Hizbullah Kembali Serukan Persatuan Nasional
Islam
Times- http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcdj90sxyt0sn6.lp2y.html
"Hizbullah tidak akan melontarkan tuduhan dan tidak akan
menanggapi tuduhan," tegasnya, dan memperingatkan, "semua orang akan
minum dari cawan pahit dari skema kriminal dan respon harus dilakukan
melalui pemahaman politik dan pembentukan cepat dari kabinet persatuan
nasional.
Sheikh Naim Qassem
Gerakan Perlawanan Hizbullah kembali menyerukan persatuan nasional
pasca pemboman yang menewaskan sedikitnya lima orang dan melukai lebih
dari 77 lainnya di Beirut selatan.
Pernyataan itu diutarakan oleh Sheikh Naim Qassem, wakil sekretaris jenderal gerakan perlawanan Libanon pada Kamis, 02/01/14, dan menyerukan pemahaman politik serta pembentukan kabinet persatuan nasional secepatnya untuk menghindari kehancuran Libanon.
"Pengeboman kriminal yang terjadi di Dahieh hari ini (Kamis Sore, 02/01/14) adalah bagian dari rangkaian dan kita tidak bisa mengatasi hal itu sebagai tindakan terpisah atau istimewa," kata Qassem dan menambahkan, "Pemboman itu menargetkan warga biasa dan bukan Hizbullah".
"Hizbullah tidak akan melontarkan tuduhan dan tidak akan menanggapi tuduhan," tegasnya, dan memperingatkan, "semua orang akan minum dari cawan pahit dari skema kriminal dan respon harus dilakukan melalui pemahaman politik dan pembentukan cepat dari kabinet persatuan nasional.
"Kami tertarik pada stabilitas dan keamanan negara, dan kami tidak akan menghiraukan laporan tergesa-gesa dari beberapa pihak. Negara ini bukanlah sebuah peternakan bagi siapa saja, dan tidak ada yang bisa menghilangkan yang lain," tegas orang nomer dua di Hizbullah itu.
"Libanon akan menuju kehancuran jika tidak ada pemahaman politik."
"Kita tidak dapat menyelamatkannya jika kita tidak merapatkan barisan.
"Jika beberapa pihak tidak mau mengakui hal ini, itu berarti bahwa mereka akan menyeret negara ke dalam kehancuran," tegas Qassem.
Sebelumnya pada hari Kamis, sedikitnya lima orang tewas dan 77 lainnya luka-luka dalam serangan bom mobil yang mengguncang pinggiran selatan Beirut Haret Hreik, sebuah wilayah yang meruoakan benteng Hizbullah. [IT/Onh/Ass]
Hizbollah kembali mendapatkan serangan bom. Pada hari Kamis (2/1), kawasan Dahiyeh di Beirut Selatan yang merupakan basis pendukung kelompok ini mengalami serangan bom bunuh diri yang menewaskan 4 orang dan melukai puluhan orang lainnya. Namun Hizbollah tetap berbesar hati dengan menyerukan persatuan nasional daripada mengeluarkan tuduhan penuh kebencian kepada lawan-lawan politiknya.
Ledakan tersebut merupakan yang ke-empat yang terjadi di Dahiyeh sejak pertengahan tahun lalu. Terjadi di Jalan Al-Arid di perkampungan Haret Hreik yang padat penduduk, pelaku pemboman tampak membidikkan sasarannya pada kerumunan penduduk untuk menimbulkan korban yang banyak. Belum ada pihak yang mengaku bertanggungjawab atas serangan tersebut, namun sebagai serangan-serangan sebelumnya tampaknya dilakukan oleh kelompok-kelompok takfiri yang terkait dengan Al Qaida yang mendapat perlindungan politik dari kelompok Al Muqtabal (Gerakan Masa Depan) yang dikenal juga sebagai kepanjangan tangan kepentingan Saudi Arabia.
Serangan-serangan bom tersebut diduga kuat terkait dengan keterlibatan Hizbollah dalam konflik di Syria sebagaimana dinyatakan para para pelaku pemboman-pemboman sebelumnya. Sebagaimana diketahui sejak bulan Mei 2013 Hizbollah mulai terlibat dalam konflik Syria dengan mendukung pemerintah Bashar al Assad dalam pertempuran Al Qusayr yang berhasil dimenangkannya. Sejak itulah serangan-serangan bom itu terjadi.
Ledakan tersebut merusak setidaknya 6 gedung, menghancurkan sejumlah kendaraan dan memecahkan jendela gedung-gedung di sekitar lokasi ledakan. Para awak medis rumah sakit Bahman Hospital menyatakan telah menemukan serpihan tubuh yang diduga pelaku pembom bunuh diri.
Laporan-laporan awal menyebutkan ledakan tersebut ledakan terjadi tidak terjalu jauh dari kantor biro politik Hizbollah dan televisi "Al Manar", namun baik Hizbollah maupun "Al Manar" menyatakan tidak ada anggotanya yang menjadi korban ledakan.
Militer Lebanon menyebutkan ledakan ditimbulkan oleh bom seberat 20 kg. Adapun kendaraan yang digunakan pelaku pemboman teridentifikasi sebagai Jeep Grand Cherokee warna hijau zaitun bernomor 341580 G.
PM Caretaker Najib Mikati (PM terpilih Tamam Salam belum berhasil membentuk pemerintahan) mengutuk serangan tersebut sebagai aksi terorisme yang ditujukan untuk menghancurkan Lebanon secara keseluruhan dan bukan ditujukan kepada kelompok tertentu.
"Serangan ini, hanya beberapa hari setelah serangan yang menewaskan mantan menkeu Mohammed Shattah dan serangan-serangan lainnya membuktikan sekali lagi bahwa tangan-tangan terorisme tidak pernah membedakan antara kelompok-kelompok di Lebanon, dan tidak menginginkan negara ini menjadi maju," kata Mikati.
Atas terjadinya serangan-serangan tersebut Mikati mengajak seluruh warga Lebanon untuk berfikir rasional dan bekerjasama secara politik dan menghentikan saling permusuhan untuk menghindarkan diri dari bahaya yang lebih besar.
Sementara Mendagri Marwan Charbel mengatakan kepada media Lebanon bahwa pemerintah telah berusaha sekuat tenaga untuk memberikan keamanan bagi seluruh warganegaranya, namun tetap tidak bisa mengimbangi ancaman-ancaman keamanan.
SERUAN HIZBOLLAHBerbeda dengan lawan-lawan politiknya yang langsung menuduh Hizbollah atas serangan bom yang menewaskan tokoh anti-Hizbollah Mohammad Shatah akhir tahun lalu, setelah terjadinya serangan di basis pendukungnya kali ini Hizbollah justru menyerukan persatuan nasional.
Wakil Sekjen Hizbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem, beberapa jam setelah terjadinya serangan bom hari Kamis (2/1) menyerukan "pengertian politik dan pembentukan kabinet pemerintahan dengan segera" untuk menghindarkan Lebanon dari kehancuran.
“Pemboman jahat yang terjadi di Dahieh hari ini merupakan bagian dari dari serangan-serangan lainnya,” kata Qassem.
