Question. What Happens When UN Security Council Resolutions are Ignored? - by Elliott Abrams

...The point is that plenty of countries defy the UN but in very, very few cases is this even noticed, and in fewer still is anyone punished. Israel remains a special case, whose maltreatment in the UN is a disgrace—and one that, until the Obama administration decided to allow Resolution 2334 to pass, the United States fought and prevented in the Security Council.

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
05 January '17..
Link: http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2017/01/05/what-happens-when-un-security-council-resolutions-are-ignored/

What happens when UN Security Council resolutions are ignored? That depends, really—on whether you are any of 192 other members of the United Nations, or are Israel.

Defenders of Israel often claim that it is treated differently by the United Nations from any other nation. That claim is accurate, and a brief look at Lebanon offers some proof. It continues to violate Security Council resolutions, year after year—but no one complains, and no one ever argues that Lebanon must be punished with boycotts or prosecutions for doing so. In fact they are often congratulated for their defiance.

The United Nations Security Council has been saying for decades that the Government of Lebanon must exercise control of its territory. Resolution 1559 of 2004 “Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias” and “Supports the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory.” By “Lebanese militias” the UN was referring to Hezbollah, but dared not speak its name. In any event, the Government of Lebanon did not comply.

Resolution 1583 was adopted unanimously in 2005 and in it the Security Council

Reiterates its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized boundaries and under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon;

Calls upon the Government of Lebanon to fully extend and exercise its sole and effective authority throughout the south, including through the deployment of sufficient numbers of Lebanese armed and security forces, to ensure a calm environment throughout the area, including along the Blue Line, and to exert control over the use of force on its territory and from it….

As the French ambassador said about that resolution when it was adopted, “in keeping with the present demands of the United Nations, Lebanon must extend its authority throughout the south, in particular, by expanding and deploying its forces and by disarming the militias.” But the Government of Lebanon did not comply.

Resolution 1701 of 2006, adopted to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah,

Welcomes the efforts of the Lebanese Prime Minister and the commitment of the Government of Lebanon…to extend its authority over its territory, through its own legitimate armed forces, such that there will be no weapons without the consent of the Government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon….

Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory…for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the Government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon….

Calls upon the Government of Lebanon to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel….

But the Government of Lebanon paid no attention, or more accurately was unwilling to comply because it was afraid.

The Lebanon Palestinian UNRWA Mix - Refugee Camps or Terrorist Bases?

...Busy with more pressing issues, Abbas was unable to make the trip to Lebanon himself. What is the urgent business that prevented him from showing up in person to try to prevent catastrophe for his people in Lebanon? His grand tour, an end-game bid to win support for an international Middle East peace conference that would choke Israel into submission.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
21 July '16..

ISIS is on the mind of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership. Top PA officials have expressed concern that jihadi groups, including ISIS, have managed to infiltrate Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities are also worried -- so worried that they have issued a stiff warning to the Palestinians: Stop the terrorists or else we will take security into our own hands.

According to Lebanese security sources, more and more Palestinians in Lebanon have joined ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, a Sunni Islamist militia fighting against Syrian government forces. In response, the Lebanese security forces have taken a series of measures in a bid to contain the problem and prevent the two Islamist terror groups from establishing bases of power in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

According to some reports, dozens of Palestinians from Lebanon who joined ISIS and Al-Nusra Front have been killed or wounded in Syria in recent months. Most of those who were killed have been buried in Syria, the reports said.

Alarmed by the success of ISIS and Al-Nusra Front in recruiting dozens of Palestinians to their ranks, the Palestinian Authority leadership this week sent Azzam Al-Ahmed, a senior advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, to Beirut for urgent talks with Lebanese government officials on ways of containing the escalation. The PA leadership fears that the heightened activities of the two terrorist groups in the refugee camps will force the Lebanese army to launch a massive military operation to get rid of the terrorists, who pose an immediate threat to Lebanese national security.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Surprise? Turning Refugee Camps into Weapons Warehouses

...The UN Security Council has clearly not heard of the fighting in Ain al-Hilweh. That is why it has not even issued a statement expressing "concern" over the plight of the Palestinians in the camp. The international media, for its part, has thus far shown little interest in the story. Why? The answer, as usual, is simple: No Israeli involvement. The 120,000 Palestinians living in Ain al-Hilweh are "unfortunate" because they are not being targeted by Israel. Otherwise, there would have been an international outcry and the UN Security Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
01 September '15..

