of all high-tech firms in Israel — saw more than $1 billion in sales.

Stand With Us: UN Turns to Israel for Advice on Including People With Disabilities in Society

Representatives from across the world including Estonia, Colombia, New Zealand, the Vatican - and even from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel - approached Judes to learn more from Beit Issie Shapiro and for cooperation in the field of disabilities. "Israel is a country with a wealth of talent and a big heart,” says Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor. “Beit Issie Shapiro shows all that can be accomplished with Israeli innovation, professionalism and leadership. We are very happy to have them as a partner at the United Nations, sharing their expertise to improve life for the 780 million people who live with disabilities around the world."

IDF Blog: Looking Back: IDF’s First Operation Against Hezbollah

In late June 1993, after an escalation in Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel's north, the IDF launched Operation Accountability. Although the IDF initially reacted with restraint, Hezbollah’s relentless attacks forced the military to act to protect Israel’s civilians.
On June 28, 1993 - exactly 20 years ago - the Hezbollah terrorist organization began firing rockets from Southern Lebanon onto Israel’s northern communities. The attacks injured Israeli civilians and brought normal life to a halt in northern Israel. Several days later, terrorists from Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine launched attacks on IDF outposts – killing five IDF soldiers.

Increasing number of Israeli Arabs signing up for national service

In recent weeks the activity of the forum to recruit Israeli Christians to the Israel Defense Forces has made headlines. Israeli Arab public figures, both Muslim and Christian, have spoken out against the increasing numbers of young Christians who are interested in enlisting and want to share the burden along with other minorities such as the Bedouin and Druze.

IDF Officer Makes Sure Muslims Can Get To Jerusalem for Ramadan

During holidays such as Ramadan and Christmas, the crossing becomes much busier. Open hours at the crossings are extended and many people are able to cross without a permit.
2nd Lt. Dotan is responsible for a team of 12 soldiers “Our goal and the IDF’s goal is to do the best job possible,” says Lt. Dotan, a 20-year-old who began her service in an Intelligence unit and eventually transferred to her current position at the Bethlehem crossing, where she decided to become an officer. “Even though we are required to carry weapons, we do not use them. Our role is simply to assist each person going through the crossing.”

IDF Soldiers Invite You to "Like" us on Facebook

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7/25 Links Part 1: Bulgaria Names Bombing Suspects, Kontorovich on EU Rules, Syria Kills 15 More Pals

From Ian:

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Eugene Kontorovich: What the EU rules are about – and what they are not

Nor is this about the Palestinians – the rules also bar funding of any organization connected to the Golan Heights. It is not clear which Syria the Europeans think Israel should surrender the entire Golan to, Assad or his Islamist foes, but this broad and unreasonable restriction has nothing to do with “the occupation.” It also has nothing to do with “settlements” in the West Bank; any Israeli institution with a presence in Eastern Jerusalem is blacklisted.
But most importantly, the EU policy is not about international law, which the guidelines repeatedly claim requires such action. Even if one thinks Israelis residing in the West Bank raises international law concerns, this has nothing to do with the new European rules.

‘Settlers’ Answer Kerry – in Washington

Samaria leaders established their own Foreign Ministry earlier this year after realizing that other groups were not going to take the lead in promoting Israeli communities in the region.
Its delegates met with more than 20 U.S. Senators and Members of Congress. “We opened a very crucial door to the world of the United States of America, to many Congressmen, many Senate members, who right now are willing to listen,” Shay Attias, Samaria’s Chairman of Foreign Affairs, told Arutz Sheva.

Netanyahu: We're Ready to Talk Peace Right Away

Speaking during a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Netanyahu said, “We both want to see peace between Israel and the Palestinians. I hope that soon we will be able to see the beginning of peace talks.
“Our team is ready – we've always been ready,” Netanyahu added. “And I want to thank Japan for its support for peace, specifically for the project called ‘The Corridor for Peace and Prosperity’ in the Jordan Rift. This is something that is a Japanese initiative that works together with Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority for the economic advancement of everyone and I think it shows that regional cooperation can work, that it can make a tangible difference.”

‘Peace Talks? The Mideast is Going Up in Flames’

Nobel Prize winner Professor Yisrael Aumann is baffled by the decision to return to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. It is obvious that peace talks with PA Chairman Abbas are meaningless, he told Arutz Sheva.
“This whole matter of diplomatic negotiations is absurd. The whole Middle East is going up in flames, there’s chaos in Syria, Egypt, and Iraq – and the Americans are only worried about us,” he said.

Bereaved Parents Horrified by Terrorist Release

“He was my heart,” his mother said. She has been thinking about her son “for twenty-three years, every day, every second,” she said.
Both parents expressed fury and consternation at the decision to free the murderers. The same men who killed Ronen and Lior in cold blood murdered two other men as well, Eliyahu noted, and they were supposed to serve four life terms.
“Nowhere else on earth do you see this, that a person who got four life sentences plus twenty years is released before completing a single life sentence,” he charged. “Why? Based on what?”