“Pemboman ini ditujukan kepada masyarakat umum, bukan Hezbollah,” tambahnya.
“Hezbollah tidak akan melakukan tuduhan balik dan tidak akan menanggapi tuduhan yang telah diarahkan kepada kami. Kami peduli dengan stabilitas dan keamanan negara ini dan kami tidak akan mengeluarkan tuduhan sembarangan kepada kelompok tertentu," kata Qassem lagi.
“Lebanon akan menuju ke kehancuran bila tidak ada saling pengertian politik. Jika kelompok-kelompok lain tidak mau mengakuinya maka berarti mereka ingin membawa negara ini ke kehancuran.”
Sementara itu secara terpisah Presiden Lebanon Michel Sleiman juga menuduh pelaku pemboman merupakan bagian yang sama dengan serangan-serangan yang terjadi sebelumnya.
"Saya menyerukan pentingnya solidaritas di antara seluruh warga Lebanon yang harus mengetahui bahaya yang dihadapi Lebanon dan melakukan dialog untuk melindungi negara ini dari konspirasi jahat yang ditujukan untuk menghancurkan stabilitas,” kata Sleiman.
REF:
"Several killed in explosion in Beirut suburb"; Al-Akhbar; 2 Januari 2014
"Hezbollah calls for national unity after bombing"; Press TV; 2 Januari 2014
Pernyataan itu diutarakan oleh Sheikh Naim Qassem, wakil sekretaris jenderal gerakan perlawanan Libanon pada Kamis, 02/01/14, dan menyerukan pemahaman politik serta pembentukan kabinet persatuan nasional secepatnya untuk menghindari kehancuran Libanon.
"Pengeboman kriminal yang terjadi di Dahieh hari ini (Kamis Sore, 02/01/14) adalah bagian dari rangkaian dan kita tidak bisa mengatasi hal itu sebagai tindakan terpisah atau istimewa," kata Qassem dan menambahkan, "Pemboman itu menargetkan warga biasa dan bukan Hizbullah".
"Hizbullah tidak akan melontarkan tuduhan dan tidak akan menanggapi tuduhan," tegasnya, dan memperingatkan, "semua orang akan minum dari cawan pahit dari skema kriminal dan respon harus dilakukan melalui pemahaman politik dan pembentukan cepat dari kabinet persatuan nasional.
"Kami tertarik pada stabilitas dan keamanan negara, dan kami tidak akan menghiraukan laporan tergesa-gesa dari beberapa pihak. Negara ini bukanlah sebuah peternakan bagi siapa saja, dan tidak ada yang bisa menghilangkan yang lain," tegas orang nomer dua di Hizbullah itu.
"Libanon akan menuju kehancuran jika tidak ada pemahaman politik."
"Kita tidak dapat menyelamatkannya jika kita tidak merapatkan barisan.
"Jika beberapa pihak tidak mau mengakui hal ini, itu berarti bahwa mereka akan menyeret negara ke dalam kehancuran," tegas Qassem.
Sebelumnya pada hari Kamis, sedikitnya lima orang tewas dan 77 lainnya luka-luka dalam serangan bom mobil yang mengguncang pinggiran selatan Beirut Haret Hreik, sebuah wilayah yang meruoakan benteng Hizbullah. [IT/Onh/Ass]
HIZBOLLAH KEMBALI MENDAPAT SERANGAN BOM
http://cahyono-adi.blogspot.com/2014/01/hizbollah-kembali-mendapat-serangan-bom.html#more
(TETAP SERUKAN PERSATUAN)
Hizbollah kembali mendapatkan serangan bom. Pada hari Kamis (2/1), kawasan Dahiyeh di Beirut Selatan yang merupakan basis pendukung kelompok ini mengalami serangan bom bunuh diri yang menewaskan 4 orang dan melukai puluhan orang lainnya. Namun Hizbollah tetap berbesar hati dengan menyerukan persatuan nasional daripada mengeluarkan tuduhan penuh kebencian kepada lawan-lawan politiknya.
Ledakan tersebut merupakan yang ke-empat yang terjadi di Dahiyeh sejak pertengahan tahun lalu. Terjadi di Jalan Al-Arid di perkampungan Haret Hreik yang padat penduduk, pelaku pemboman tampak membidikkan sasarannya pada kerumunan penduduk untuk menimbulkan korban yang banyak. Belum ada pihak yang mengaku bertanggungjawab atas serangan tersebut, namun sebagai serangan-serangan sebelumnya tampaknya dilakukan oleh kelompok-kelompok takfiri yang terkait dengan Al Qaida yang mendapat perlindungan politik dari kelompok Al Muqtabal (Gerakan Masa Depan) yang dikenal juga sebagai kepanjangan tangan kepentingan Saudi Arabia.
Serangan-serangan bom tersebut diduga kuat terkait dengan keterlibatan Hizbollah dalam konflik di Syria sebagaimana dinyatakan para para pelaku pemboman-pemboman sebelumnya. Sebagaimana diketahui sejak bulan Mei 2013 Hizbollah mulai terlibat dalam konflik Syria dengan mendukung pemerintah Bashar al Assad dalam pertempuran Al Qusayr yang berhasil dimenangkannya. Sejak itulah serangan-serangan bom itu terjadi.
Ledakan tersebut merusak setidaknya 6 gedung, menghancurkan sejumlah kendaraan dan memecahkan jendela gedung-gedung di sekitar lokasi ledakan. Para awak medis rumah sakit Bahman Hospital menyatakan telah menemukan serpihan tubuh yang diduga pelaku pembom bunuh diri.
Laporan-laporan awal menyebutkan ledakan tersebut ledakan terjadi tidak terjalu jauh dari kantor biro politik Hizbollah dan televisi "Al Manar", namun baik Hizbollah maupun "Al Manar" menyatakan tidak ada anggotanya yang menjadi korban ledakan.
Militer Lebanon menyebutkan ledakan ditimbulkan oleh bom seberat 20 kg. Adapun kendaraan yang digunakan pelaku pemboman teridentifikasi sebagai Jeep Grand Cherokee warna hijau zaitun bernomor 341580 G.
PM Caretaker Najib Mikati (PM terpilih Tamam Salam belum berhasil membentuk pemerintahan) mengutuk serangan tersebut sebagai aksi terorisme yang ditujukan untuk menghancurkan Lebanon secara keseluruhan dan bukan ditujukan kepada kelompok tertentu.
"Serangan ini, hanya beberapa hari setelah serangan yang menewaskan mantan menkeu Mohammed Shattah dan serangan-serangan lainnya membuktikan sekali lagi bahwa tangan-tangan terorisme tidak pernah membedakan antara kelompok-kelompok di Lebanon, dan tidak menginginkan negara ini menjadi maju," kata Mikati.
Atas terjadinya serangan-serangan tersebut Mikati mengajak seluruh warga Lebanon untuk berfikir rasional dan bekerjasama secara politik dan menghentikan saling permusuhan untuk menghindarkan diri dari bahaya yang lebih besar.
Sementara Mendagri Marwan Charbel mengatakan kepada media Lebanon bahwa pemerintah telah berusaha sekuat tenaga untuk memberikan keamanan bagi seluruh warganegaranya, namun tetap tidak bisa mengimbangi ancaman-ancaman keamanan.