Palestinians are once again paying a heavy price for allowing terror groups and armed gangs to operate freely inside their communities. But this is not happening in a refugee camp in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Rather, it is taking place in Lebanon, one of three Arab countries that host hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

This explains why the international media and human rights organizations have shown little interest in what is happening inside the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Ain al-Hilweh.

For the past two weeks, dozens of Palestinian families from Ain al-Hilweh have fled their homes after fierce clashes that erupted between Fatah militiamen and terrorists belonging to a radical Islamist gang affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The UN Security Council has clearly not heard of the fighting in Ain al-Hilweh. That is why it has not even issued a statement expressing "concern" over the plight of the Palestinians in the camp.

The international media, for its part, has thus far shown little interest in the story. Why? The answer, as usual, is simple: No Israeli involvement.

The 120,000 Palestinians living in Ain al-Hilweh are "unfortunate" because they are not being targeted by Israel. Otherwise, there would have been an international outcry and the UN Security Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Again, Why Outsourcing Israel’s Security to Peacekeepers is a Non-Starter

...Quite apart from the fact that the UN appears to have a total disregard for the safety of Israelis–as seen with both UNIFIL and UNRWA–it will always be the case that international forces acting on behalf of international organizations, as opposed to national self-interest, will be woefully ineffective. A catalog of recent genocides are a sorry testament to the way UN forces are much better at observing and monitoring atrocities than they are at preventing them.

Tom Wilson..
Commentary Magazine..
29 January '15..

Following yesterday’s attack by Hezbollah on an Israeli military convoy, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, there have been growing concerns of a major escalation along the Lebanese border. During the exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah that followed the attack, a United Nations peacekeeper was also killed. As fears grew that the attack by Hezbollah might signal the beginning of a major new conflagration to Israel’s north, the death of the peacekeeper was a reminder that in such circumstances the UN forces would be completely impotent in preventing such an escalation. Worse still, the UN in Lebanon will have contributed to the severity of any hostilities by allowing Hezbollah to have proliferated under its watch. This too should be a reminder of the ineffective nature of any international forces deployed on Israel’s borders.

UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which was created during Israel’s first Lebanon war, was subsequently emboldened with a reinforced mandate following the second Lebanon war in 2006. As well as maintaining the peace in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL was also tasked with assisting the Lebanese army in consolidating Lebanese government sovereignty throughout that part of the country. This presumably should necessitate the rolling back of the mini-state that Hezbollah terrorists have created for themselves in Lebanon’s south. Yet not only has UNIFIL utterly failed in that regard, but there are also serious questions about whether or not UNIFIL has in fact been complicit in assisting Hezbollah in various ways. Most egregious of all was UNIFIL’s conduct during the second Lebanon war itself, when UNIFIL publicly broadcast the movements of the IDF, knowingly exposing Israel’s troops to attack by Hezbollah fighters.

Ever since 2006 Hezbollah has been remilitarising well beyond the levels it had reached prior to the second Lebanon war, and it has been doing it directly under UNIFIL’s noses. UNIFIL therefore has not only failed to assist with reasserting the authority of the Lebanese state in the south of the country; it has allowed for the unfolding of a situation that will almost inevitably undermine a key aspect of UNIFIL’s mandate: to ensure peace and security in that territory.

Even before war broke out in Syria, Hezbollah had–with the assistance of Iran–been drastically increasing its stockpiles of weapons, the range and force of its missile capabilities, and the numbers of trained fighters within its ranks. Then, when Hezbollah was brought into Syria to help Assad retain power, a new channel for the flow of weapons opened as Hezbollah was able to move some of Assad’s weaponry into Lebanon itself. Indeed, from the outset of UNIFIL’s renewed mandate in 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had always made clear that the force wouldn’t intervene to stop the flow of weapons from Syria unless specifically instructed to do so by the Lebanese government.

Israel's Quneitra Attack in Context: Game Not Over

...The Iran/Hizballah/Assad side has long threatened to develop the Golan as a front for possible 'jihad duties' against Israel. Both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Nasrallah made unambiguous public statements in 2014 threatening the opening of military activity against Israel in this area. Israel, in turn, has made clear that such a move would constitute a violation of the status quo . The strike on Sunday constituted a very kinetic further Israeli message intended to drive home this point.

Thousands of Iranians gather in Tehran
for the funeral of Revolutionary Guard
Commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi

Jonathan Spyer..
MEF/JPost..
22 January '15..