BBC guest ‘expert’ is ‘Veterans Today’, ‘Rense’ contributor

In addition to some aggressive anti-Americanism, Narwani peddles anti-Israel, pro Assad, pro-Iranian regime and pro-Hizballah rhetoric. As well as having blogged at the Huffington Post - until her pro-Assad stance apparently became too much - Narwani has written for the Guardian and the pro-Hizballah/pro-Assad Lebanese outlet Al Akhbar English.
She also appears to have something of an affinity with antisemitic conspiracy theorists, writing for the ‘Veterans Today‘ website – which has links, via its editor, to Iran’s Press TV – and its sister site ‘Veterans News Now’ (I won’t link to those sites: do a search), as well as – according to her Twitter account – recently appearing on Rense Radio.

Israel Angered by U.S. Leaks of Submarine Missile Attack on Syria

Israeli government officials voiced anger at U.S. press leaks traced to the Pentagon following the July 5 Israeli missile attack on the Syrian port of Latakia that destroyed a shipment of Russian-made anti-ship missiles, according to U.S. officials.
Senior Pentagon officials, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter who is currently visiting Israel, discussed the leaks during meetings with Israeli officials this week. The Israelis argued in private meetings and other exchanges that the disclosures could lead to Syrian counterattacks against Israel and should have been coordinated first with the Israeli government.

PMW: Fatah honors arch-terrorist by proudly listing 61 of his murders

Fatah glorifies terrorist Abdallah Barghouti as "brave prisoner" because he prepared the bombs for suicide terror attacks that:
- "killed 15 Zionists" at Sbarro restaurant
- "killed 11 Zionists" at Moment Café
- "killed 15 Zionists" at Sheffield Night Club
- "killed 9 Zionists" at Hebrew University
- "killed 11 Zionists" at the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall

Israel’s eastern front, the coming storm

Amid uncertainty on Israel’s eastern front, one thing will be certain if and when the king falls: Jordan’s next ruler will be a Palestinian.
Those who care for peace and Israel’s eastern borders should try to prepare for the coming storm and ride the freedom train to help put the right engineer in the front carriage.
The clock is ticking.

US delays delivery of F-16s to Egypt

The delay was the first direct action the US has taken since the Egyptian military ousted Morsi and installed a new civilian government. Under US law, military aid to a country that underwent a coup d’etat must be suspended. But the Obama administration says it is still trying to determine if what happened three weeks ago in Egypt was in fact a coup. Egypt is a key ally in the Middle East and the administration is reluctant to cut off the $1.3 billion aid package it sends to Cairo every year.

Egypt: Arrest Warrants Against Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday for nine Muslim Brotherhood officials in Egypt, including leader Mohammed Badie, CNN reported, citing Egypt's official news agency.
General prosecutor Hisham Barakat ordered the leaders' arrests for "ordering armed groups to cut off highways and threaten violence in the city of Qalyub, spreading violence and damaging public interest," the MENA news agency reported.

Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls For U.S. Embassy Siege in Cairo

American diplomats could find themselves in the Muslim Brotherhood’s crosshairs now that Essam el-Erian, the Vice President of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, has called on protesters to besiege the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
El-Erian blames the U.S. government for the Egyptian military’s July 3 decision to overthrow President Mohammed Morsi. American policies have been roundly criticized by both pro- and anti-Morsi forces in the days since Morsi was deposed.

Three Egyptian militants killed by their own bomb, security source says

Three militants were killed on Wednesday in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula when their car bomb went off before they arrived to their intended targets, a security official said.

Bulgaria names 2 suspects in Burgas bus bombing

The Bulgarian authorities have released the names of two people believed to be involved in the Burgas bus bomb terrorist attack last year that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver according to the Bulgarian news agency Focus.
The two were identified as 32-year-old Australian citizen Meliad Farah, also known as Hussein Hussein, and 25-year old Canadian Citizen Hassan El Hajj Hassan.

No, Hezbollah Isn’t a “Stabilizing” Force

Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of Bashar al-Assad, and the West’s desire to see the fall of the house of Assad convinced both the EU and the U.S. to take steps toward that end. But in an essay at Foreign Policy’s website, RAND analyst Julie Taylor makes an unconventional–and, in the end, terribly unconvincing–argument: leave Hezbollah alone, because you won’t like them when they’re angry. Taylor’s case rests on the idea that Hezbollah is showing restraint and maintaining a precarious, mostly nonviolent, state of affairs within Lebanon. Push them too far, and they’ll be tempted to show their strength, Hezbollah-style:

Hezbollah burying hundreds of its fighters in Syria, rebels claim

Hezbollah has buried hundreds of its fighters in mass graves in Syria to avoid a backlash from the victims’ families and maintain high morale among its combatants, Syrian oppositionists claimed on Wednesday.

Syrian Rebels Ambush, Trap, Shell 50 Truck Hezbollah Convoy (VIDEO)

The video shows rebel forces firing rocket launchers and tank mortars from a hilltop at the convoy, which, according to the rebels, was headed to reinforce Hezbollah legions on the civil war’s front lines.
The convoy included fuel and ammunition trucks, and, if at capacity, up to 500 Hezbollah soldiers.

Activists: Syria government rocket attack kills 15 Palestinian refugees

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad killed at least 15 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in a rocket attack on a rebel-held refugee camp on the southern edge of Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said.
Palestinian militia from the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) as well as Syrian army and intelligence troops have been surrounding the camp for months.

