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Tag: Lebanon (page 1 of 11)

Israel Offers Assistance to Syrian Civilians

March 13, 2012 / / 0 Comments

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs approached the Red Cross and offered to send assistance to the Syrian people. Lieberman: “The Jewish nation cannot sit by and do nothing while citizens of our neighboring country are being slaughtered”.

As the Syrian people flee Syria by the thousands and make their way to Lebanon, Israel’s foreign affairs minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that Israel is willing to send humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. Under Lieberman’s orders, Evyatar Manor, CEO of international organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approached the Red Cross and suggested that Israel will send the assistance. Red Cross representatives in Israel replied that they will examine the Syrian people’s needs and will inform Jerusalem with the requirements forth with.

Lieberman said in regards to the humanitarian assistance:

“the Jewish nation cannot sit by and do nothing while our neighbor country is being slaughtered and people are losing their world. We cannot interfere due to lack of diplomatic relations, but we will at least offer our hand with humanitarian assistance as it is our moral duty to awaken the world and stop the massacre”.

Earlier this week official representatives of the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that approximately 1,000 to 2,000 Syrian refugees fled Syria and are now making their way to Lebanon. The report is consistent with other reports that reached news agencies earlier this morning. According to which, refugees are fleeing Syria by foot from the town of Qusair that has been bombard under the orders of President Assad, the refugees mainly consist of women and children.

Eye witnesses report the shelling began suddenly and that they had to flee their homes immediately. The Syrian army has been reported to bombard rebel camps all over Syria. The number of refugees is predicted to rise unless serious action will be taken to stop this genocide.

Lebanese Canadian Bank Hezbollah Connection

December 14, 2011 / / 1 Comment

The Obama administration is accusing the Lebanese Canadian Bank of laundering money for the terrorist group Hezbollah. It seems like the bank is doing business with an international Cocaine ring which is tied to the Shiite militant group. Acting as a central hub, the bank based in Beirut, Lebanon, is charged with laundering and transferring large sums of money globally helping the organization stay afloat in these hard financial times.

One agent involved in the investigation compared Hezbollah to the Mafia, saying, “They operate like the Gambinos on steroids.” On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Virginia announced the indictment of the man at the center of the Lebanese Canadian Bank case, charging that he had trafficked drugs and laundered money not only for Colombian cartels, but also for the murderous Mexican gang Los Zetas.

Hezbollah has traditionally received over 200 Million Dollars annually from its bosom buddies, Iran and Syria. These days with Iran having its neck rung by financial sanctions and Syria’s delicate murderous, screwed up dictator – busy butchering his own people (Assad), times are hard. So what does a terror group in need of fast cash do? Say hello to my little friend – its time for the Colombian connection to kick in! The Hezbollah is now into the South American cocaine trade. Is that great or what?

The Arab Fall

October 3, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Yemen
The fault line that caused the political earthquake that erupted in the Middle East last winter and changed the chemicals in the environment continues to spread wider and wider into the months, and perhaps a new year – threatening to call the hopeful journalistic moniker, “the Arab Spring” a misnomer!

So what’s going down in the neighborhood?
Ali Abdullah Saleh, wicked ruler of Yemen says he won’t step down and submit to a Coup d’etat that would come in the form of a democratic restructuring of that country should his opponents be permitted to compete in the next election.

Saleh is specifically referring to the dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected earlier in the year to the favor of anti-government demonstrators, as well as the stalwart tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar. Ali Abdullah Saleh recently returned to Yemen from Saudi Arabia on September 23, where he was receiving treatment for injuries he received in a June 3 rocket attack on the presidential palace.

The 69-year-old has consistently refused to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council; a deal that would see him hand over power to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.

Lebanon
In another part of the world, Najib Mikati is the prime-minister of Lebanon, where the Iranian-proxy Hezbollah commands all military authority. Lebanon says that an Israeli reconnaissance plane penetrated Lebanese airspace and thereby violated UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

The Lebanese military reported last Saturday that the Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace from the southern border at 10:05 a.m. (0705 GMT) on Friday and flew over several areas of the country. Afterwards, the plane left the country at 3:15 p.m. (1215 GMT). UNIFIL, the United Nations-appointed peacekeeper in the region condemn such flyovers.