In analyzing the significance of, and likely fallout from ,the Israeli killing of a number of senior Hizballah and IRGC personnel close to the Golan border this week, a number of things should be borne in mind:

Firstly, the killings were a response to a clear attempt by the Iranians/Hizballah to violate the very fragile status quo that pertains between these elements and Israel in Lebanon and Syria. in his interview to the al-Mayadeen network three days before the attack, Hizballah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah explicitly claimed that his organization was not engaged in 'resistance work' on the Golan. The Israeli strike showed that this statement was a lie.

Some analysis of the strike has suggested that the men killed in the attack were engaged in preparation for the placing of sophisticated Iranian missile systems on the Syrian part of the Golan. Other accounts suggested that their mission was part of preparing this area for the launch of ground attacks across the border against Israeli targets, perhaps using proxies. In either case, the mission was a clear attempt to change the arrangement of forces in the north, in such a way that could be expected to ensure an Israeli response.

Secondly, in the past, Hizballah has reacted differently to Israeli strikes on it or its Syrian allies within Syria, compared to strikes on Lebanese soil. The difference again relates to the unstated but clear 'rules of the game' between the organization and the Jewish state. Israeli strikes on materiel making its way to the organization from Syrian soil have elicited no response from the movement.

By contrast, an Israeli attack on a weapons convoy just across the border on Lebanese soil near the village of Janta on February 24, 2014 provoked a Hizballah response . On March 18th, an IED was exploded just south of the border fence in the Majdal Shams area on the Golan Heights, wounding four IDF soldiers.

The rules of the game in question do not indicate a lessening of warlike intentions or a growing affection on the part of Hizballah toward Israel. Rather, they reflect the acute need that this organization and its Iranian masters currently have to not be drawn into conflict with Israel unless this becomes unavoidable.

Hizballah is overstretched at the moment. It has between 5000-10,000 men engaged in Syria. It is engaged in a determined and fraying attempt to prevent Sunni jihadi incursions across the border into Lebanon from Syria, and bomb attacks by the Sunni groups further into Lebanon.

Hizballah is also an integral part of the Iranian outreach effort in Iraq, where members of the organization are engaged in training Shia fighters.

Even as far afield as Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi militia is engaged in a push for power, the movement's fingerprints have been found.

All this reflects Hizballah's nature as Iran's primary agent in the Arab world. Given all this activity, the last thing that the IRGC and Hizballah need is to be drawn into a premature conflagration with Israel.

A Beauty Pageant Selfie Offers a ‘Middle East for Dummies’ Tutorial

...That one picture was worth a million words of nonsense about the Middle East conflict being a misunderstanding or a problem that could be solved with enough good will on the part of both sides. The State Department should consider it a free “Middle East for Dummies” tutorial. Until Lebanese beauty contestants are not afraid to have their pictures taken with Jews, the diplomats should not bother trying to pretend their efforts will be enough to solve the problem.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
20 January '15..

The Miss Universe Pageant is a rather silly made-for-television event owned by entrepreneur and celebrity Donald Trump. But this piece of junk food for the mind has nevertheless provided the universe, or at least the portion of it that includes this planet, a tutorial in the realities of the Middle East that one cannot get from reading, say, the editorials of the New York Times or the statements about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that come out of the mouths of people like President Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry. And all it took was one selfie from Miss Israel.

The controversy arises from an incident during a photo session before the Miss World festivities began during which the contestants were also talking photos of each other. Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, took a photo of herself and a few other participants, including Saly Greige, Miss Lebanon, in which the young ladies are all smiling while dressed in shirts with their country’s names. The photo was predictably circulated on social media but the reaction involved more than the usual appreciation for the sight of a few pretty girls. Lebanese who saw it were enraged at Greige, who was reviled for treason for being depicted as engaging in normal friendly relations with an Israeli.

This sort of thing had happened once before when the 1993 version of Miss Lebanon was pictured next to that year’s Miss Israel. She was subsequently stripped of her title and ostracized as a traitor.

So to save herself from such an ignominious end, Greige claimed that she had been photo-bombed by the Israeli and then posted a new version of the same picture with Matalon cropped out. Perhaps that lame story will be enough to keep her out of the soup in a country that is dominated by terrorist militias like Hezbollah and where hatred for Israel and Jews is endemic. In response, Matalon merely said she was “sad” that her Arab counterparts were not allowed to put aside official hostility for even the three weeks of the event.

But there’s more to this story than just an embarrassing and potentially dangerous moment of fraternization for one Lebanese woman.

