- A previous article addressed Lebanon's turmoil, accessed
through the following link:
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- http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/01/turmoil-in-lebanon.html
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- It discussed Israel's history of terrorizing Lebanon
through decades of belligerent interventions as early as 1954, as well
as thousands of terrorist acts against a nonviolent state whose misfortune
is being Israel's neighbor. It also discussed false accusations against
Hezbollah, a legitimate part of Lebanon's government, not a terrorist organization
as Israel and America claim.
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- Targeted Killings, An Israeli Speciality
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- Not covered was Israel's history of targeted assassinations,
way predating its founding during the Mandatory Palestine period when Jewish
terror groups targeted Jews, Brits and Arabs. Involved were paramilitary
Hagana members, Irgun headed by future prime minister Menachem Begin, and
Lehi (also called the Stern Gang) led by another future prime minister,
Yitzhak Shamir, rogue killers before entering politics.
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- In November 1944, Lehi assassinated Lord Moyne, Britain's
Middle East minister of state, near his home in Cairo. In September 1948,
it also killed UN mediator Folke Bernadotte in Jerusalem, five months after
Israel was established. Yitzhak Shamir personally approved of shooting
him to death.
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- In July 1946, Irgun bombed the King David Hotel, massacring
92 Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others, an operation future prime
minister David Ben-Gurion approved as head of the Jewish Agency at the
time.
-
- Before and after May 1948, many thousands of targeted
killings occurred or were attempted, most little remembered today except
to relatives and their descendants.
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- Little wonder Israel's history is so bloodstained, involving
individual and mass killings, including on April 9, 1948 (during Israel's
"war of independence") when Irgun, Lehi and complicit terrorists
slaughtered well over 120 Palestinian men, women and children in the bloody
Deir Yassin village massacre. On April 14, The New York Times reported
254 killed.
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- Post-1948, Palestinian supporters were targeted regionally
and in Europe. Waves of successful and attempted assassinations occurred,
notably against high-profile figures. They never stopped, including the
murder of Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, killed last February in Dubai
after two earlier failed attempts. Abu-Dhabi's the National reported he
was poisoned, drugged, and suffocated after previously surviving a failed
shooting. Found dead in a Dubai hotel on January 20, 2010, police accused
Mossad of murder.
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- Earlier incidents included Palestinians Abdel Wael Zwaiter,
shot 11 times by Israeli agents in Rome after returning home from dinner.
It was the first of dozens of retaliatory assassinations against persons
suspected of involvement in the Munich summer Olympic killings of Israeli
athletes, coaches and officials, allegedly by Black September members,
a resistance, not terrorist organization.
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- On June 14, 1980, Yahia El Meshad, then head of Iraq's
nuclear program, was found bludgeoned to death in his Paris hotel room.
No one was arrested, but French authorities named Israeli intelligence.
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- On August 20, 1983, Mamoun Meraish was shot and killed
while driving in Athens. Israeli agents were blamed.
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- During the 1970s and 1980s, Mossad was implicated in
numerous Beirut and other car bombings, one of its specialities.
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- On September 25, 1997, two Mossad agents with forged
Canadian passports attacked Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan, spraying
him with an unknown poison. He survived and recovered to explain.
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- In January 2002, a car bomb killed former Lebanese cabinet
minister Elie Hobeika and three bodyguards. In 1982, he was involved in
the infamous Sabra and Shatilla camp massacres. Days before his assassination,
he expressed willingness to implicate then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's
direct role. Clearly, Mossad killed him to prevent it.
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- In May 2002, Mossad murdered Mohammed Jihad Jibril, son
of Ahmed Jibril, founder and head of the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine (PFLP).
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- In August 2003, Mossad assassinated Ali Hassan Saheh,
Hezbollah's top security officer. Prime Minister Sharon ordered Meir Dagan,
its head until January 1, 2011, to conduct assassinations abroad. No persuasion
was needed for why Mossad exists in the first place, a de facto Murder,
Inc. within or outside Israel, making Mafia families seem almost saintly
by comparison.
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- From 2002 - 2006, it was responsible for numerous car
bombings, killing Hezbollah, Hamas, and other officials regionally.
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- On February 12, 2008, a car bomb killed Hezbollah member
Imad Hugniyeh in Damascus. Mossad again was responsible.