SERUAN HIZBOLLAHBerbeda dengan lawan-lawan politiknya yang langsung menuduh Hizbollah atas serangan bom yang menewaskan tokoh anti-Hizbollah Mohammad Shatah akhir tahun lalu, setelah terjadinya serangan di basis pendukungnya kali ini Hizbollah justru menyerukan persatuan nasional.
Wakil Sekjen Hizbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem, beberapa jam setelah terjadinya serangan bom hari Kamis (2/1) menyerukan "pengertian politik dan pembentukan kabinet pemerintahan dengan segera" untuk menghindarkan Lebanon dari kehancuran.
“Pemboman jahat yang terjadi di Dahieh hari ini merupakan bagian dari dari serangan-serangan lainnya,” kata Qassem.
“Pemboman ini ditujukan kepada masyarakat umum, bukan Hezbollah,” tambahnya.
“Hezbollah tidak akan melakukan tuduhan balik dan tidak akan menanggapi tuduhan yang telah diarahkan kepada kami. Kami peduli dengan stabilitas dan keamanan negara ini dan kami tidak akan mengeluarkan tuduhan sembarangan kepada kelompok tertentu," kata Qassem lagi.
“Lebanon akan menuju ke kehancuran bila tidak ada saling pengertian politik. Jika kelompok-kelompok lain tidak mau mengakuinya maka berarti mereka ingin membawa negara ini ke kehancuran.”
Sementara itu secara terpisah Presiden Lebanon Michel Sleiman juga menuduh pelaku pemboman merupakan bagian yang sama dengan serangan-serangan yang terjadi sebelumnya.
"Saya menyerukan pentingnya solidaritas di antara seluruh warga Lebanon yang harus mengetahui bahaya yang dihadapi Lebanon dan melakukan dialog untuk melindungi negara ini dari konspirasi jahat yang ditujukan untuk menghancurkan stabilitas,” kata Sleiman.
REF:
"Several killed in explosion in Beirut suburb"; Al-Akhbar; 2 Januari 2014
"Hezbollah calls for national unity after bombing"; Press TV; 2 Januari 2014
Terorisme di Libanon Melayani Kepentingan Israel
IslamTimes. http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcewf8xwjh8xni.rabj.html
Duta besar Iran untuk Beirut mengatakan semua serangan teroris
baru-baru ini di Lebanon dilakukan untuk melayani kepentingan rezim
Israel.
Duta besar Iran untuk Beirut mengatakan semua serangan teroris baru-baru ini di Lebanon dilakukan untuk melayani kepentingan rezim Israel.
"Semua serangan teroris dalam beberapa bulan terakhir di Lebanon telah dilakukan untuk melayani kepentingan rezim Zionis Israel, dan untuk menciptakan perpecahan di Lebanon, dan semua serangan itu berasal dari satu sumber, " kata Ghazanfar Roknabadi dalam pertemuan dengan ulama Syiah Lebanon Sheikh Abdel Emir Qablan.
Dia juga menggarisbawahi perlunya kewaspadaan terhadap skema bejat Israel dan pentingnya persatuan dan solidaritas untuk melawan plot musuh.
Sheikh Qablan, untuk bagian itu, mengutuk serangan teroris di Lebanon dan mengambarkan aksi keji itu sebagai tindakan yang tidak manusiawi, Ia juga memuji status Iran di wilayah tersebut yang terus mendukung hak-hak bangsa Palestina.(IT/TGM)
Gerakan Takfiri Internasional
Eksklusif: Komandan Takfiri Akui Jalankan Titah Bandar bin Sultan
Islam
Times- http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcc4eq1i2bq148.5fa2.html
Dia tinggal di kamp militer Ayn al-Halwa di selatan Libanon
sebelum ia meninggalkan kamp menuju Suriah bekerja sama dengan Abu
Mohammad al-Joulani, amir al-Qaeda dari Front al-Nusra yang merupakan
salah satu kelompok bersenjata utama di Suriah.
Bos Takfiri
Pemimpin Takfiri asal Saudi yang melancarkan serangan mematikan terhadap kedutaan besar Iran di Libanon mengaku menerima perintah dari kepala Intelijen Saudi Arabia Bandar bin Sultan, demikian sumber-sumber Libanon mengatakan kepada al-Alam, Kamis, 02/01/14.
Pada tanggal 19 November 2013, dua serangan bom di luar Kedutaan Besar Iran di Beirut menewaskan 25 orang dan melukai lebih dari 150 lainnya.
Sumber informasi Libanon kepada al-Alam mengatakan, mereka telah menemukan informasi yang menghubungkan Majed al-Majed, komandan dari kelompok yang berafiliasi dengan al-Qaeda Brigade Abdullah Azzam yang mengaku bertanggung jawab atas serangan kepada kepala Intelijen Saudi Arabia, Bandar bin Sultan.
Al-Majed ditangkap oleh pasukan keamanan Libanon pada hari Rabu.
Dia tinggal di kamp militer Ayn al-Halwa di selatan Libanon sebelum ia meninggalkan kamp menuju Suriah bekerja sama dengan Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, amir al-Qaeda dari Front al-Nusra yang merupakan salah satu kelompok bersenjata utama di Suriah.
Menurut laporan lain, ia kembali ke Libanon dalam keadaan terluka setelah berencana meluncurkan kudeta terhadap pemimpin al-Nusra, namun kudeta itu gagal.
Menurut koresponden al-Alam, Fatima Awaza di Beirut pada Kamis, 02/01/14, al-Majed ditangkap di sebuah rumah sakit di mana ia dirawat setelah terluka dalam pertempuran di Suriah di pinggiran Dimashq.
Awaza mengatakan, pasukan keamanan Libanon melakukan tes DNA pada al-Majed untuk mengkonfirmasi identitasnya.
Dikatakan al-Majed, serangan terhadap Kedutaan Besar Iran hanyalah salah satu dari banyak serangan teroris yang dilakukan al-Majed dan bahkan berkali-kali al-Majed terlibat aksi terorisme.
Pada tanggal 3 Desember tahun lalu, Sekretaris Jenderal Hizbullah Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah mengatakan Arab Saudi berada di belakang pemboman itu dan menambahkan bahwa ia sama sekali tidak ragu bahwa badan intelijen Saudi Arabia memiliki hubungan dekat dengan Brigade Abdullah Azzam.
Bandar bin Sultan banyak disebut-sebut sebagai Komandan utama beberapa kelompok Takfiri terkemuka di Suriah dan berbagai negara untuk menggulingkan pemerintah setempat, termasuk di Indonesia?. [IT/Onh/Ass]
Inilah Klaim Terbaru Israel terkait Rudal Hizbullah
The Wall Street Journal baru-baru ini melaporkan, rezim Zionis Israel mengklaim bahwa banyak senjata termasuk rudal telah dipindahkan dari Suriah ke Lebanon oleh Gerakan Muqawama Islam Lebanon (Hizbullah), sementara Hizbullah sendiri juga menyimpan berbagai rudal di Suriah.