The exchange encapsulated the essence of why peace in the Middle East has eluded generations of diplomats.

The Administration's Frat-House Statecraft and U.S.-Iran Détente

...But strengthening Hezbollah will not only imperil Israel’s security. It will also put Europe in greater danger and U.S. interests as well. It’s a dim-witted policy, in other words, no matter what you think of Israel. And the general détente with Iran is, as the Journal points out, an insult to our Gulf allies as well as damaging to the fight against ISIS. The president’s policies put our allies at the mercy of their enemies. That he’s taunting them too only makes it clear that the policies are being instituted precisely how he envisioned them.

Seth Mandel..
Commentary Magazine..
29 October '14..

The silliness of President Mom Jeans calling an Israeli special forces veteran “chickens–t” was what first dominated the reactions of the Obama administration’s frat-house taunts directed at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But the larger strategic impact of the insult, as passed through what Matthew Continetti has termed the “secretarial” press, this time via Jeffrey Goldberg, soon became apparent. And it has now been confirmed by a major story in the Wall Street Journal.

It was easy at first to miss anything but the string of insults directed from Obama to Netanyahu, including the casual accusation of autism. (It’s arguable whether this represented a new low for the president, who has a habit of demonstrating his grade school playground vocabulary.) But once the initial shock at the further degrading of American statecraft under Obama wore off, it was easy to see the real purpose of the story. The Obama administration wanted to brag through its stenographer that the president had protected the Iranian nuclear program from Israel:

I ran this notion by another senior official who deals with the Israel file regularly. This official agreed that Netanyahu is a “chickenshit” on matters related to the comatose peace process, but added that he’s also a “coward” on the issue of Iran’s nuclear threat. The official said the Obama administration no longer believes that Netanyahu would launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to keep the regime in Tehran from building an atomic arsenal. “It’s too late for him to do anything. Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was a combination of our pressure and his own unwillingness to do anything dramatic. Now it’s too late.”

If Iran goes nuclear, those words will be the perfect description of the Obama administration’s fecklessness: “Now it’s too late.” Too late, that is, for our allies like Israel and the Gulf states to protect themselves from the consequences of the Obama administration’s Mideast policies–which principally affect Israel and the Gulf states. But “fecklessness” may not be the right word. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the president has been effective after all:

When Hezbollah needs to hide behind the LAF

...But the fact that Hezbollah is apparently reluctant at this stage to take direct action again Israel underscores how far its room to maneuver has shrunk, and, therefore, how much its value as a deterrent for Iran has dropped. Instead, Tehran now has to rely on the White House reining in Israel, and Hezbollah needs to hide behind the LAF.

Tony Badran..
NOW..
19 December '13..

Lebanon came close to instigating a conflict with Israel on Sunday when a member of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) shot and killed an Israeli sergeant in his car near the border at Rosh Hanikra. The Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon held the Lebanese government and the LAF responsible, while the LAF command quickly declared that the shooting was an “individual behavior” by the Lebanese soldier.

Despite the LAF’s statement, however, the circumstances behind the shooting remain unclear. As it occurred a few days after the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Laqis, observers in Beirut, including pro-Hezbollah journalists, suspected the attack was retaliation for the killing of the Hezbollah commander, which the group blamed on Israel. If indeed this was an operation on behalf of Hezbollah, then it was also likely the Party and Iran testing Washington’s ability and willingness, post-Geneva, to restrain Israel.

Using the LAF for that purpose is ideal. For one, Hezbollah understands that US policy in Lebanon, at this point, is essentially narrowed down to supporting the LAF as the representative institution of the state. What’s more, Hezbollah has carefully noted that the US government has implicitly endorsed, and at times explicitly praised, operations conducted by the LAF Directorate of Intelligence – which is closely aligned with Hezbollah – against Sunni areas. And when Hezbollah elements deployed alongside the LAF in the battle against the followers of Ahmad al-Assir in June, some US officials downplayed reports about Hezbollah’s participation in what was, in effect, a joint operation. All in all, what Hezbollah concluded was that the US regarded Sunni extremism as the primary, indeed only, issue, and therefore turned a blind eye to the synergy between the LAF and Hezbollah under the pretext that it preserved Lebanon’s stability.

With all that in mind, if the US was willing to overlook so much with the LAF, then, Hezbollah could well have reasoned, would it really back a forceful Israeli response to an incident such as Sunday’s? And all the more so if it can be said that the soldier went rogue. In addition, Hezbollah knew that a frightened Lebanese acting prime minister and the LAF command would plead desperately with the US to restrain Israel.