Lebanon’s leader, Mikati, has supported the President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath regime in Syria from the get-go. In an interview with the Daily Beast he said:

Are you worried that the unrest in Syria will spill over into Lebanon?

No … What I’m trying to do is create a kind of wall between what’s happening in Syria and any implication here on the Lebanese side … I’m trying to say, “Please, this is an internal Syrian issue. Let us take care of our own agenda; take care of our own problems.”

You’ve had business ties with Assad in the past. Are you still in touch with him? Do you talk?

Yes, we were friends. Unfortunately, now he’s so busy. [I haven’t had] the chance to see him or even talk to him. Some Syrian opposition groups have criticized you for supporting Assad.
That’s politics. Some analysts predict that Hizbullah will attempt a military takeover of Lebanon if the Assad regime falls. This is a very hypothetical issue.

Your critics have called you “Hizbullah’s candidate.” Your reaction?

In the beginning, they put this label of Hizbullah [on me]. But … we’re taking our decisions independently.

You don’t take Hizbullah’s interests into account?

We listen to everybody.

When the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued indictments in the assassination of Hariri, you said you would follow up. But in early August, the prosecutor general said no suspects have been found or arrested. What is the government doing?

The relevant authorities have been looking for the various people on a daily basis. And they already submitted a detailed report about their findings. I believe it’s now up to the court to decide if what we did is right and what we have to do next.

Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently said that even if it took 300 years, nobody from Hezbullah would be arrested. Did that undermine the work of your government?

It’s his point of view. We have complete freedom of speech … He has the right to say whatever he wants.

Libya
In other news, Libyan Jews are now returning home after a 44-year exile imposed by General Muammar al-Qadaffi. He had expelled the rest of Libya’s 38,000 Jews two years after the 1967 war broke out between Israel and a conglomerate of Arab nations. The Jews went to America, Italy, Israel; all over.

Protect the Levant in Case Egypt Flakes on Oil

September 8, 2011 / / 0 Comments

IAF drones are reportedly patrolling the vast blue above the country’s gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea on charge of security concerns, citing Hezbollah. Lebanon has been complaining in a world forum about the Leviathan (16 trillion cubic feet) and Tamar (estimated 8.7 trillion cubic feet) oil wells, of the enormous Levant Basin Province. Together, the two Israeli sites are twice as big as the British fields in the North Sea, with an estimated value of $300 billion, enough gas for 50-70 years of domestic consumption.

It should be noted that recently Cyprus, inspired by Israel’s discovery, started looking for oil off of their shores, however, Turkey threatened Cyprus over these actions. Ahmet Davutoglu a senior Turkish official said that they would show the “necessary response” if the country goes ahead with the marine oil dig. For years, Cyprus and Turkey have been in dispute over who owns the northern region of Cyprus, with the Turkish government claiming the region as theirs and threatening military action time and again.

Because Israel and Lebanon have no maritime border, Lebanon claims the Levant Basin as its own. The Hezbollah, which constitutes much of the Lebanese military, despite contrary claims has threatened to use force to protect the natural wealth it insists belong to Lebanon. Hopefully it would not result in a situation like the Israel-Lebanon War of 2006.

Hassan Nasrallah said:

“We warn Israel not to touch this area or try to steal Lebanon’s resources…Those who harm our installations will have their own installations harmed,” he said.

Israel says it would use force to defend its gas fields should an attack by Hezbollah happen.

Usually, countries negotiate their maritime border, as did Israel and Cyprus, several months ago.

Because the Arab League refuses to supply gas to Israel, the Jewish Country, who imports coal, mainly from South Africa, is starving for fossil fuels. Egypt is the only nation which supplies gas to the Jewish Country, but in a post-Mubarak situation this is a fragile reality. The Arab gas line supplies Egyptian gas to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and a separate feed for Israel

When the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt went down last spring, Israel began to sweat. On February 5th, an explosion happened near the El Arish compressor station which supplies Israel and Jordan, and as a result, the supply was temporarily halted.