Klaim tersebut sebagai upaya Israel untuk mengobarkan perang propaganda terhadap Hizbullah. Tel Aviv ingin mengatakan bahwa ancaman Hizbullah dan arsenal rudalnya tidak hanya terbatas di Lebanon tetapi sebagian besar arsenal senjata Hizbullah ada di Suriah. Demikian dilaporkan Alalam, Sabtu (4/1).
Menurut media Amerika Serikat, Hizbullah telah berhasil memindahkan sebagian komponen sistem rudal canggih anti-kapal,Yakhont dari Suriah ke Lebanon tanpa menarik perhatian dan kecurigaan dari pasukan Angkatan Udara dan Dinas Intelijen Israel.
Surat kabar Zionis, Haaretz menulis, Hizbullah dalam proses pemindahan tersebut berusaha menonaktifkan jaringan komunikasi dan listrik di wilayah perbatasan antara Suriah dan Lebanon untuk menghalangi misi dinas rahasia Israel untuk mengontrol situasi di wilayah tersebut.
Sementara itu, para pejabat AS mengatakan, Hizbullah hingga kini belum berhasil memindahkan bagian lain dari komponen sistem rudal canggih itu sehingga tanpa komponen tersebut rudal itu tidak dapat digunakan.
Mereka menambahkan, arsenal rudal Hizbullah bertambah dan dipenuhi dengan berbagai jenis senjata termasuk rudal-rudal anti-pesawat dan sistem rudal canggih anti-kapal. (IRIB Indonesia/RA)
Majed al-Majed Meninggal Dunia di Rumah Sakit
IslamTimes. http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcizyapyt1apw2.k8ct.html
Majed al - Majed , seorang pemimpin dari kelompok al- Qaeda Saudi yang
ditangkap sehubungan dengan pemboman baru-baru ini di Lebanon, telah
meninggal dunia di rumah sakit, sumber Lebanon mengatakan, sebagaimana
yang dilansir PressTV Sabtu 4/1/14.
Majed al - Majed , seorang pemimpin dari kelompok al- Qaeda Saudi yang ditangkap sehubungan dengan pemboman baru-baru ini di Lebanon, telah meninggal dunia di rumah sakit, sumber Lebanon mengatakan, sebagaimana yang dilansir PressTV Sabtu 4/1/14.
Majed al - Majed, yang menderita penyakit ginjal dan dalam kondisi kesehatan yang buruk, telah meninggal, " kata satu sumber yang tidak menyebutkan namanya pada hari Sabtu.
Seorang jenderal militer Lebanon juga mengkonfirmasikan kematian komandan al- Qaeda itu.
Majed, yang ditangkap pada hari Senin, adalah pemimpin dari Brigade Abdullah Azzam, sebuah cabang al- Qaeda yang beroperasi di seluruh Timur Tengah.
Kelompok ini bertanggung jawab atas serangan bom kembar terhadap Kedutaan Besar Iran di ibukota Lebanon pada 19 November 2013.
Duta besar Saudi untuk Libanon, Ali Saeed Asiri, sebelumnya mengatakan bahwa Libanon harus mengekstradisi Majed untuk mengkonfirmasi identitasnya.
Pada tanggal 3 Desember, Sekretaris Jenderal Hizbullah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah mengatakan Arab Saudi berada di balik pemboman di Kedutaan Besar Iran, mengatakan ia tidak ragu bahwa badan intelijen Saudi memiliki hubungan dekat dengan teroris Brigade Abdullah Azzam.(IT/TGM)
Gerakan Takfiri Internasional
Tentara Libanon mengatakan, hasil tes DNA menunjukkan bahwa sosok yang ditahan di Beirut dan diduga terlibat dalam pemboman kedutaan Iran di Beirut beberapa waktu lalu adalah komandan Saudi yang berafiliasi dengan kelompok al-Qaeda, Al-Alam melaporkan, Jum'at (3/1/14).
Dalam sebuah pernyataan hari Jumat, Tentara Libanon mengatakan, tes tersebut telah menegaskan bahwa pria yang ditahan adalah Majid al-Majid, komandan Brigade Abdullah Azzam.
Kelompok itu mengaku bertanggung jawab dalam sejumlah serangan, termasuk pemboman kembar tanggal 19 November lalu di Kedubes Iran, Beirut yang menewaskan sedikitnya 25 orang dan melukai puluhan lainnya.
Al-Majid ditahan baru-baru ini di Libanon. Pejabat Libanon kemudian mengatakan DNA tersangka sedang diuji untuk mencari kepastian tentang identitasnya.
Sementara keluarga korban yang tewas dalam pemboman itu menuntut agar al-Majid diadili di Libanon.
Brigade Abdullah Azzam merupakan sebuah organisasi teroris yang dibentuk tahun 2009 dan diyakini memiliki cabang di Saudi maupun Libanon. Menurut beberapa laporan, Majid diangkat menjadi pemimpin Brigade itu pada tahun 2012.[It/AAl/NAT]
Tes DNA Tegaskan Identitas Pelaku Bom Kedubes Iran
Islam
Times -
Dalam sebuah pernyataan hari Jumat, Tentara Libanon mengatakan,
tes tersebut telah menegaskan bahwa pria yang ditahan adalah Majid
al-Majid, komandan Brigade Abdullah Azzam.
Ledakan bom Kedubes Iran (al-Alam)
Tentara Libanon mengatakan, hasil tes DNA menunjukkan bahwa sosok yang ditahan di Beirut dan diduga terlibat dalam pemboman kedutaan Iran di Beirut beberapa waktu lalu adalah komandan Saudi yang berafiliasi dengan kelompok al-Qaeda, Al-Alam melaporkan, Jum'at (3/1/14).
Dalam sebuah pernyataan hari Jumat, Tentara Libanon mengatakan, tes tersebut telah menegaskan bahwa pria yang ditahan adalah Majid al-Majid, komandan Brigade Abdullah Azzam.
Kelompok itu mengaku bertanggung jawab dalam sejumlah serangan, termasuk pemboman kembar tanggal 19 November lalu di Kedubes Iran, Beirut yang menewaskan sedikitnya 25 orang dan melukai puluhan lainnya.
Al-Majid ditahan baru-baru ini di Libanon. Pejabat Libanon kemudian mengatakan DNA tersangka sedang diuji untuk mencari kepastian tentang identitasnya.
Sementara keluarga korban yang tewas dalam pemboman itu menuntut agar al-Majid diadili di Libanon.
Brigade Abdullah Azzam merupakan sebuah organisasi teroris yang dibentuk tahun 2009 dan diyakini memiliki cabang di Saudi maupun Libanon. Menurut beberapa laporan, Majid diangkat menjadi pemimpin Brigade itu pada tahun 2012.[It/AAl/NAT]
Ailing Saudi jihadist dies in Lebanese custody: army
The suspected leader of an al-Qaeda-linked militant group that
claimed responsibility for bombing the Iranian embassy in Beirut two
months ago died in custody on Saturday, the Lebanese army said.
Majed al-Majed, a Saudi national who was wanted by authorities in his own country, had been suffering from kidney failure and went into a coma on Friday, a source cited by Reuters said.
He died in a military hospital in Beirut on Saturday "as a result of the deterioration of his health," the army said in a statement.