Russia to Offer Iran an Air Defense System

Vladimir Putin is a nice guy. If you make a deal to buy a Russian air defense system–like Syria did–he will keep his promise to get the system delivered, even if the entire world begs him not to.
Or if your country is facing crippling sanctions because it’s building an illicit nuclear program that the international community vehemently opposes–like Iran is–don’t worry, Putin will come visit and lend a hand in reviving the fruitless negotiations over the program. And, for the right price, Putin will even sell you a sophisticated air defense system…you know…for good luck.

Turkey: Israeli Compensation for Marmara Victims Not Enough

On Wednesday, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said that his country will not be satisfied with Israel simply paying compensation to the Marmara victims. The Jewish state, he said, must acknowledge that the money it is paying to the victims is a result of its committing a wrongful act.

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Hizballah reacts to being labeled "terrorist" by acting like - terrorists

From Hizballah's Al Manar (English):

Hezbollah expressed in a statement issued Monday evening firm rejection of the European Union’s decision to put its military wing on the list of terrorism, and considered it as “aggressive, unjust decision written with Zionist ink.”

Hezbollah saw in the EU bowing to pressures of the US administration and the Zionist entity as a serious turnover in its compliance to the White House dictates. “It looks as if the decision was written by American hands with Zionist ink and the EU had only to put its seal for approval,” Hezbollah’s statement said.

“If the EU countries think they are booking its locations in our Arab and Islamic countries by submitting to the logic of U.S. blackmailing, we assure them that Washington had made similar decision and gained only further failures and disappointments,” the statement ended up saying.

Hmmm...what do you think they are talking about, as far as the US getting physically involved in the region and then suffering "failures and disappointements"?

It sounds to me like Hizballah is bragging about the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 300 people.

So peaceful!

In its Arabic site, Hizballah reports on statements from many of its Lebanese allies complaining about the EU decision. The Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (of Lebanon!) states that the EU decision "is a behavior that encourages terrorism against free peoples," and called on "the sons of our people to further rally around the resistance and its weapons as the only option available to our people for liberation and the splendor and dignity."

MP Michel Aoun took a different tack - essentially admitting Hezbollah terrorism and justifying it. He said "the EU decision is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, which provides for the right of peoples to liberate its land occupied by all means available." He added "all the peoples of Europe had practiced at some point resistance to liberate their lands from occupation," essentially equating Hizballah terrorism to, say, World War II.

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Nasrallah makes his case against EU blacklisting Hezbollah; insists Israel wants to invade Lebanon (update)

Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a little-noticed speech Friday night in which he not only asserted that Hezbollah is protecting Lebanon against Israel's unending expansionism, but also that the EU cannot separate Hizballah's "military wing" from the good people of Lebanon itself. This was a clear attempt to counter the possibility that the EU might declare Hezballah's military wing ("resistance")  to be a terror organization today.

Sayyed Nasrallah wondered if someone believed that Lebanon was no longer exposed to Israel threats, stressing that if someone believed so, this would be a "misfortune", as Israel's greediness has no end.

His eminence reassured that whoever tried to break or isolate the resistance has failed in achieving that, because this resistance is not an organization or a party, but a public determination which is ready for sacrifices.

"The noble people in this country have invested in the resistance with their most precious and loved ones, with their children and blood, hence, this resistance is not a faction that you can siege or isolate," he added.

Hezbollah Secretary General stated that the resistance is capable of overcoming all the difficulties, as the enemy is reviewing all its plans and calculations after what happened in the last couple of months.

He indicated that "in any coming war, the enemy's eye will be on Galilee before Beirut… and from now on, no one can assault Lebanon without paying a price."

Sayyed Nasrallah considered that what the resistance has been exposed to was the result of its victories against the Zionist entity.

"The resistance, which triumphed in 1982, 2000, and 2006, was able to destroy the 'New Middle East' project. Hence, it was natural to be targeted. In addition to the military confrontation with the enemy, we were being targeted on the military, security, cultural, and social levels," he added, pointing out that "when the resistance does not get targeted, this means it is ineffective and the enemy does not fear it."

The Lebanese are increasingly sick of Hizballah in light of its dragging the nation into the Syrian mess, and this speech exposes far more about Nasrallahs' fears than about Israel's, by not even addressing Syria and acting like just another Arab despot - by blaming Israel for all problems.

One consequence of the recent upheavals in the Arab world is that the people are no longer buying it. Nasrallah won't be taken down by Israel, but by the Lebanese people he is pretending are on his side.

UPDATE: Despite these efforts, the EU is declaring Hizballah's "military wing" to be a terrorist group.

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EU to decide Monday whether to blacklist (half of) Hizballah

From Now Lebanon:

European Union foreign ministers are set to decide Monday whether or not to add the military wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah to its black list of terrorist groups, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

A meeting of EU ambassadors broke up with no agreement on adding the powerful Shiite militia to the list as "a small number of member states" remained opposed, said an EU diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Ministers will discuss the issue on Monday," said the source, referring to scheduled talks in Brussels between the bloc's 28 foreign ministers.

Unanimity is required to add the Lebanese group to the dozen people and score of groups currently subject to an EU asset freeze -- including Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Colombia's FARC guerrillas.