On April 27 an explosion at the pipeline near Al-Sabil village in the El-Arish region once again halted natural gas supplies to Israel and Jordan. And on July 4th, an explosion near Nagah, in the Sinai Peninsula halted gas to Jordan and the Jewish Country once again. These incidents are behind a failed attempt to blow up a pipeline supplying the Jewish Country, last March.

Aid to Egypt in Trouble

Republican Bill to Curtail Middle East Spending

July 24, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Last Wednesday, United States Republicans moved to cut aid to “several of Israel’s neighbors” and to stiffen control of assistance to Pakistan, swearing to go medieval on militant Islamism and curtail US spending in the region, even if for security interests.

The Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee pushed a slew of concerns in a spending bill for the fiscal year commencing in October, including cutting US contributions to the United Nations and putting a restriction on funding for abortion.

Aid to Egypt in TroubleThe new House spending bill will end decades of security aid to Egypt – that is unless the new leaders implement a peace treaty with Israel to replace the treaty destroyed along with the ousting of Mubarak and of course forbid the Muslim Brotherhood any influence over cultural infrastructure. While Mr. Mubarak, who is now on his death bed was held by his people as a loathed dictator, his relationship with the Jewish State benefited Israel in maintaining some control over Hamas terrorism, weapons smuggling from Iran and al Qaeda and the oil trade.

The Republicans would also like to jettison security assistance to Lebanon where the Hezbollah rules, as well as the Palestinian Authority (partly ruled by the wicked Hamas) and yes, even Yemen.

The bill would also see the United States move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The United States government still does not see Jerusalem as the official capitol of the Jewish State. In 1995, Congress pushed to move the embassy to Jerusalem, from its beach front location in Tel Aviv, but three presidents deferred the shift. Under the new House bill, the president would lose that waiver right come 2014.

The Republican bill on foreign affairs would cut $6.4b from Obama’s requests. The bill would also impose tighter restrictions on assistance to Pakistan; after Obama suspended one-third of its $2.7b annual defense aid to the country that probably aided and abetted one Osama bin Laden, terrorist mastermind (his body now being held in a cryogenic freezer in a top secret CIA cell).

Obama assures Pakistan that the United States is committed to a five-year, $7.5b civilian package that was originally approved in 2009 aiming at infrastructure, building schools and other “democratic” institutions. The new Republican bill would make the civilian aid “contingent on measurable progress by Pakistan in fighting Islamic militants.” writes Shaun Tandon from the Associated Press, however, a strong argument can be made to the contrary of Pakistani progress in helping the war on terror cause, as I just mentioned.

The committee voted along party lines to curtail the $44m in US funding for the Organization of American States, a regional bloc of some 35 nations.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) wants more than this though. He said that the bill didn’t go far enough to halt cost overruns on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and contains “unrequested pork-barrel projects…”

He said:

“This nation is at a critical juncture of decisions concerning our conduct of three wars, our record deficit spending, and the dynamic state of world affairs…I cannot, as it is currently drafted, give it my full support, but I will continue my efforts to improve the bill as it moves through the process of consideration by the Senate and conference negotiations with the House.”

He continued:

“This bill uses a similar ruse — putting hundreds of millions of dollars into what amounts to slush funds of undesignated spending to be steered by powerful members to their pet projects and special interests as a means to back door earmarks…To avoid this predictable result, I offered a series of amendments to strike all unrequested funding increases that ignored and contradicted the President’s budget request. I regret I was not more successful.”

Oh, Hezbollah! Oh, Syria!

May 12, 2011 / / 0 Comments

What happens when panicked Sunni Syrians trying to escape the Baath regime flee to Hezbollah-ruled Lebanon? What do you think!

Lebanese security forces are rounding up Syrian refugees, namely from the border village of Tel Kalakh and sending them back to Syria where 800 citizens have been murdered by Bashir al-Assad in recent months. The refugees stuffed provisions into plastic shopping bags, their wounded on cheap synthetic blankets and crossed the shallow and muddy Kabir river, on foot, looking for medical aid and refuge from residents in the northern city of Tripoli.