Majed was believed to be the leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which have claimed attacks across the region, most recently the double suicide assault on Iran's Beirut embassy, which killed at least 25 people.
His identity was confirmed by Lebanese officials on Friday after DNA tests.
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
Majed al-Majed, a Saudi national who was wanted by authorities in his own country, had been suffering from kidney failure and went into a coma on Friday, a source cited by Reuters said.
He died in a military hospital in Beirut on Saturday "as a result of the deterioration of his health," the army said in a statement.
Majed was believed to be the leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which have claimed attacks across the region, most recently the double suicide assault on Iran's Beirut embassy, which killed at least 25 people.
His identity was confirmed by Lebanese officials on Friday after DNA tests.
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
Dahiyeh Residents Blame Saudi for Recent Bombing
The
bombing does not compare to the one in Roueiss, which was much more
devastating and killed dozens of people. Thursday’s bomb was smaller by
comparison, reportedly containing 20 kilograms of TNT. (Photo: Haytham
El-Mousawi).
On December 2, a car bomb, possibly detonated by a suicide bomber, exploded
in Dahiyeh again. On al-Arid Street of Haret Hreik, scores were killed
and injured. This was not an isolated incident, but part of the same
“death chain” as Bir al-Abed, Roueiss, Tripoli, and Bir Hassan.
Officially, al-Arid Street is called Ahmad al-Qassir Street, after
the resistance fighter who blew himself up at the Israeli occupation
military headquarters in the South Lebanon city of Sour, 31 years ago.
There is a small marble plaque that bears his name, with the title “the
herald of the era of martyrs.”
In Thursday’s blast, the plaque was damaged, but it did not fall
down. It remains legible, even though the car bomb exploded directly in
front of it.
Terrorism struck at almost the exact same place that the Israeli air
force targeted in the 2006 July War. The street is home to several
buildings that were restored after the Israeli war, including the old
Al-Manar TV building. The street was also home to Hamas’ offices for
many years, and before the Sayyid al-Shuhadaa Complex was built in
Roueiss, Hezbollah used to hold its main Ashura events right here. In
short, it is one of the most famous streets in Dahiyeh.
People reacted by swarming the blast site from all directions, guided by the column of black smoke that rose into the sky. Some were tearful, some were visibly angry, while others just stood silently on the side of the road. If a second explosion had taken place, we would have definitely seen a much worse catastrophe.
But how can people not rush to the site, knowing that they might have
friends or loved ones there? Still, there were many overly curious
individuals who stuck around despite all warnings. Not even shots in the
air could drive them away.
The bombing does not compare to the one in Roueiss, which was much
more devastating and killed dozens of people. Thursday’s bomb was
smaller by comparison, reportedly containing 20 kilograms of TNT.
Meanwhile, everyone was asking whether a suicide bomber was involved.
There were human remains on the street, but no one knew whether these
belonged to a suicide attacker or an innocent bystander who would have
been very close to the vehicle. In the Roueiss bombing, people saw human
remains that, in the beginning, were thought to belong to a suicide
bomber before investigations revealed otherwise.
While people differed over most details, they seemed to all agree on the identity of the perpetrators: Salafi takfiris.
Overheard often among the crowds was the name Bandar bin Sultan, the
infamous Saudi intelligence chief. Some people were shouting “Death to
the House of Saud,” as many people believe Prince Bandar is the
preeminent sponsor of the extremist groups they accuse of carrying out
the attack.
This street, which for decades has been adorned with banners calling
for Death to Israel, now hosts residents who feel they have become
targets for some Arabs. This is how, in their view, what they call the
“Desert Arabs” and the House of Saud are showing their gratitude to the
people of Dahiyeh, which defeated Israel and brought about the first
indisputable Arab victory against the “nation’s enemy.”
But who is the nation’s enemy now? The people of Dahiyeh ask, “What
have we done to deserve this? Where does all this hatred come from, and
why?” Some in Beirut’s southern suburb are saying: Look for
Saudi-Wahhabi fingers. Some of the angry bystanders who flocked to the
bomb site were saying it loudly, calling on Hezbollah to do something
about those “ghouls.”
It was clear that the popular mood, after the attack in Dahiyeh, is convinced now more than ever of the need to confront extremist groups in Syria and Lebanon. Perhaps the perpetrators thought that by striking at innocent civilians, they would drive them to renounce Hezbollah, or put pressure on the Resistance Party to withdraw from Hezbollah. However, the opposite happens after each attack.
Human remains were found in the car that exploded on Friday,
reinforcing the hypothesis about a suicide bomber. The security
authorities, however, have decided to wait for DNA tests before
confirming this, especially since a man who works in the area is still
missing, while his motorbike had been found close to the car that
exploded. According to a Lebanese army statement, the car was a
dark-green 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, similar to a booby-trapped car
seized in Mreijeh previously.
Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil announced that four people
died and 80 wounded, some in critical condition. But there were
subsequent reports that the number of casualties had risen, while a
final toll has yet to be announced. Some people were still looking for
their relatives in hospitals late Thursday night.
The car is registered to a woman from the Othman family. She had sold
it to a person named Mohammed Izz al-Din, who in turn sold it to Sami
Houjeiri from the town of Ersal. On Friday, both men turned themselves
over to the Lebanese army. At a later time, Al-Manar TV said a man
called Abdul-Basset Ammoun bought the car, and then gave it to his
relative Rakkan Ammoun, who “sold it four months ago to Syrians active
in the opposition,” according to Lebanese security officials.
Back on Ahmad al-Qassir Street, hundreds of people, soldiers, and
police officers, and dozens of ambulances and fire trucks, were still at
the scene. Many Dahiyeh residents now understand that they are facing a
“death chain,” a series of bombings that will continue to target them.
This is perhaps why a young man was telling a companion in the crowd
yesterday, “Nothing will stop this unless explosions echo in the palaces
of the House of Saud.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Updated 10:30 pm: An apparent suicide bomber detonated a car
rigged with explosives in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday,
killing at least four people and injuring 77, Lebanon's national news
agency said.
The health ministry released a statement saying a further 67 people were treated in hospitals for minor wounds and released, while 10 people remained hospitalized for severe injuries.
Thursday's explosion, the fourth such bombing in Beirut's southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh since July 2013, took place on al-Arid Street in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik. The attack appeared to target civilians in the densely populated neighborhood packed with shops, clothing stores and restaurants.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but previous attacks were believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda-linked groups or groups with ties to the Islamist rebels fighting in Syria.
Residents of the southern suburbs overwhelmingly support the powerful Hezbollah movement, which has been repeatedly threatened and targeted by Islamist rebels fighting to overthrow the Syrian government.
The attacks began after Hezbollah intervened in the neighboring conflict last year on the side of government forces. Rebels have vowed to continue striking Lebanon until the movement withdraws its troops.
The explosion came six days after a massive car bomb killed former finance Minister Mohammed Shatah and seven others in downtown Beirut. There is no clear connection between the two bombings.
Officials at the Bahman Hospital said they recovered the remains of who is believed to be a suicide bomber.
"The target is clear. It's the [Lebanese] people. This type of terrorism attacks all parts of Lebanon, no matter their political orientation...The target is Lebanon, all of Lebanon," Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah told Al Jadeed televeion.