And indeed, after the shooting, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mobilized along the border, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, as reported in An-Nahar, called the US ambassador to ask that Washington pressure Israel not to launch a retaliatory attack, and to convince it that the Lebanese soldier acted alone. Tellingly, official Lebanese sources who spoke to the newspaper relayed their conviction that “any major Israeli confrontation with Hezbollah would require prior US approval, which is something President Barack Obama will not allow.” In other words, the prevalent thinking among Hezbollah and its allies in the acting government is that the US détente with Iran can be used as leverage against Israel.

Trending. #Social media is a terrorist’s best friend

Ana Maria Luca..
NOW Lebanon..
23 August '13..

A few years ago, journalists around the world used to wonder if they were the best friends of terrorists. And I remember a time when al-Qaeda linked brigades in Iraq used to send press releases by e-mail to the world’s news wires and television channels to claim credit for their attacks on various targets. It happened all the time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I felt the same way a few weeks back, when two days after a road-side bomb targeted a Hezbollah convoy in the Bekaa Valley, we received an e-mail from, al-Qaeda linked, Abdullah Azzam brigades claiming that they were responsible for the bombing. The same e-mail was sent to all newsrooms in Beirut.

Yesterday, however, I realized that e-mail is completely obsolete. After four rockets were fired towards Israel from South Lebanon and the Israeli Defense Forces retaliated, no e-mail was sent to any newsroom. But ten minutes afterwards the claim was tweeted. Journalists are not a terrorist’s best friend anymore. Social media is.

Link: https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/newsandpolitics/a-terrorists-best-friend

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!

Rockets from Lebanon crash into northern Israel, seeking civilian victims

Try to think of any other nation, today or in history, beset with this deadly combination of enemies on all its borders, enemies who are phenomenally well equipped, unfettered by having to play by any of the rules that are supposed to bind states (they're not states), and driven by religious zeal of an intensity that brings them to commit acts of savagery against their own people (think Syria and Iraq in particular) that may be among the most vicious in recorded history. Then reflect for a moment on the unceasing criticism poured onto Israel (total population: barely 8,000,000, far smaller than the population of Cairo alone) as it tries to fend off the barbarians.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
22 August '13..

Tonight's (Thursday night) main news headline on the Times of Israel website (see the screenshot left) expresses what most Israelis understood long ago: when the Arabs have problems, Israel can expect to pay a price.

Haaretz reports tonight:

At least three rockets were fired on Israel from southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon, Israel Defense Forces confirmed, setting off air raid sirens in the Nahariya and Acre areas. One of the rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said. The army believes that global jihad operatives, and not Hezbollah, are behind the attacks. It was not immediately clear exactly how many rockets were fired. The IDF identified a barrage of either three or four rockets fired from the Klayaa area, south of Tyre, Lebanon.

And at Ynet:

It was cleared for publication that the Iron Dome missile defense system has successfully intercepted at least one rocket out of several that were fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee region. Different media outlets in Lebanon have reported that two rockets were launched at Israel from the Al Kalila region in Tyre district in southern Lebanon... According to the Lebanese reports, the rockets were Katyushas. Lebanese network Al Jadeed TV has reported that the Lebanese military blocked the access to the area from which the rockets were launched... Police advised residents to remain close to shelters... Three people have reportedly suffered shock in Naharyia as a result of the rocket-launches. In addition, a car was damaged by what appears to be the shell of an Iron Dome missile which intercepted one of the rockets.

Over on the other side of Israel's northern and southern borders, there are terrorist forces, armed to the teeth with arsenals of rockets numbering in the tens of thousands, who can and will attack when the mood takes them. They have zero regard for any strategic goals or Israel-related causes, and even less regard for whatever negative consequences their actions might bring onto the heads of their compatriots.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
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(Video) Tea Time With Hezbollah

idfnadesk..
12 August '13..





A very creative and clever animation from the IDF concerning Lebanon's not so behind the scenes ruling party, government and army, aka Hezbollah.

Hezbollah tells the world that it is a resistance organization. But what exactly is it resisting?



More at http://www.idfblog.com/hezbollah/

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!.

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(Video) The Truth About Hezbollah - Iran's Terrorist Proxy

IDFnadesk..
11 July '13..