One resident, near Damascus, who, out of fear of being arrested, would not give his real name told a reporter from the Guardian:

“There were roadblocks everywhere…It was impossible to hide who these people were, they were looking for Syrians escaping Tell Kalakh…They caught most of them and sent them back through the crossing…Why does Lebanon send our brothers back to be killed and tortured by these monsters?”

According to the New York Times, a reporter from Al Jazeera, Dorothy Parvaz, who disappeared in Syria two weeks ago was sent to Iran within two days of being detained. She is still in Iranian custody! Oy va voy!

Some Syrians turned away at Turkish, Jordanian and Lebanese borders, are heading for Israel. Israel has increased troops deployed on the Syrian border at the intersection of the Israel-Syria-Jordan frontiers in the Har Dov area against the spate of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. The UN force on the Golan Heights – UNDOF – is also strengthening their forces policing the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire lines.

Despite their unwillingness to help their Sunni neighbors, the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon is actually gearing up to remove its heavy, long-range weapons out of storage in Syrian military facilities and transport them back to Lebanon.

Debkafile reported:

“Hezballah may even risk Israel making good on its threat to destroy the Iran-made Fatah-110 surface missiles, its Syrian equivalent M-600 and mobile SA-8 (Gecko) anti-air battery – if they cross the border.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli Navy commander from the missile corvettes’ unit told Globes:

“For quite some time, we have been thinking about how to deal with the opening of the marine front westward to ranges that are almost double what we were used to control and operate in…”

The Missile Corvettes’ unit is responsible for protecting Israel’s offshore natural gas fields, such as Leviathan and Tamar, against the Hezbollah.

The commander continued:

“The gas fields are located west of Rosh Hanikra (the Israeli-Lebanese border point on the Mediterranean). The claims by [Hizbullah general secretary Hassan] Nasrullah that the fields extend into Lebanese waters are not true, even under international law. These are the economic waters of Israel…”

Navy chief of staff Rear Admiral Rani Ben-Yehuda said:

“There is considerable activity in Israel’s economic waters, ranging from surveys by rights’ owners through the drilling of exploratory wells…There is a whole range of possible threats against each of these elements. There is no doubt that strategic infrastructures are included in rules of the threats game.”

While a 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks quotes now-Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, describing Nasrallah and Hezbollah as a “tumour that must be removed.”

However, Mikati’s office released a statement this week saying the comments did not “reflect his convictions.”

“The prime minister will not get involved in debates with any party, especially over … words and positions that are in part untrue, in part inaccurate and most of which go back years…”

Today, Hezbollah is said to have an arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets. If war breaks out with Israel, Hezbollah will be able to launch between 500 and 600 rockets every day at the Jewish State.

They Shoot, We Build

March 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

EMG, the East Mediterranean Gas Company is restarting its gas supply, after it was severed on February 5th, after a terror attack on a pipeline between Suez and El Arish, shortly after the onset of the mutiny in Egypt. This move will renew the natural gas flow to Israel.

Bedouin opposition groups have been staging protests against resuming the flow and the cooperation of Egyptian officials with the Jordanian government to raise the prices. At the cost of $460 million, EMG built the pipeline from the Sinai to Ashkelon in 2008.

Meanwhile, Lebanese demonstrators gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs Square on Sunday to protest the Iranian-led Hezbollah, who has taken over that feeble nation. Apropos, the building of a Palestinian State may be hurried along this way: a “Tahrir Square” in the West Bank, or, or, or, The Gaza Strip. However, the Palestinian people are not seemingly capable of such a high-level of organization and order.

Amidst the push for Democracy in Lebanon and the nebulous nature of Egypt, if there is one person doing justice to democracy in the Middle East it is no other than Israel Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

While reactionary Jewish “price-taggers” are playing vigilante by stoning and igniting Palestinian vehicles, Bibi has the right idea. “Hem Yorim – Anachnu Bonim: They shoot, we build.” He is responding to the murder of the Fogel family by building. 500 new homes are going up in Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Kiryat Sefer and Gush Etzion.