"We're not going to blame anyone yet. We have to wait for the investigation. But whoever was behind the explosion that killed Mohammed Shatah, and whoever did this, we put them in the same category. These are terrorist acts," MP Bilal Farhat, also from Hezbollah, told television reporters from the site of the blast.
A man walks over glass near the site of a deadly blast in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut on January 2, 2014. (Photo: Al-Akhbar - Marc Abizeid)
The explosion damaged at least six buildings, reduced cars to twisted metal and shattered windows.
"I was at home playing on Facebook when I heard a loud thump. It didn't sound like a bomb. I thought someone had banged on the wall," a teenager told Al-Akhbar near the scene of the blast.
He said his home was about 800 meters from the explosion and that he rushed to the area to check on his father who works at an office near the explosion.
Initial reports stated the blast occurred more than a hundred meters from Hezbollah's political bureau, as well as the old Al Manar television building. Sources in Hezbollah said none of its party members were targeted in the explosion.
Security forces pleaded with the hundreds of residents who swarmed the area surrounding the explosion to return to their homes to make way for emergency vehicles. Some troops fired weapons into the air to disperse the crowd, sending a stampede of spectators fleeing.
TV footage showed a young man sobbing outside a hospital as he searched for his teenage cousin, Ali Hassan Khadra.
"We went to all the hospitals looking for him. No one knows anything about him," the man said as the TV reporter held up a picture of the missing boy on his phone.
Lebanon's National News Agency later reported that the boy was killed in the blast.
The Lebanese army said a preliminary probe indicated a 20 kilogram bomb was used in the explosion. The vehicle driven by the suspected suicide bomber was identified as an olive green Jeep Grand Cherokee, license plate number 341580 G.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced the bombing in a statement issued by his press office.
"The attack of the southern neighborhood of Beirut, only days after the terrorist explosion that killed the former minister Mohammed Shattah and others, proves once again that the hands of terrorism does not differ between any Lebanese, and does not want this country to progress," Mikati said.
"From this standpoint, we urge everyone to maintain reason, more so now than anytime before, and to cooperate politically and end confrontation so that we can all meet and discuss to escape this major danger," he added.
Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel told Al Jadeed, "We cannot speak about a security failure. There seems to be a bombing every week and we are trying to deal with it as best as we can. As much as we are attempting to provide security, Lebanon is facing big threats."
Residents gather near the site of the blast in Haret Hreik on January 2, 2014. (Photo: Al-Akhbar - Marc Abizeid)
Thursday's explosion was the fifth to hit Lebanon's capital and its southern suburbs since July 9, when a car bomb wounded 53 people in Dahiyeh's Bir al-Abed neighborhood.
On August 15 a massive car bomb exploded on a busy public road between the neighborhoods of Roueiss and Bir Abed in the southern suburbs, killing 27 people wounding more than 100.
A week later, on August 23, twin explosions killed at least 43 people outside two mosques in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli.
At least 23 people were killed when two suicide bombers detonated themselves outside the Iranian embassy in the southern suburb of Beirut.
And last Friday a massive car bomb killed eight in downtown Beirut, among them, Shatah, who was the first political figure to be assassinated since an October 2012 blast killed Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut's Ashrafieh district.
(Al-Akhbar)
Hezbollah has called for national unity among the Lebanese hours after a bombing killed at least five people and injured more than 70 others in southern Beirut.
Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement, on Thursday called for “political understanding and the quick formation of a national unity cabinet” to avoid the destruction of Lebanon.
“The criminal bombing that occurred in Dahieh today is part of a series and we cannot tackle it as a separate or extraordinary act,” Qassem said, adding, “The bombing targeted ordinary people and not Hezbollah.”
“Hezbollah will not trade accusations and will not respond to the allegations,” he stated.
“We are keen on the country’s stability and safety and we won’t heed the nervous statements of some parties,” Qassem said.
“Lebanon will head to destruction if there is no political understanding,” he said, adding that “we cannot save it if we don’t close ranks.”
“If some parties don’t want to acknowledge this, it means that they will drag the country into destruction,” Qassem noted.
Earlier in the day, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said the terrorists behind the bombing are those who have committed crimes recently in other parts of the country.
The car bomb had been planted “by the same hand that plants terrorism, killing and destruction everywhere in Lebanon,” the president said.
“[I] affirm the importance of solidarity among the Lebanese who should recognize the danger facing Lebanon and engage in dialogue to protect the country in the face of conspiracies aimed at dealing a blow to stability,” Sleiman stated.
He called on the country’s security services to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also said that the blast shows that terrorism does not discriminate between civilians and non-civilians.
“The hand of terrorism does not differentiate between us… Rather, it is planning a despicable conspiracy to drown Lebanese in sectarian strife,” Mikati said.
“I call on everyone to be wise more than at any other time and overcome political disputes so that we can meet and engage in dialogue,” he added.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the attack was part of the “series of conspiracies targeting Lebanon and its national unity.”
“This crime is aimed at terrorizing citizens, misleading, and creating the impression that there are many hands committing the crimes,” he said.
Berri blamed the bomb explosion on those who assassinated former Finance Minister Mohamad Chatah last week.
Thursday’s attack occurred in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik. The area is the stronghold of Lebanon’s resistance movement, Hezbollah.
The Lebanese capital has been hit by several terrorist attacks in recent months, which have left a large number of casualties.
Last November, 25 people were killed and more than 150 injured in two explosions near the Iranian Embassy in southern Beirut.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri concluded on Thursday a two-day
official visit to Cairo by holding a meeting with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, a day after he declared from the Egyptian capital that
Hezbollah is a partner in the Lebanese national-unity government.
Lebanon’s PM arrived in Cairo on Wednesday on his first official visit to Egypt. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Shami, Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi, Information Minister Tarek Mitri and other officials. He was also accompanied for the first time by his wife Lara, who lives in Saudi Arabia with the couple’s three children.
“Threatening any part of Lebanon is a threat against its government which will act on this basis,” Hariri warned following his meeting with the Egyptian President. He said that there would be a unified Arab stance towards the Israeli threats.
One day earlier, Hariri held a round of talks with his Egyptian counterpart and other officials.
At a news conference in Cairo, Hariri said the so-called Hezbollah cell is an Egyptian issue. “The issue of the Hezbollah cell is an Egyptian judiciary matter, and we reject foreign intervention in Egyptian affairs,” he stressed.
“Hezbollah is part of the political forces that emerged as a result of parliamentary elections,” Hariri said at the same time. Hezbollah “is a partner in the government of national unity,” he emphasized.
Hariri’s visit comes after trips to France and Turkey earlier this month and after his landmark December trip to Syria.
Commenting on Hariri’s state visit to Egypt, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit told reporters in Paris that talks would focus on promoting mutual cooperation. He also condemned recent Israeli threats against Lebanon. “We are against any act which would be unjustified and unacceptable,” he said.
American Jews are expected by the Israeli government and by its American lobbying arms, such as AIPAC, to unequivocally support Israel against its very real enemies, but also any against criticism whether from abroad or within the American Jewish community.