Learn the truth behind terrorist organization Hezbollah: how it lies to justify murder and terror, targets Israelis & civilians around the world & oppresses the people of Southern Lebanon. Thanks to Iranian funding, Hezbollah has a stockpile of weapons "bigger than most governments in the world" that threatens the whole of Israel.



For more information: http://www.idfblog.com/hezbollah/

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

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Lebanon's Apartheid Laws - Where's the Coverage?

Is it possible that the media and even organizations tasked with protecting Palestinian rights like UNRWA don't actually care about oppression of Palestinians? Is it possible that it only becomes a story if it can be used as a cudgel to beat Israel? Well, systematic, legal and state-sanctioned discrimination against Palestinians exists in Lebanon and yet…

SC..
CAMERA Snapshots..
04 July '13..

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is on a three-day trip to Lebanon. In addition to the approximately 70,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon from the fighting in Syria, there are over 450,000 Palestinians living permanently in refugee camps there.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Following a meeting with [Lebanese] President Michel Suleiman, Abbas announced that the Palestinians were guests in Lebanon and would not meddle in the country’s internal affairs.

“The presence of Palestinians is temporary until they return to their homeland,” Abbas said.

(Of course, for a homeland Abbas means all of Israel since he even told The New York Times two years ago that “as Palestinians we have been under occupation for 63 years.” That’s not since 1967… but that’s a separate little-covered story.)

One often hears of Arab hospitality, but for guests in Lebanon, the Palestinians are getting less that welcoming treatment. Khaled Abu Toameh recently wrote for the Gatestone Institute:

Looking for Actual Apartheid Laws? Welcome to Lebanon

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
21 June '13..

About three years ago, the Lebanese government decided to amend its Apartheid law that denies Palestinians the right to work in as many as 20 professions. Then, Palestinians were told that from then on they would be able to work in many professions and even own property in Lebanon. But now Palestinians have discovered that the Lebanese government, like most Arab countries, has lied to them. Although Palestinians have lived in Lebanon for more than six decades, they are still treated as foreigners when it comes to obtaining a work permit, according to Lebanon's The Daily Star newspaper.

Lebanon is not the only Arab country that openly enforces Apartheid laws against Palestinians. Palestinians have, in fact, long been treated as third-class citizens in most of the Arab countries, where they are denied not only basic rights such as employment and health care, but also citizenship.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees [UNRWA], Lebanon's 450,000 Palestinian refugees have long been subject to many employment restrictions. For example, Palestinians in Lebanon are banned from working as doctors, dentists, lawyers, engineers or accountants.

By contrast, anyone visiting an Israeli hospital or medical center would quickly notice the presence of a significant number of Arab doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

Yet, although three years have passed since the law was amended, nothing has changed for the Palestinians in Lebanon. And there is no indication whatsoever that the Lebanese authorities intend to ease restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the forseeable future.

According to a report in The Daily Star, the revisions to the law remain unimplemented.

What salad vegetables may tell us about the Arab/Israel conflict

In case you thought this was about some dusty vegetable stand 
in the Casbah: a Spinneys Lebanon hypermarket [Image Source]

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
01 January '13..

A minor report in today's edition of the Lebanese newspaper, The Daily Star, deals with grocery store items and the Middle East conflict. Though it centers on nothing more substantial than packaged peppers, it might actually say something significant about how things are in this part of the world.

Israeli produce discovered in south Lebanon shop | January 01, 2013 11:36 AM

By Mohammed Zaaatari | The Daily Star | SIDON, Lebanon | A Lebanese shopper discovered several food items made in Israel in one of Lebanon’s largest retailers Tuesday. While shopping at Spinneys in the coastal city of Sidon, a man, who preferred to remain anonymous, discovered a bag of three kinds of peppers made in Israel. He immediately contacted local authorities who in turn contacted the Lebanese Army. Members of military intelligence and police arrived to Spinneys to discover 13 similar bags that have the word “Israel” printed on the sale tag. Police also noticed that the international bar code for the items was scratched with a blue pen and a new code was handwritten on the bag. The case was then referred to the military judiciary for investigation into how the products made it through the customs department at the port or the airport. Spinneys had a similar incident almost ten years ago when shoppers discovered mugs made in Israel being sold at the retailer.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

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Operation Pillar of Defense - Could we have achieved more?

Gioria Eiland..
Israel Opinion/Ynet..
25 November '12..

I am one of those who believe that the political echelon did the right thing three times in regards to the operation in Gaza: Setting modest goals, avoiding a ground offensive and agreeing to a ceasefire.