Another diplomatic source told AFP that Ireland and Malta were holding out but that Austria appeared to have dropped objections to the push led by Britain, France and the Netherlands. The positions of the Czech Republic, which has changed government, and Slovakia were unclear.

"We are near a consensus," the source said.

This next sentence is telling:

Several countries have objected that it is difficult to separate Hezbollah's military and political wing, which is in government. They also fear destabilizing politically fragile Lebanon as the Syrian crisis across its border deteriorates.

Got that? Since it is obvious that Hezbollah is fully a terrorist organization, and that the distinction between "military" and "political" wings is nonsense, they are using that as a reason not to ban a terror group

Meanwhile, Lebanon is formally asking the EU not to place Hizballah on the terror list.

Lebanon President Michel Suleiman tasked caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to Ask the European Union not to name the Shiite militant Hezbollah group a terrorist organization.

The presidency described Hezbollah as “one of the main components of the Lebanese society.”

On Wednesday, Al-Arabiya reported that the EU is leaning towards “unanimously” approving putting the military wing of the Lebanese Shiite party on the international terrorist list , a move it has long avoided despite U.S pressure.

The move was bolstered by Germany’s policy change after long resisting calls to list Hezbollah for fear it could destabilize Lebanon.

Germany said it was pushed toward declaring Hezbollah a terror group by the 2012 attack in the Black Sea resort of Burgas in Bulgaria.

On Wednesday, Bulgaria’s interior minister said new evidence has bolstered its case implicating Hezbollah in the bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists, the bus driver and alleged attacker.

Now Lebanon has an excellent interactive web series that shows in detail Hizballah's terror activities worldwide.

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Hizballah under pressure from its own people to quit Syria

From Asharq Al Awsat:

Mounting casualties among Hezbollah fighters in the fighting in Syria has led some Lebanese supporters of the organization to petition its leaders to scale back its involvement in the Syrian conflict.

A source with knowledge of the petions, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said that the increasing numbers of Hezbollah soldiers killed in Syria, including some senior commanders, has raised concerns among the Lebanese Shi’ites, prompting some of them, especially residents of Ba’albak, to visit Hezbollah Shura member, Mohamed Yazbek, demanding a halt on deployments of their men to Syria.

The source added that the residents stressed during the meeting that their children had fought the Israelis in 2006 and other wars between the party and Israel, in response to the call for resistance against Israel.

However, they said their men’s participation in the fight against the Syrian people, in defense of the Syrian government, was shameful and that it was unacceptable to embroil their men in a war in which they had no interest at all.

The source further added that Hezbollah was going through difficulties because it could not withdraw from fighting alongside the Syrian government, especially at this time.

This has prompted leading figures within Hezbollah to hold high-level meetings, to discuss the issue and agree on a delegation to be sent to Iran, in order to explain the difficulties faced by the party in the fighting in Syria, and explain to the Iranian leadership that the party was no longer able to bear the burden of supporting the Syrian government alone by sending fighters from Lebanon, and that Iran had to send more Iranian fighters than it did before.

The source said the numbers of Hezbollah fighters participating in the fight alongside the Syrian government had increased noticeably. Following Hezbollah leader’s visit to Tehran and Damascus three months ago, more than 20 units were sent to Syria from the Bekaa by Hezbollah, each battalion consisting of approximately 100 men.

Its always tempting to joke that things never change in the Middle East, but the sea change in attitudes against both the Islamists in Egypt and those in Lebanon - even for different reasons - is quite remarkable.

(h/t Yoel)

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While Europe dawdles, Gulf states discuss sanctions against Hizballah

The Daily Star (Lebanon) Monday reported on Monday:

The European Union is unlikely to make a decision on blacklisting Hezbollah for “a least five [or] six months,” Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development Cooperation Lapo Pistelli said Wednesday. Pistelli spoke to The Daily Star as he rounded out a three-day visit to the country with a brief tour of the National Museum, which included sneak peeks at a selection of exhibits not yet on public display.

The deputy minister listed the debate between member states over evidence of Hezbollah’s involvement in a terror attack in Bulgaria in July 2012 as one of the main reasons he believed the organization, or part of it, would not be added to the bloc’s terror list in the immediate future.

“At the preliminary discussion in Brussels [earlier this month] there were some arguments raised by the Bulgarian government and the Cypriots about the proofs and evidences [pertaining to] blacklisting the organization ... so it seems to me this decision will require time,” Pistelli said.

The EU has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. and some of its members to add Hezbollah, or at least its military wing, to its terror list.

Pistelli described this debate as “very sensitive,” and was clear that, regardless of discussions in Europe, Hezbollah is a very “relevant player” in Lebanon and could not be excluded from a “real national unity government.”

More details on the opposition within Europe to declaring Hizballah a terrorist organization can be seen here.

While Europe effectively legalizes the terrorist organization, the Gulf Arabs in the region are moving forward with sanctioning it:

Senior Gulf Cooperation Council officials met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement over its support for the Syria regime.

The meeting was “to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hezbollah,” said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi.

The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group’s armed intervention in Syria.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Of course, it isn't that the Gulf countries are suddenly more sensitive to terror than Europe. They would never sanction Hamas or any other Palestinian terror group.  It is that they are Sunni and they hate Shiites, represented by Hizballah, and the organization's adventurism in Syria is giving them the excuse they want to sanction it.