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- On August 1, 2008, it killed Muhammad Suleiman, a Syrian
army officer close to President Bashar al-Assad, shot by snipers offshore
near his vacation villa.
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- Rafik Hariri's Assassination
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- On February 14, 2005, compelling visual and audio evidence
revealed real time intercepted Israel aerial surveillance footage of routes
former Prime Minister Hariri used on the day his motorcade was attacked.
Clearly, Israel was involved.
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- At the time, New York Times writer Hassan Fattah headlined,
"Beirut Car Bomb Kills Ex-Premier; Stability at Risk," saying:
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- "An enormous car bomb blasted (Hariri's) motorcade,
(killing) him and 11 others in the most serious blow to (Lebanon's) stability....in
more than a decade. (He) was pronounced dead on arrival at the American
University Hospital in Beirut."
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- Washington blamed Syria. Al-Assad denied responsibility.
Hezbollah was later falsely named. It was a typical Mossad assassination
though no one at the time knew for sure. The blast ripped a 30 foot crater
in the street, injuring over 100 besides those killed.
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- An International Court of Justice (ICC) Special Tribunal
(STL) investigated Hariri's killing. On January 17, its sealed indictment
was released, Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare saying the next day
that the confidential document was important for the people of Lebanon,
the international community, and "for those who believe in international
justice."
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- Clearly, none is planned because of enormous Washington/Israeli
pressure to blame Hezbollah and perhaps Iran for a typical Mossad operation.
Belgian Judge Daniel Fransen got the indictment to determine if credible
evidence warrants trial. Reportedly, without corroboration, one person
named is Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for giving instructions to kill
Hariri, though like Hezbollah and Syria, the Islamic Republic had nothing
to gain from his assassination.
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- The Netherland's-based court registrar, Herman von Hebel,
said material given Fransen contains "thousands of pages" of
documents and DVDs, adding that it will take at least six to 10 weeks to
review them before proceeding further, including a possible trial.
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- On January 17, an Obama released statement said:
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- "I welcome the announcement by the Office of the
Prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon today that he has filed
an indictment relating to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq
Hariri and 22 others. This action represents an important step toward ending
the era of impunity for murder in Lebanon, and achieving justice for the
Lebanese people."
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- Israel wasn't implicated. Names omitted, Obama suggested
others, notably Hezbollah, perhaps Iran or Syria, not Mossad for one of
its signature operations, besides kidnappings, shootings, poisonings, and
other ways of committing murder, including strong evidence it assassinated
Yasser Arafat. In November 2004, he died in a Paris hospital after succumbing
to an undiagnosed illness, believed caused by a slow-acting, hard to detect
poison.
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- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a US tool, urged Lebanon
to form a new government as soon as possible. Explaining his support for
the tribunal, he told an Abu Dhabi news conference that it's "important
not to pre-judge the outcome of the investigation, and no one should politicize
(its) work...."
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- In fact, Washington and Israel politicized it from the
start to point fingers away from where they belong.
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- On January 18, Reuters headlined, "Tensions high
in Beirut after Hariri indictment," saying:
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- "Lebanese security forces deployed in central Beirut
on Tuesday and several schools closed in response to tentions surrounding
a draft indictment over the 2005 (Hariri) killing...."
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- Hezbollah no doubt will be named. Its leaders deny involvement,
accusing the tribunal of being an "Israeli tool." Al-Manar television
said America was behind the released draft to sabotage efforts to resolve
Lebanon's crisis after Hezbollah pulled out of the government, causing
it to dissolve. It accused Washington of "pushing the indictment ahead
to light the fuse to blow up the bridges for a solution," adding that
"Americans control the indictment in form and content."
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- Joint US/Israeli Interests
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- For geopolitical reasons, Washington and Israel provoke
tensions, strife, and violence, at times erupting in war, including in
2006 against Lebanon, 2008-09 Cast Lead against Gaza, and whatever may
be planned ahead, perhaps against Hezbollah and/or Hamas.
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- On January 16, Hezbollah leader Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah
said "We will not allow our reputation and our honor to be touched."
A US embassy spokesman said America "does not interfere in Lebanon's
internal political matters." In fact, Washington meddles globally,
notably with Israel.
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- Cui Bono?