The prevailing mode is “Israel can do no wrong,” and AIPAC demands American Jews march in lockstep. But Israeli policies of the moment can and do betray values held by a large swatch of American Jewry, including their independence of mind, and the right to dissent, whether as Americans or as Jews.
The moment is difficult. Benjamin Netanyahu’s embarrassing, intemperate outbursts following the interim agreement between the United States and its allies and Iran further isolated Israel diplomatically.
But the Israeli Prime Minister continues to work the back door as he recently announced that he had dispatched a delegation of Israeli military and intelligence experts to “advise” their American counterparts on Iran. We can be certain that he did not send any prominent and numerous Israeli experts who have courageously opposed his adventurism.
Now comes a “bipartisan” group of U.S. senators determined to join Israel in isolation. They are motivated from little else other than electoral fears and campaign contributions.
They have offered legislation imposing new, more severe sanctions on Iran at a most inopportune time, and a pledge of American diplomatic and military support if the Israelis attack Iran. Talk about blank checks.
Israeli lobby groups such as AIPAC actively support the measure, meaning so does the Israeli government. It seemed inconceivable that anything could surpass Netanyahu’s audacity and obtuseness. Maybe Congress’s dysfunctional is better than functional.
Since Barack Obama emerged on the national political scene, there has been a sub-current of belief that he was “bad for the Jews,” and would undermine the Israelis. Given Obama’s circle of Jewish friends, financial backers, and ardent supporters, this was absurd on its face.
But the underlying motivation is obvious — start with racism and the belief that Obama is a covert Muslim. Such whispered sentiments became commonplace in influential Israeli circles — the governing Likud party, religious parties, and settlers. The proposed congressional action is intended to embrace an Israeli alliance as never before, and added bonus, embarrass the President of the United States, which makes for good spin in Israel.
American Jews do not support such knee-jerk reactions. Polls consistently show support for Obama at a very high level of; further, they reject (albeit passively) the Israeli maintenance of the Occupation and oppose an Israeli air strike against Iran. It is not rocket science to see the downside for both Israelis and Americans if Iran is attacked. Who wants radioactive clouds over the entire region?
Would it destroy Iran’s future capability to develop nuclear weapons? Would it destroy Iran’s nuclear development — which it has every right to do notwithstanding Israel’s singular objections? And then what of Israel’s place in the international community — let alone the United States’s preeminent role in international leadership?…
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Carl Levin (D-MI) — and not insignificantly, they are Jewish — only delicately criticized their bellicose colleagues, as did the administration’s chief spokesman, Secretary of State John Kerry.
Beyond the international flap, American Jews ought to be concerned how controversial Israeli positions and statements are causing significant cleavages within our own Jewish community. An undeservedly little-known website, MuzzleWatch, which is devoted to tracking the stifling of open debate about US – Israeli foreign-policy is most instructive.
MuzzleWatch reported an incident at Harvard in November 2013, when Harvard’s Hillel “student organization,” barred a talk from Avraham Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset. The governing body, not the students, complained that the talk was co-sponsored by the Palestinian Solidarity committee, as well as several Jewish pro-peace groups. A Harvard student appropriately responded that this was “an attack on free speech in its most naked form.”
“I’m not sure what they were afraid of — people with all kinds of political views had a very constructive conversation with Mr. Burg,” she added. Are we to believe that nearly 8 million Israeli Jews think alike?
Burg is a well-known Israeli political figure; his father was the longtime Minister for Religious Affairs in Israel’s founding decades. Views such as his apparently are dangerous for the tender minds of Harvard students. In 2003, he published an article in of all places, Israel Today, a right-wing Israeli newspaper owned by casino owner Sheldon Adelstein, in which Burg observed:
Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centers of Israeli escapism.
Burg is reviled in Israel for breaking Israel’s long-standing “nuclear ambiguity” and denounced as a “self hating Jew” because of his criticism of the religious establishment and the Occupation, among other deviations from the now-prevailing nationalist, right-wing Israeli ideology.
Commentary magazine denounced his attempt to define a post-Zionist Israeli state as an exercise “despising Israeli democracy.”
Swarthmore College’s Hillel chapter also tried to have a balanced discussion of the Palestinian question, but the governing body prevented it. Later, apropos nothing, the chapter was vigorously denounced by the notoriously intemperate John Podhoretz, the hereditary editor of Commentary.
Parenthetically, the latter affair illustrates only too sadly what the media chooses to report. Politico described a public panel discussion as strictly a personality clash between some well-known names in the Jewish community over snubs and insults, real or alleged. MuzzleWatch, however noted that the outburst was over the very real repression at Swarthmore.
The Swarthmore Hillel student board’s reaction to the clumsy attempt at censorship undoubtedly triggered Podhoretz’s outburst. Hillel International’s declared policy prohibited student groups from partnering or hosting anyone who denied Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, or who “delegitimizes, demonizes, or applies a double standard to Israel, “or who supported any boycott or sanctions against Israel.
The students responded with a direct attack on the barring of speakers such as Burg and from Jewish Voice for Peace. Such policies, they declared, insulted the memory of their namesake, Rabbi Hillel, “who was famed for encouraging debate.”
They attacked attempts to present “a monolithic face pertaining to Zionism that does not accurately reflect the diverse opinions of young American Jews.” The Swarthmore chapter then declared itself to be an “Open Hillel,” one that would encourage “dialogue within the diverse and pluralistic Jewish student body” — meaning that they would host a partner or any speaker at their own discretion and retain “the values of open debate and discourse espoused by Rabbi Hillel.”
Beyond AIPAC’s destructive lobbying efforts — and let us hope, self-defeating — American Jews should be concerned with what is happening in their own communities. AIPAC and its like-minded allies can praise Israeli democracy but first they must respect it at home.
The Israeli government and the various lobby groups in the United States would do well to heed the stark reality of polls revealing ever-declining support for Israel among younger American Jews.
Stanley Kutler is the author of The American Inquisition: Cold War Political Trials and Dissent, among other writings. – E. Gordon Fox Professor of U.S. Institutions, University of Wisconsin.
The article originally appeared at Huffington Post.
Related posts:
Several killed in explosion in Beirut suburb
Lebanese
emergency personnel extinguish a burning car the site of a car bomb
that targeted Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik on January 2,
2014. (Photo: AFP - STR)
The health ministry released a statement saying a further 67 people were treated in hospitals for minor wounds and released, while 10 people remained hospitalized for severe injuries.
Thursday's explosion, the fourth such bombing in Beirut's southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh since July 2013, took place on al-Arid Street in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik. The attack appeared to target civilians in the densely populated neighborhood packed with shops, clothing stores and restaurants.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but previous attacks were believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda-linked groups or groups with ties to the Islamist rebels fighting in Syria.
Residents of the southern suburbs overwhelmingly support the powerful Hezbollah movement, which has been repeatedly threatened and targeted by Islamist rebels fighting to overthrow the Syrian government.
The attacks began after Hezbollah intervened in the neighboring conflict last year on the side of government forces. Rebels have vowed to continue striking Lebanon until the movement withdraws its troops.
The explosion came six days after a massive car bomb killed former finance Minister Mohammed Shatah and seven others in downtown Beirut. There is no clear connection between the two bombings.