Even so, it is jarring to see Muslims in the forefront of taking actions against other Muslims while Europeans can't figure out what to do.

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By the way, a low level war has erupted in Lebanon (video)

Clashes broke out in in Abra, east of the southern Lebanon city of Sidon on Sunday, claiming the lives of at least five army soldiers and stoking fears that violence triggered by the war in Syria will increasingly engulf its smaller neighbor.

Two gunmen loyal to an anti-Hezbollah sheikh were also killed in the clashes , security sources said, in an act the Army deemed as a cold-blooded attack on the military which called for an “iron fist” approach to deter further aggression.
The army said the fighting began when supporters of Shiekh Ahmed Assir, an outspoken Sidon cleric, launched a surprise attack on one of its checkpoints in the Abra neighborhood of the city, 25 miles south of the capital. Lebanese television said that the army had earlier arrested several of his supporters.

“What happened today in Sidon went beyond all expectations,” the army said in a statement. “The army was targeted in a cold blooded and deliberate attack.”

Assir, known for his tirades against Iran-backed Hezbollah’s influence over the Lebanese state and army, posted a video online Sunday calling for Sunni soldiers to defect from the army, which he lambasted as “Iranian and Shiite”.

“To all our partisans, we are being attacked by the Lebanese Army, which is Iranian and Shiite,” Assir said in the video. He claimed the Army belonged to the “shabiha [thugs]” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Amal Movement.

Here is some of Sunday afternoon's fighting in Sidon:


Also in Lebanon:

Initial investigations have determined that the only forces that possess 122mm Grad rockets that were discovered in Ballouneh in Lebanon’s Kesrouan region on Friday are Hezbullah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command PFLP-GC informed sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) according to a report by An Nahar newspaper.
Both Hezbollah and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) are staunch allies of the Syrian regime of president Bashar Al Assad

An Nahar reported that the investigations are currently focusing on how the rockets and their launch pads were placed in the region and what their target was.

Sources told the daily that the incident was aimed at intimidation and creating confusion in Lebanon.

This is in addition to the fighting that has been going on for months in Tripoli between Shiites and Sunnis, and the rockets that have been fired from Syria towards Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, or Syrian Army forays into Sunni areas of Lebanon.

You just know the Zionists are behind it. After all, if you ask the Shiites, they would tell you the Sunnis are Zionist, and if you ask the Sunnis, they would insist the Shiites are Zionist (or, sometimes, even Jews.)

They can't both be wrong!

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Nasrallah visited Qusair, Syria more than once

Ali Hashem, writer for Al-Monitor, is a very pro-Assad journalist (and former BBC reporter) who also writes now for Hizballah's Al Mayadeen.

His latest article is interesting - especially for those who want to see Hassan Nasrallah dead:

In the center of the city, I stood in the middle of the main road as a huge, black four-wheel-drive came my way.

I stared at the man sitting beside the driver: The face was familiar, but something was missing. It was clear I was face to face with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, without a turban, wearing a military uniform. He smiled and nodded to me, and while I was still in shock, the car was out of sight. There was no convoy, only one car, but as I said before, there were security measures taken in the city and around.

It took me some time to confirm that whom I saw was Nasrallah. When I returned to Beirut, I started my investigations to confirm it and I did.

While investigating, I came across another piece of information: that this visit wasn’t the first for Nasrallah to Qusair during this very crisis. “Sayyed Nasrallah went to Qusair a day before the start of the battle: He met the commanders, visited some injured fighters and gave a speech,” a source close to Hezbollah told me, “He spoke for around half an hour with his main commanders exchanging ideas on the battle and the expectations and how many days it’ll take them to finish it.”

As for the latest visit, the one day after the offensive, our source said that Nasrallah visited the city of Qusair and the towns around it in the country side. He added, “Sayyed Nasrallah wanted to thank the fighters personally, he met them, met the injured, and went around the area.”

I asked the source how Nasrallah is able to move from Beirut to Qusair in Syria and sometimes travel to Iran while Israel is saying that he is hiding.

“It’s a hide-and-seek game,” he replied, “Nasrallah's security apparatus is professional enough to know when to move and how. No one knows what they do and what their measure are, we only know when things are done.”

Nasrallah’s visit to Qusair shows once again that the group’s fight in Syria isn’t a matter of interests, it’s a matter of existence.

Looks like the IDF needs to beef up its intelligence; Nasrallah's peeking out of his hole is too good a target to ignore, and hitting him in Syria (or getting any Sunni Arab to do it) would probably be much less problematic politically than taking him out in Lebanon.

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EU chickens out, won't label Hizballah as terrorist

From Naharnet:

Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avigdor Lieberman slammed the European Union on Monday for failing to label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

He labeled the move as “ultimate hypocrisy."

Israeli media quoted Lieberman as saying that Israel must convey to the EU that failure to blacklist Hizbullah in an upcoming discussion on the topic in two weeks "will make the EU irrelevant to us."

Last week, several EU governments expressed concern that a British request to add Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations would increase instability in the Middle East.

At a meeting in Brussels, the governments also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence to link Hizbullah to an attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
s
Britain has argued that Hizbullah should face EU sanctions over its alleged role in the bus bombing in the resort of Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.