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- Not Syria forced to withdraw its forces from Lebanon,
substantially reducing though not ending its influence there. Not Hezbollah
either with nothing to gain but plenty to lose if, in fact, proved responsible,
or unjustifiably convicted for killing Hariri.
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- After its May 2000 Lebanon withdrawal, two primary Israeli
goals were forcing Syria out and weakening or destroying Hezbollah. After
Hariri's assassination, Middle East expert Sam Hamod said:
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- 'We must do as they do in other criminal cases, look
at who had the most to gain from (Hariri's killing). The Lebanese (including
Hezbollah) had a lot to lose, as did the Syrians. No matter where else
you look, no one else had anything to gain except Israel and the US. America
quickly pointed the finger at Syria, as did Israel, which was tantamount
to convicting themselves because they are the only two countries that would
gain by creating unrest in Lebanon."
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- UK journalist Patrick Seale, writing in the London Guardian,
agreed, saying:
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- "If Syria killed (Hariri), it must be judged an
act of political suicide. (Assassinating him would) destroy its reputation
and hand its enemies a weapon with which to deliver the blow that could
finally destabilize the Damascus regime....The murder is more likely to
be the work of one of its many enemies."
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- The same reasoning applies to Hezbollah, a close Syrian
and Iranian ally. After Damascus was absolved, Hezbollah remained a convenient
target, no matter the lack of evidence or motive for acting self-destructively.
Israel and Washington want its political influence weakened and military
effectiveness destroyed. In 2006, IDF forces tried and failed.
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- A Final Comment
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- Whether or not future conflict is planned, current strategy
is neutralizing Hezbollah by indictment for Hariri's killing, a transparent
plan fooling no one in Lebanon. As of now, it's destabilized in limbo under
caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, ahead of attempts to form a new government.
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- On January 21, Lebanon's Daily Star reported that:
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- "After two days of intensive talks with Lebanese
leaders and rival factions, including Hezbollah leader Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah,
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, and Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, (they) left Beirut at dawn Thursday,
saying they were suspending the mediation attempts."
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- The previous day, Saudi Arabia also pulled out, warning
that Lebanon could be partitioned. On January 20, Davutoglu said Lebanese
parties weren't close to an agreement, adding that he's willing to help
forge a new approach to avoid unrest. Everything so far is in flux, leaving
Lebanon stabilized without resolution.
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- In his January 21 Daily Start op-ed headlined, "What
Hezbollah might face once the trial begins," University of Otago,
New Zealand Professor William Harris said:
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- "We know....almost certainly (persons) aligned with
Hezbollah, Syria and Iran" will be named, but unclear whether Syrian
or Iranian figures will be indicted.
-
- Individuals, not nations or political groups will be
named. Nonetheless, believes Harris, "the consequences for (Hezbollah)
longer term may be catastrophic." If its members are convicted, "it
is difficult to see how the party could thereafter take part in Lebanese
official business as if nothing had happened...."
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- It would also raise suspicions for its involvement in
other political killings. "Any organization or regime tarred with
this brush will be politically finished in any meaningful sense."
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- Not everyone shares that view, perhaps including long-time
Beirut-based journalist Robert Fisk in his January 18 article headlined,
"Names of Hariri killing suspects handed to judge," saying:
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- Manipulated false evidence corrupted the tribunal process.
A "score of (arrested) Lebanese mobile phone company officials proves
Israel tampered with phone records on the day of (Hariri's) murder, (and)
that four 'false witnesses' who perjured themselves to the UN should be
arrested themselves."
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- Their "evidence" got four Lebanese security
generals falsely imprisoned without trial, "the UN, with much embarrassment,
forced to release them." Saad Hariri was involved. A lot of people
are talking nonsense, said Fisk, "not least US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, (insisting) that the UN tribunal be 'respected,' even
though most Lebanese are running a mile from it."
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- Though "Nasrallah is obviously worried," so
are "a number of 'false witnesses' " whose testimonies are being
used to indict Hezbollah and perhaps others. As for the UN, says Fisk,
it "looks like a jackass." Whoever knows who killed Hariri, an
"awful lot of Lebanese are breathless....not to find out." It'll
be weeks before names are known, but already clear Israel will be absolved
despite credible whitewashed evidence.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
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- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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