I believe that the political and military echelon were wrong about the use of Israel's aerial efforts. The most important mistake stems from the incorrect definition which divides the attacked targets into only two types: Clear military targets, which are legal, and other targets, which are civilian and therefore must not be bombed.

The correct division is into three groups, with the third group – located between the two aforementioned types – consisting of national infrastructure targets. Such targets, which include government buildings, fuel caches, communication centers, bridges and the power system, are legitimate in the event of a military conflict between two countries, and this was the exact situation between us and Hamas.

Israel is not fighting terror organizations but a state. Gaza became a de facto independent state in as early as 2007, and that's a good thing. Israel is always better off facing a political entity which serves as a clear address, both for deterrence purposes and for an agreement, than a situation in which the government is formally in the hands of one body but the ability to use fire is in the hands of others.

Because Gaza is a state which initiated ongoing rocket fire on Israel, in a military conflict the right thing to do is to hit all the targets serving the rival regime and allowing it to continue controlling and conducting a war against us.

Dear Hezbollah - What kind of Resistance are we talking about?

Carlos Edde..
NOWLebanon ..
29 October '12..
H/T Elder of Ziyon..

The right to resistance against oppression, occupation and military aggression is recognized in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also is confirmed in the Taif Accord.

Hezbollah anoints itself as “the Resistance” and unilaterally grants itself the right to be armed on the pretext that Israel is still occupying parts of Lebanon’s territory and is violating Lebanon’s airspace.

Therefore, if foreign occupation and violation of border integrity justify the right to bear arms, to be organized in an armed resistance movement and to be entitled to decide without consideration for anyone how, when and where to make use of these weapons, by the same logic, other groups may or should organize themselves into “resistances” to defend Lebanon from the attacks by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Furthermore, maybe resistance organizations should be necessary to liberate Lebanon from Iranian occupation.

For indeed, Lebanon is under Iranian occupation. Hezbollah’s doctrine and its leaders’ statements identify the party as being part of “The Nation” rather than Lebanon. Also, Hezbollah does not hide the fact that it is an integral part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Furthermore, the party is financed and armed by Iran, and unequivocally and unashamedly proclaims that it takes its orders from Iran’s Supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution. Moreover, the Lebanese state has no free access to the zone occupied by the Iranian militia, and the Lebanese air force is bared from flying in the area under the threat of being shot down. Hezbollah does not act as a Lebanese entity but as an Iranian militia staffed by Lebanese nationals.

Taking a moment to review what we know about Hezbollah

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
22 October '12..

To understand the complex conflicts in the Middle East was always a challenge. You needed, for instance, to know how the various factions inside the world of Islam interacted. And you had to resist the exaggerated, ideology-driven simplifications of people like the former US president, Jimmy Carter (on his way back to this area this week) who pontificated in his notorious 2006 book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East."

Treating a multidimensional problem as simple is generally easier than analyzing it in all its complexity. Thus, Carter is hardly alone in boiling the turbulence of our neighbourhood down into a problem with a single cause. But reality, as always, has a way of creeping up behind and whacking us across the head. We're at such a moment now.

Hezbollah, by most calculations, is the military force that has the largest deployment of weapons pointed at Israel today. It's Iran's proxy, and is funded and armed by Iran and also by Syria. In much of the Arab and Moslem world, it has long been called a resistance movement [see this Asia Times analysis from 2006]. Among Western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and of course Israel, it's been classified as a terrorist organization for years and remains so.

Very recent events have caused a significant review of what people think and say - even, and perhaps mainly, in the Arab and Moslem world. A good example:

In memorium of Yotam Lotan – 6 years later

Yotam Lotan. Maj.(res.) z"l  

Asher Zeiger..
Times of Israel..
09 October '12..

It was at a one-week training exercise in milu’im (army reserve duty) when I first met Yotam Lotan, a Lieutenant, and the newest mem-mem (Mefaked Mahlaka, platoon commander) in the unit. He was 28 or 29 at the time, but the older, more seasoned guys in the unit teased this baby face “kid,” which Yotam took with a smile.

And with all the good-natured ribbing aside, it soon became clear in the actual tank exercises that the young officer had honestly earned his officers’ stripes. As a commander both of the tank and his platoon, Yotam was definitely a pro. He was also one of the kindest, warmest, most gentlemanly and most giving people I have ever met.

I had the pleasure of serving with Yotam for three years of milu’im, until the IDF retired me for having reached the advanced age of 40 (for combat soldiers reserve duty ends at 40). By that time Yotam was the deputy commander of the company and held a Captain’s rank.