United Nations special coordinator, Robert Serry, complained about the decision:

“It is not conducive to efforts to renew negotiations and achieve a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

Republic of Splintered Cedars: “The People Want To Bring Down the Regime”

February 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Good for Lebanon. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Beirut on Sunday to protest their country’s sectarian political system.

Copping a sentiment ubiquitous now throughout the Middle East, protesters chanted, “the people want to bring down the regime!”

LebanonAccording to Reuters:

“Lebanon is governed by a delicate power-sharing system to maintain the balance between the country’s many sects. It is unlike many other Arab countries where protests have been against rulers who have governed for decades.”

Actually, you’d have to say Lebanon’s government is still a work in progress. Backed by Iranian proxy, the Shia group, Hezbollah, Najib Migati has taken his place at the helm of the Cedar Republic – so we know who really wears the pants in that family.

The country suffered a 15-year civil war ending in 1990 and killing 150,000 people. Then in 2008, after Israel crushed the Lebanese infrastructure as a reaction to Hezbollah terror on the Jewish State, sectarian violence broke out anew.

The organizers of the recent protest handed out a leaflet explaining their demand “secular, civil, democratic, socially just and equal state” and calling for an increase in the minimum wage, as well for price slashes on basic goods.

As protests continue throughout the Middle East, such uprisings have unseated the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia – with Libya teetering on Civil War if Muammar el-Qhadaffi does not step down.

A few months ago, a WikiLeaks cable divulged that Lebanon defense minister gave advice to Israel back in 2008 on how it will be possible to defeat Hezbollah.

The memo quoted Elias Murr telling US officials that areas under Hezbollah control would not be defended by Lebanese forces:

“If Israel has to bomb all of these places in the Shia areas as a matter of operational concern, that is Hezbollah’s problem…”

The minister also warned that an Israeli drone on Lebanon should avoid hitting Christian areas:

“Murr told us that Israel would do well to avoid two things when it comes for Hezbollah…One, it must not touch the Blue Line or the UNSCR 1701 areas as this will keep Hezbollah out of these areas…Two, Israel cannot bomb bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas…”

The Republic of Splintered Cedars Part II: Why Saad Said He Is Sad and Meet Miqati

January 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Hassan Nasrallah & Najib MikatiMuslims in the Middle East can’t win for trying. Former Lebanese prime minister, Najib Miqati, after being the candidate of Syrian/Iranian proxy, Hezbollah’s choice, will undertake the daunting task of reforming the Republic of Splintered Cedars. With the forces of terror on his side he should succeed.

Senor Miqati, the billionaire businessman, won 68 seats in Lebanon’s 128-member Parliament – against Saad Hariri’s 60.
Miqati, and his wife, May, have three children. Born in 1955, Mikati was educated at the American University of Beirut, at INSEAD, and at Harvard University.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan & Najib MiqatiHere’s a bit from his bio:

“He is the co-founder of M1 Group, a multi-billion dollar privately-owned financial and industrial conglomerate with interests in telecom, asset management, luxury retail trade, real estate, transport, as well as oil and gas…
Before entering politics, he co-founded INVESTCOM, a leading telecom family business which pioneered telephony in emerging markets and was later merged into MTN after its shares were listed on both the London and Dubai stock exchanges, in what was the largest international listing of a Middle Eastern company.”

Moderate protesters, supporters of Hariri demonstrated in the streets, burning tires and clashing with police.

Said Saad:

“I understand the shouts of anger that have come out of your chests…But it is not right that this anger leads us to what is against our values and upbringing and our belief that democracy is our only resort and the only way we express our political stance. … Raise the Lebanese flag high above your head and know that I will always be with you…”

Officials of Hezbollah – who have rearmed since the 2006 Jewish offensive with more than 40,000 far-reaching rockets stockpiled – are waiting to be named in the indictments, by a United Nations-backed tribunal, on the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

According to our friends at al-Jazeera:

“Nasrallah has accused the Netherlands-based tribunal of being under US-Israeli control…Nasrallah has also said he expects the tribunal will implicate Hezbollah members and warned of grave repercussions.”