Maariv adds that although Bulgaria's investigation in the Burgas bombing concluded that Hizballah was behind it, the new socialist Bulgarian government does not want to stand behind the report. Furthermore, it says that Bulgaria was actually the force behind the move, as it fears that accurately labeling Hizballah as terrorist would hurt Lebanese/EU relations.

This means that Gulf Arabs are more willing to label Hizballah to be a terror group than Europeans. While this is more a function of the extreme hatred that Sunnis have for Shiites, it is still astonishing that the EU is coddling a group whose ties to terror are impossible to ignore - and that Muslims who cheered 9/11 are more hawkish on Hezbollah terror than Europeans are.

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Saudi paper blasts Hezbollah as "ruthless terrorist organization"

It is truly scary when Gulf Arabs have a better sense of how to characterize Hezbollah than Europeans do.

This op-ed from the Saudi Gazette last week is perhaps a tad overly optimistic, but at least it gets one thing right:

THERE will be those who wonder why the GCC did not declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization long ago. Hezbollah rode high in the opinion of some after it threw back the 2006 Israeli assault on southern Lebanon. However, the reality has always been that this is a group that is entirely preoccupied with its own agenda and has no interest in promoting the unity and reconstruction of Lebanon.

Indeed, in order to protect its mini-state within the country, the Hezbollah leadership has been prepared to act as an agent for Iran and its Syrian ally Bashar Al-Assad. In return for dancing to Tehran’s tune and seeking to carry out the disruptive interventions desired by the Iranian leadership, its militiamen have been armed and trained and the movement as a whole has seen many millions of Iranian dollars poured into its coffers.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah may, however, have now overreached himself. Some wonder if he has not become a victim of his own propaganda about a militant and victorious organization and really believes that his forces are actually capable of turning the tide of defeat that is engulfing the Assad regime. Not only this, but he clearly had little idea of how, by throwing in its lot with the hated Assad, Hezbollah would unmask itself in the Arab world as an Iranian cipher. Even the leadership of Hamas, with which Hezbollah once had close relations, recoiled in disgust when it threw in its lot with the Assad dictatorship.

In recognizing that Hezbollah, for all its attempts to portray itself as a responsible political movement, is in fact simply a terror group, the GCC member states have taken a bold and decisive step. No longer will Hezbollah be able to present itself convincingly as a champion of any Arab cause. No longer will it be able to pretend that its men are dying for the rest of the Arab world.

Indeed, by rushing to fight alongside Assad’s faltering army and Shabiha militiamen, this terror group has allied itself with a government that has sought and failed to terrorize its own people into obedience.

It must be wondered if some Hezbollah leaders do not already appreciate the considerable risks of rushing to the aid of a doomed regime. Once Assad is gone, there will be no easy supply line to Hezbollah-occupied areas of Lebanon. Nasrallah might have argued that it was for this very reason, plus the need to keep Iranian support, that its commanders simply had to send young Lebanese to Syria to fight and die alongside Assad’s forces. But it will prove to be a desperate move.

When Syria is free, Hezbollah will be alone and isolated in its south Lebanon territory. Its murderous and malign influence in the country will be challenged by moderate Lebanese, who are fed up with its strutting thugs and the obstruction of its leaders in the country’s delicate political process. The time is past when the Hezbollah leadership can pose as a champion of the Arab cause. Thanks to its slavish support for Iran and Syria, it has actually defined itself as an enemy of the Arab world in general and the Palestinian cause in particular.

Hezbollah needs to be seen for the ruthless terrorist organization that it really is and the GCC’s decision to call it such is surely a crucial nail in the terror group’s coffin.

(h/t Arsen)

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Nigeria catches Hizballah terrorists

From BBC:

An armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been discovered in northern
Nigeria, the West African nation's army and spy agency has said.

Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested, an army spokesman, Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba, said.

The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said.

Nigeria's State Security Service said they were intended for use against "Israeli and Western interests".

"This is the handwork of Hezbollah," Bassey Ettang, director of the State Security Service in Kano said.

"What has just been discovered is a cell of Hezbollah and what you have seen here is a Hezbollah armoury," he told journalists in Kano on Thursday.

Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba said 11 anti-tank weapons, four anti-tank mines, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and 21 RPG missiles, 17 AK-47s, two sub-machine guns and 76 grenades had been amongst the weapons found.

The Lebanese owner of the warehouse where "the weapons of mass destruction" had been stored in sawdust was out of the country, he said.

Which makes one wonder - how much more proof does any country need to declare Hizballah a terror organization?

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Report :Saudi businessman offers $10 million to kill Nasrallah

Assabeel and other Arabic media are reporting that a wealthy Saudi businessman has offered $10 million to anyone who killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Abdullah Mohammed Al Anzi, who is a supporter and financier of the Syrian rebels, has already reportedly donated some 30 million Saudi rials to the rebels. The reports say that Anzi offered the bounty for Nasrallah's head, and will even pay up if the killer is a Shiite.

I don't know if he would pay the IDF for assassinating Nasrallah. Some things are beyond the pale, after all.