We teased him, and we laughed with him, but every single soldier in the unit would have gladly walked to hell and back for Yotam, and we all knew that he would do anything for each of us.

And that’s what happened. Two years after my release from milu’im, Yotam, who by then had been promoted to Major and served as the Company Commander was sent with his L Company of Batallion 294 (my former company and battalion) to fight in the second Lebanon War.

On Monday August 7 at 9:20 a.m., Yotam and one other soldier (Noam Meirson, who joined the unit after I left so I never met him) were killed when their tank was hit by an anti-tank missile near the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil.

Unfortunately, at the time I never heard about what happened to Yotam, and only learned about it – quite by accident – this week while celebrating the festival of Simhat Torah at my synagogue. (I could probably write a separate blog about the hearing of sad news at a happy occasion, and the diametric between the two emotional extremes, but that will have to wait for another time.)

So here I am, more than six years late, mourning the untimely death of a friend.

Meet Moustafa Geha - Lebanese Reformer Seeks Safe Haven

“...To have a real Spring in the Middle East we must support all groups [and] their rights,” he states. Thus, he is supportive of Israel. “The Jewish people have the right to have a good life without terror and wars, and I believe that if we make good peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon we can have an amazing region,” he contends.

Arnold Ahlert..
frontpagemag.com..
27 September '12..

The outspoken and courageous son of an equally outspoken and courageous father is making waves of his own. Moustafa Geha is a Lebanese political activist and journalist who has openly opposed the meddling of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah in his country’s affairs. As a result, an attempt was made to assassinate him on April 14th. Luckily, he survived. His father wasn’t as lucky. The elder Geha’s outspoken opposition to Syrian and Iranian intervention in Lebanon, as well his criticism of violent Islamists during the 1970s and 1980s, precipitated his assassination by pro-Syrian terrorists in 1992.

“I cannot forget my father’s pictures when he was assassinated by Hezbollah in 1992 and I cannot forget the sound of shooting at me in April,” Geha told FrontPage. “I want to have peace [for me] and my family too, because we have a long, bad history with killing and oppression. I want to have the right to write and publish my ideas and to be safe at the same time. For this I left Lebanon and I don’t want to come back, because I know they will kill me,” he added. Geha currently seeking political asylum in Sweden. “It’s a good country for human rights,” he notes.

The same can hardly be said for Lebanon, where the murderous machinations of Hezbollah–backed by Syria and Iran–continue to be perpetrated with impunity. In an article for Arutz Sheva’s op-ed page, Geha illuminates that history, even as he remains rightly incredulous that the European Union refuses to categorize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah “is now running world public opinion,” he writes.

Geha is on the mark. As recently as July, Cypriot Foreign Minister Gujarat Cossack-Marcolis, who presently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, contended that “there is no consensus on the [terror] issue,” because Hezbollah “also has an active political arm.” She added that the matter might be reconsidered if ”tangible evidence” reveals otherwise.

Geha offers this clueless EU bureaucrat and other like-minded Europeans a brief history of such “tangible evidence,” beginning in 1983, when Hezbollah carried out three operations. They bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 Americans, and a camp of French soldiers in the Bekaa Valley, killing 58 Frenchmen. Furthermore, they were responsible for the now infamous bombing of the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, where 241 American soldiers lost their lives. Geha’s historically inspired indictment continues, as he lists several assassinations carried out by Hezbollah over the course of decades, including the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, as well as their attack against Israel in 2006 that precipitated an all-out war. Even now, Hezbollah remains “a huge threat to Lebanese society through the group’s control of the security network, where false accusations and charges can be levied against those who oppose the fabrication of files putting them in prisons or worse,” writes Geha.

Geha went into the issue even deeper for FrontPage. After noting that neither he nor his father were followers of Islam, he explains why. “I do not believe Islam can be characterized as a religion,” he contends. “Islam is concerned only about spreading Islam. It is not concerned about the welfare of the Muslim. In the Hadith, unbelievers have three choices: accept Islam, [go to] war with Muslims, or pay a tax and live a humiliating inferior status. Living as equals in peaceful coexistence is not a choice!” He further notes the long line of civilizations destroyed by Islam on the Arabian Peninsula, and in Africa and Asia. “How many Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Bahaists and others were killed by Muslims only because they are not Muslims?” he asks. “And don’t believe those who say Islam is religion of peace,” he adds.