We will wait and see just what Nasrallah intended by “grave repercussions.”

In The Republic of Splintered Cedars

January 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Down in the Republic of Cedars, after a probe looked into the murder of Rafiq Hariri, Hezbollah ministers and their allies quit the Lebanese government, which has now been thrust into political turmoil.

Hezbollah’s exit happened at the exact moment Hariri was in Washington holding talks with US President Barack Obama.

Rafiq HaririThe hard-won unity government of Rafiq’s son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, finally collapsed Wednesday after months of bitter unrest between the premier and Hezbollah over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman called on his government to continue in a “caretaker” capacity. Among the guidelines for hiring a new premiere must be a Sunni Muslim.

11 ministers resigned after Syria and Saudi Arabia failed in their bid to neutralize tensions over the tribunal and find a compromise between the two rival camps.

For many months, Hezbollah pressured Hariri to disavow the Netherlands-based court, which is set to indict a handful of high-ranking members of the militant party in connection with Hariri’s 2005 assassination. The group also accused the tribunal of being part of a US-Israeli plot and warned of repercussions lest any of its members be implicated by the court.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces have been put on high alert – as a result of the Lebanese schism – however, no additional reservists have been called up.

Military officials are concerned that Hezbollah will attempt some kind of a disturbance on its border with the Jewish State, and thereby deflect attention from the political crisis in the Republic of Splintered Cedars.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Raouf Sheibani, pointed at “sabotage and obstruction by America and the Zionist regime,” as the single contributing factor to the collapse of the Lebanese government.

Lebanon Complains to UN about Gas Find

January 11, 2011 / / 0 Comments

News of the newly found Leviathan gas field has increased tensions between Israel’s two neighboring countries, Syria and Lebanon, which do not have formal maritime borders.

Last Tuesday, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Ali Shami, petitioned the United Nations to curb Israel’s offshore drilling plans. The request came days after US firm, Noble Energy Inc., announced they discovered a rather large oil field off the Jewish state’s coastline.

The letter read as follows:

“We request you do everything possible to ensure Israel does not exploit Lebanon’s hydrocarbon resources, which fall within Lebanon’s economic zone as delineated in the maps the foreign ministry submitted to the United Nations in 2010. Any exploitation by Israel of this resource is a flagrant violation of international law and an attack on Lebanese sovereignty.”

The Leviathan gas field, off of Israel’s Mediterranean shore, namely the scenic Haifa coast, holds an estimated 450 billion cubic meters – that is16 trillion cubic feet – of natural gas. The site is thought to be twice the size of the Tamar prospect, the largest oil discovery of 2009. Noble Energy Inc. said the find could turn Israel into a gas exporter in the coming few years.

On Thursday,Yitzhak Tshuva, controlling shareholder of Delek Group (Delek Drilling LP), a partner in the Leviathan natural-gas find through its subsidiaries, Avner Oil and Gas LP (who hold 22.67 percent of shares, respectively) said, “Today is a day of celebration for all of us. The State of Israel is an energy independent country.”

Two Cases of King Lear

October 1, 2010 / / 0 Comments

According to the Palestinian Authority, the main obstruction to building a real Arab state, I mean one with large outdoor festivals, power-house industries, world-class universities and hotdog stands are the Jewish Settlements.

The PA is serious this time: jettison the moratorium – no state.

Which really means no end to terror on Israeli and world citizens, or just an end to the peace discussions?

The Palestinian Authority, as part of its boycott after Netanyahu cried, “game on!” on West Bank construction, is telling Palestinians to quit their jobs in the settlements by the end of the year.

But Mr. Abbas, where else will your people find work?

Some 25,000 Palestinians are employed in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

When the freeze ended on Monday, less than a dozen builders and surveyors went to work in Geva Binyamin, a settlement of 1,300 families eight miles north of Jerusalem. Tragic.