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Nasrallah 1988 video: "Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic"

In light of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech on Saturday where he said he group will do whatever it takes to save Basahr Assad's regime, his opponents have released a MEMRI video showing Nasrallah's real goals:

A video in which Hassan Nasrallah spoke about his dream goal in Lebanon before he became Hezbollah leader is being circulated again on social media following a speech on Saturday in which he officially admitted engagement in the Syrian civil war.

The video being circulated online reportedly dates back to 1988 and shows a younger Nasrallah saying: “Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state under the rule of Islam.”

“Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler, Imam Khomeini,” he said.

MEMRI's full text:

Hassan Nasrallah: What is the nature of the regime that Hizbullah wants for Lebanon at present, in light of the state of the country and the numerous sects? The preceding lectures have answered this question. Right now, we do not have a plan for a regime in Lebanon. We believe that we should remove the colonialism and the Israeli [occupation], and only then can a plan be implemented.

Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state under the rule of Islam. Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler, Imam Khomeini.
[...]
[I was asked] about Hizbullah's relations with Iran and with the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. As far as we are concerned, these relations... I am one of the people working for Hizbullah and its active apparatuses. I would not have remained for a single moment in any apparatus of Hizbullah if I were not absolutely convinced that these apparatuses are connected, through a certain hierarchy, to the Jurisprudent Ruler and Leader, whose decisions are binding.

As far as we are concerned, this is axiomatic. Diplomatic and political statements are not what is important in this case. Ayatollah Karroubi cannot simply admit: Yes, Hizbullah are our people in Lebanon. This is inconceivable, both politically and media-wise. Our essential and organic relation with the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Rule of the Jurisprudent is axiomatic, as far as we are concerned.

We belong to this path, we make sacrifices for its sake, and we expose ourselves to dangers, because we are convinced that the blood we shed flows for the sake of the Rule of the Jurisprudent.
[...]
Should the Jurisprudent Ruler be the one to appoint the leaders, and bestow legitimacy upon them, in all Muslim countries? Yes, because his jurisprudence is not limited by geographical boundaries. It extends to wherever Muslims may be.

Of course, Hamas shares that exact same goal of "Palestine" being part of an Islamic 'ummah and not an independent state except as a stage. The only difference is whether this pan-Muslim state would be Shi'ite or Sunni.

No one seems too bothered by Hamas' identical hypocrisy, though. From their charter:

As for the objectives: They are the fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail, homelands be retrieved and from its mosques would the voice of the mu'azen emerge declaring the establishment of the state of Islam, so that people and things would return each to their right places and Allah is our helper.

(Note to MEMRI: Please don't flag me on YouTube for uploading your video that is already pirated by Al Arabiya. We're on the same side, and I will happily encourage my readers to donate to you. )

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Hezbollah lashing out in Syria but feeling squeezed at home and in Europe

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech on Saturday where he, for the first time, admitted that Hezbollah is all-in to keep Bashar assad in power:

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday vowed "victory" in Syria, where militants of his powerful Lebanese Shiite movement are fighting alongside regular troops against rebels trying to topple the regime.

"I say to all the honorable people, to the mujahedin, to the heroes: I have always promised you a victory and now I pledge to you a new one" in Syria, he said at a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's military withdrawal from Lebanon.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah would always stand by its allies in the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, stressing that its own interests were at stake.

"We will continue along the road... bear the responsibilities and the sacrifices," he said in a video-link of a speech delivered live on a huge screen.

"This battle is ours... and I promise you victory," he said.

"Syria is the rear guard of the resistance (Hezbollah's fight with Israel), its backbone, and the resistance cannot stay with its arms folded when its rear guard is exposed.

"We are idiots if we do not act," said Nasrallah who avoids appearing in public for security reasons.

He is bizarrely trying to justify this by playing the Israel card, one that the Arab public is increasingly sick of:

In a televised speech marking the 13th anniversary of the Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon, Nasrallah also said that "if Syria falls, so will Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. We will enter a very dark phase."

He also spoke about Israeli preparations for a possible conflict with Hezbollah and said that Israel formed a new government portfolio dedicated to protecting the home front. "In Israel everything is geared up for a conflict year round and all year they hold maneuvers. Israel fears rockets, because we have no air force. The Israelis built towns along its borders. They are bringing in Jews from Ethiopia, Romania, and Argentina, and placing them by our borders and providing them with money and arms. On our side of the border, our towns are nearly empty."

Nasrallah did not present the fighting as a conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but rather as one waged between heathens serving a Western Zionist agenda and the Syrian resistance that refuses to accept the dictates of the West.
Nasrallah unequivocally stressed that the fall of the Syrian regime would be a blow to the "resistance." "Syria is the backbone of the 'resistance,' that cannot sit still and wait while its backbone is being broken," he said. "If Syria falls in the hands of the Americans and the Israelis and the American representatives in the region, the 'resistance' will be isolated and Israel will enter Lebanon and force its laws upon it. Lebanon will return to the Israeli era."

In his speech, Nasrallah tied the U.S. and Israel to Jihadist organizations working under the aegis of al-Qaida in Syria: "These combatants coming from many countries received many allowances to leave their countries and arrive at Syria, this is the American method of destabilizing Syria from the inside, using these organizations that brand everyone is heathens, those organizations that had killed more Sunni Muslims than anyone else. An example of this is what is happening in Iraq, Pakistan, and Somalia. We think that the armed forces taking over Syria are a great danger to Lebanon and all the Lebanese, not only Hezbollah or the Lebanese Shiites."