In the village of Hussan near Bethlehem, one Palestinian builder named Ali spoke of the employment benefits he finds in the end of the ban on Jewish building in Samaria,

“What difference does it make?” he said, “We have lived with Israelis and we will have to live together in the future. I’m pleased that I will be able to make a living…”

Meanwhile, the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan has written a letter to the head of the UNRWA and to Arab donor nations cautioning about the shortfall in the UNRWA budget, and the danger posed to Lebanon and Syria.

While the fact remains that the majority of so-called “Palestinian refugees” in Jordan are in fact Jordanian citizens, the Hashemite kingdom insists on:

“Keeping the Palestinian Arabs crammed into these miserable camps under UNRWA control rather than integrate these citizens into Jordanian society.”

The meaning behind the danger of reducing the UNRWA budget is that, as the letter expressed “these UNRWA camps are meant to keep the issue of Palestinian refugees alive.”

On the other hand, in 1950 Israel provided Israeli citizenship to the members of UNRWA refugee camps in the new state and within a couple of years the camps perished, as the refugees became self-supporting members of Israeli society!

Summer of Lebanon Cedars and Iranian Brow-Beaters

August 30, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Last Saturday, the Iranian Intelligence Minister, Heydar Moslehi accused the Swedish
cosmetics firm, Oriflame of trying to harm Iran’s security after the Tehran office was closed and five of its employees were taken into police custody amid allegations that they were running a pyramid scheme for a spy agency.

Moslehi was quoted as saying:

“Oriflame intended to fight the (Iranian) system. There are no economic reasons behind the company… We realized through the evidence that the arrogance (Western powers) and intelligence agencies sought to create security problems for the country through this company.”

An Oriflame representative in Stockholm said the firm is in no way involved in political activities. CEO Gabriel Bennet said:

“We are a cosmetics company, we are selling direct. We are of course not involved in any political activities in the country (Iran)…”

Mr. Bennet continued,

“It’s very difficult to comment on this because we don’t know why our colleagues have been detained, we don’t know why the company has been shut down…” Ah, the mysterious Iranian signature! “We are doing our utmost to solve the situation in Iran and especially for our colleagues being detained.”

Moslehi insisted:

“These companies operate with outside support and are not engaged in economic activities. They are under the guidance of spy agencies.”

To which refuted the Sweating Swede:

“The firm’s business model is to sell cosmetics and give 40,000 Iranians, mainly women, a possibility to earn money through direct sales.”

Good for Iran on cracking down. But why so paranoid?
Meanwhile Teheran is ready, willing and able to supply the Lebanese army with any arms it may need. This is nothing new since the Hezbollah swung into town in 1982.
Iranian General Ahmad Vahidi said,

“Lebanon is our friend, if there is a demand in this respect, we are ready to help that country and conduct weapons transactions with it.”

The USA is on the case, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that such transaction between the Islamic Republic and the Republic of Lebanon is exactly why “the importance both to our (American) national security and the security of the region to continue with our security assistance to the Lebanese people.”

This comes after, as OneJerusalem reported last week, the US suspended $100 million of foreign aid to the sometimes seedy Republic of Cedars, which is really OK, because plenty of arms donations are coming to Lebanon from France, anyway. Herve Morin, French Defense Minister sent a letter to Elias Murr, according to the Jerusalem Post, pushing the sale of 100 HOT anti-tank missiles to be used on their Gazelle helicopters.

Well, the US also warned Lebanon – and I think that means, should Lebanon crumble under Hezbollah influence, the IDF has the capability of destroying the Lebanese Armed Forces in four hours!

I RAN TO HELP LEBANON’S DUBIOUS FUTURE

August 17, 2010 / / 0 Comments

According to a recent article in Reuters, Washington lawmakers are delaying funds of aid to the Lebanese army for fear of their working with Iran.The article made no specific mention of the Hezbollah.

Could they be more idiotic?

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Thought OneJerusalem. Why else would the Jewish Country have needed to crush the country’s infrastructure during the 2006 invasion? Who else could be responsible for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri? UNIFIL, Michel Suleiman – nay – democracy isn’t calling the shots in Beirut. The Iran-funded Hezbollah is.

What Lebanese Defense Minister, Elias al-Murr had in mind with his personal contribution of $670,000, according to the Reuters article, was to convince Lebanese citizens living abroad throughout the world and domestically to help pitch in – build up the Lebanese army that is.

But would the $100 million from the United States really be such a good idea? Firstly, after recent clashes between Lebanon and the IDF along Israel’s northern border, it undermines the Jewish Country, which – let’s face it – is only to be expected from this current American administration. At the same time the dangerous Tehranian goofballs too have donated $720 million to Lebanon since 2006. Why should we believe that money donated to Lebanon is going anywhere but into the pocket of Nasrallah the notorious?

Mad Lebs

July 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

There Goes the Neighborhood

What happens when you become too weak to kill innocent Israeli citizens? Kill innocent American citizens – that is the modus operandi of the Hezbollah, these days.

US Republican Congresswoman, Sue Myrick of North Carolina says that Hezbollah agents are coming to Latin America, learning Spanish and then working with drug cartels in the Mexico-US border region to obtain falsified entry passes for entrance to the US. She warned that the terrorist organization could start threatening the southern United States from Mexico just as it threatens northern Israel from Lebanon.

Well, I guess now those new US state immigration laws are beginning to make more sense.

Myrick, who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has called on Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary to look into the matter.

Apparently, the Hezbollah has been operating drug trafficking rings in South America for some years now. The largest one operates along the Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay border.

Well, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has also befriended the terror group. Just a few years ago he invited Hezbollah to operate freely in his country.

Spy Games

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, whose military has become none other than the Hezbollah itself, President Michel Sleiman said that he would sign death penalties against spies for Israel.

The Lebanese Cabinet has stressed the need to speed up investigations into Israeli spy networks and follow them by rapid verdicts amid increasing pressures by domestic parties after the arrest of an employee at a mobile phone operator on suspicion of spying for the Mossad.

The Lebanese Cabinet met at the Grand Serail and was headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

According to the Constitution in Lebanon, death sentences issued by the judiciary require the joint signature of the president, the premier and the justice minister.
Sleiman also said that spy cells will be subject to strict punishment, stressing that they constituted a violation to UN Resolution 1701, which put an end to the 2006 summer war with Israel.

President Sleiman said:

“I trust verdicts issued by the military court and I will sign them…we should not go backwards; there was a national will in the past to issue lenient sentences … but after the liberation [of occupied Lebanese territories] in 2000, all spying acts and collaboration with Israel should be severely punished.”

Many of the Lebanese who were enrolled in the South Lebanon Army, which fought alongside Israeli forces south of Litani river, prior to the liberation of most of Lebanese occupied territories in 2000, were given lenient sentences when they surrendered to the judiciary following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

But many Lebanese still reside in the Jewish Country for fear that upon their return, they would face life sentences or death penalties.

Beginning in April 2009, Lebanon embarked on a wave of arrests as part of a widespread espionage investigation in which dozens of people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel. Over 20 people have been formally charged, including an army colonel, since.

Last week, a technician from the state-owned mobile phone firm Alfa, Charbel Qazzi, had been detained by the army on suspicion of spying for the Jewish Country. Qazzi was responsible for maintaining equipment that connects cellular network stations.

Well, for all of those arrested for spying, Hezbollah has called for the death penalty.

On the threat posed on Lebanon by Israel, Sleiman said:

“An Israeli aggression against Lebanon is possible but I do not fear it since the issue is not an easy one for Israel.”

Lebanon’s General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza ordered the arrest of three individuals last week, after authorities interrogated them on charges of libel, slander and defamation against the president on one Facebook social networking site.

Sleiman said:

“We should know how to use freedom because when it collides with public conduct and ethics, its practice becomes corrupt … the issue is not a political one but rather an issue of personal insults and slander.”

The real insult, Sleiman will find, is letting Hezbollah take over his country, poisoning it with hate-filled venom and strangling its chances for peace in the region.

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