Lebanon's majority non-Shi'ite population is not happy at being dragged into a war they have nothing to do with:

Al-Mustaqbal Party leader Saad Hariri stated on Saturday that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is demanding the recognition of the “State of Hizbullah," considering that the resistance has announced its “suicide" in the Syrian border town of al-Qusayr.

“You have announced yourself the end of the resistance on Liberation's Day,” Hariri addressed Nasrallah in a released statement in which he responded to Hizbullah leader's speech in the commemoration of the liberation of the South earlier on Saturday.

“You have announced the resistance's political and military suicide in al-Qusayr.”

Hariri accused Nasrallah of releasing a Fatwa that calls on the Lebanese to get involved in a war on Syrian territories.

“Your speech has no value to us, to most Lebanese and definitely to the Syrian people in all political, national, ethical, legal, religious and human measures.”

The opposition to Hezbollah's Syrian adventure was apparent this morning, as a group fired rockets at Hezbollah positions in Lebanon itself:

Rockets slammed into a Hezbollah stronghold outside Beirut, injuring at least four people, hours after the Lebanese militant group’s leader declared he could mobilize thousands of fighters to help Syria’s rulers beat an insurgency.

As many as three rockets hit a southern suburb of Beirut this morning, damaging homes, Al Jazeera satellite TV said, showing shrapnel-damaged walls and cars. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called the spillover from Syria’s civil war an act of “terrorist saboteurs” who do not want peace and stability for Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah's willingness to bet Lebanon on Assad has pushed some European states to declare it a terror group:
At the beginning of this week, the United Kingdom submitted an official request to the European Union to list Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization. The move was shortly followed by supportive statements from both France and Germany.

"Given the decisions that Hezbollah has taken and the fact that it has fought extremely hard against the Syrian population, I confirm that France will propose to place Hezbollah's military wing on the list of terrorist organizations," French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday after the Friends of Syria meeting in Amman.

The move from the EU Troika also comes almost a year after a suicide attack attributed to Hezbollah left 6 dead in the Bulgarian sea side resort town of Burgas in July 2012. At the same time that the Bulgarian investigation into the Burgas attack was underway, Cyprus was dealing with the case of Taleb Hussam Yacoub, a Swedish-Lebanese national who admitted in court that he had been recruited by Hezbollah. The young man described his role as a courier in several European capitals, as well as his surveillance missions on Israeli tourists in Cyprus and Turkey. However, it was Hezbollah's involvement in Syria and its increasing evidence of support to Bashar al-Assad's regime that made France and Germany abandon their hesitation, analysts say.

Now Lebanon has a scorecard of Hezbollah's diminishing clout as a legitimate player in Europe:

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18 more dead Hezbollah fighters in Syria as pressure mounts in Lebanon

Hezbollah might be good at shooting rockets while hiding underground, but they seem to be not nearly as good at fighting against a ragtag rebel force:

The Free Syrian Army has reportedly killed 18 Hezbollah fighters in the Western city of Qusayr, activists at the Syrian Revolution General Commission reported on Tuesday.

The fighters were allegedly killed in a battle between the Syrian rebels and the Hezbollah fighters.

Elite fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, are leading the fight against rebels in the region of Qusayr in the central province of Homs, a watchdog said on Monday.

“It’s Hezbollah that is leading the battle in Qusayr, with its elite forces,” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

On Sunday, the main opposition National Coalition urged Hezbollah to “immediately withdraw its forces from Syrian territory”, adding its involvement in Syria’s conflict “could drag Lebanon and the region into an open-ended conflict with disastrous consequences.”

Other reports have the Syrian army making gains in the Qusayr area, however.

Also:

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri described Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria as a crime against Lebanon Tuesday while rejecting recent calls for Jihad by Salafi sheikhs against the resistance group.

"Hezbollah’s involvement in the fight in Syria is an involvement in defense of the Syrian regime, regardless of the sectarian or factional excuses that the party is putting forth to justify this crime. [This will] drag Lebanon into a fire that Bashar Assad has warned of,” Hariri said in a statement.

Both Hezbollah and its Lebanese opponents seem to be inexorably widening the conflict to Lebanon:

"What Hezbollah is doing with regard to this issue is a national and moral duty in the defense of the Lebanese in border villages," Lebanon's official news agency quoted senior Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nabil Qaouq as saying on Monday.

"To those who ask us to allow our brothers in these border villages to be victims of murders, kidnaps, massacres and expulsions, I respond to you: 'Can we leave these Lebanese hostage to this situation?" he added.

"Hezbollah's martyrs are the martyrs of the entire nation because they are defending their Lebanese compatriots," he said at a ceremony marking a week since the death of a Hezbollah fighter killed in Syria.

Meanwhile, Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir late Monday urged Muslims and the Lebanese people to fight alongside the rebels in Syria and announced the formation of the “Free Resistance Brigades.”

“Jihad in Syria is a must – especially in Al-Qusayr – for all those Lebanese who can,” Assir said during a press conference on Monday.

He also called for the creation of “secret armed groups for self-defense in case [Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah decides to start killing in Lebanon as he is doing in Syria.”

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