Officials at the Bahman Hospital said they recovered the remains of who is believed to be a suicide bomber.
"The target is clear. It's the [Lebanese] people. This type of terrorism attacks all parts of Lebanon, no matter their political orientation...The target is Lebanon, all of Lebanon," Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah told Al Jadeed televeion.
"We're not going to blame anyone yet. We have to wait for the investigation. But whoever was behind the explosion that killed Mohammed Shatah, and whoever did this, we put them in the same category. These are terrorist acts," MP Bilal Farhat, also from Hezbollah, told television reporters from the site of the blast.
A man walks over glass near the site of a deadly blast in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut on January 2, 2014. (Photo: Al-Akhbar - Marc Abizeid)
The explosion damaged at least six buildings, reduced cars to twisted metal and shattered windows.
"I was at home playing on Facebook when I heard a loud thump. It didn't sound like a bomb. I thought someone had banged on the wall," a teenager told Al-Akhbar near the scene of the blast.
He said his home was about 800 meters from the explosion and that he rushed to the area to check on his father who works at an office near the explosion.
Initial reports stated the blast occurred more than a hundred meters from Hezbollah's political bureau, as well as the old Al Manar television building. Sources in Hezbollah said none of its party members were targeted in the explosion.
Security forces pleaded with the hundreds of residents who swarmed the area surrounding the explosion to return to their homes to make way for emergency vehicles. Some troops fired weapons into the air to disperse the crowd, sending a stampede of spectators fleeing.
TV footage showed a young man sobbing outside a hospital as he searched for his teenage cousin, Ali Hassan Khadra.
"We went to all the hospitals looking for him. No one knows anything about him," the man said as the TV reporter held up a picture of the missing boy on his phone.
Lebanon's National News Agency later reported that the boy was killed in the blast.
The Lebanese army said a preliminary probe indicated a 20 kilogram bomb was used in the explosion. The vehicle driven by the suspected suicide bomber was identified as an olive green Jeep Grand Cherokee, license plate number 341580 G.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced the bombing in a statement issued by his press office.
"The attack of the southern neighborhood of Beirut, only days after the terrorist explosion that killed the former minister Mohammed Shattah and others, proves once again that the hands of terrorism does not differ between any Lebanese, and does not want this country to progress," Mikati said.
"From this standpoint, we urge everyone to maintain reason, more so now than anytime before, and to cooperate politically and end confrontation so that we can all meet and discuss to escape this major danger," he added.
Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel told Al Jadeed, "We cannot speak about a security failure. There seems to be a bombing every week and we are trying to deal with it as best as we can. As much as we are attempting to provide security, Lebanon is facing big threats."
Residents gather near the site of the blast in Haret Hreik on January 2, 2014. (Photo: Al-Akhbar - Marc Abizeid)
Thursday's explosion was the fifth to hit Lebanon's capital and its southern suburbs since July 9, when a car bomb wounded 53 people in Dahiyeh's Bir al-Abed neighborhood.
On August 15 a massive car bomb exploded on a busy public road between the neighborhoods of Roueiss and Bir Abed in the southern suburbs, killing 27 people wounding more than 100.
A week later, on August 23, twin explosions killed at least 43 people outside two mosques in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli.
At least 23 people were killed when two suicide bombers detonated themselves outside the Iranian embassy in the southern suburb of Beirut.
And last Friday a massive car bomb killed eight in downtown Beirut, among them, Shatah, who was the first political figure to be assassinated since an October 2012 blast killed Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut's Ashrafieh district.
(Al-Akhbar)
Lebanese Army Captures ‘Emir’ Behind Iran Embassy Attack
All
emotions were present, so concretely that none of them are beyond
description. Even anger was here, overcoming the men who were trying in
vain to keep civilians away from the blast site to facilitate rescue
efforts. (Photo: Haytham El-Mousawi).
Majed al-Majed, Saudi emir of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, is
currently being detained at a highly secure intensive care unit
following his arrest by the Lebanese army. However, his health continues
to deteriorate due to kidney failure. Al-Akhbar has the story on how an international jihad leader was ambushed by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese army arrested the emir of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Majed al-Majed. This sounds almost unbelievable. Capturing the Saudi national alive was something many security forces dreamed of, yet the Lebanese army made it a reality a few days ago.
Authorities were quick to contain the story after it was leaked to the media. Army command made no official statement concerning the circumstances of the arrest, and officials would neither confirm nor deny the arrest. Even Lebanese Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn declined to provide a statement.
Nothing about this operation was ordinary, as Majed himself was no ordinary man. He is the emir of one of the international jihad’s most prominent and mysterious organizations.
Ten days ago, US military intelligence sent an urgent cable to the Strategic Security Branch at the Lebanese Defense Ministry, revealing that Majed was in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border town of Ersal. Later, he was moved to a house inside the town due to his critical health condition. Two days later, another cable arrived indicating there was talk of transporting Majed to a Beirut hospital to undergo urgent dialysis. On December 24, an ambulance took Majed from Ersal to Makassed Hospital in Beirut, and another cable confirmed the transfer.
Meanwhile, a special unit was formed inside army intelligence and surveyed patients who had recently entered hospitals to undergo dialysis. The unit registered 415 patients, all Lebanese except two. One was identified as an Arab citizen at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, and the other was an anonymous patient at Makassed.
A security official was later sent to Makassed Hospital and took a picture of Majed while he was sedated. The Defense Ministry compared it to another photo of the armed group leader, and a decision was made to arrest him.
An initial suggestion was made to attack the hospital and extract Majed, yet this idea was dismissed due to fears that he might have guards. Therefore, it was later decided to await the doctor’s report.
On December 26 at noon, Majed was released from the hospital, but insisted through a Syrian companion on returning to Ersal. Military intelligence monitored his ambulance as it traveled after sunset along the international highway leading to the Bekaa. A special army unit ambushed the vehicle in the Joumhour region. Several army vehicles intercepted the ambulance, and members of the military intelligence pounced on it quickly to prevent Majed and his companion from reacting due to fears that they might be holding explosive belts.
In less than two minutes, both men were arrested while the paramedics were later released.
Security forces had already received information about Majed’s poor health, indicating that one of his kidneys had completely shut down while the other had many problems that compelled him to frequent dialysis centers.
Following Majed’s arrest, a meeting was held at the army commander’s office, attended by high-ranking intelligence officers. They agreed to keep the information related to his arrest a secret and to begin his interrogation before his health further deteriorated.
A medical team was dispatched to oversee Majed’s medical condition, but security sources said no worthy information was extracted from him due to his poor health. Iran asked for its officers to participate in interrogating Majed, as his brigade claimed the suicide bombings that targeted its embassy in Beirut. Meanwhile, US intelligence received a detailed report about the arrest and Majed’s health condition.
Saudi Arabia officially requested that Lebanese authorities hand over Majed for interrogation, and that they would later return him to Lebanon. This exchange would be in line with the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, wherein Saudi Arabia could “borrow” a suspect.
While Saudi claimed that its request was quickly approved by Lebanese authorities, some information suggests that Majed’s deportation is not that simple. Security sources mention “very serious threats” by al-Qaeda to Lebanese authorities, “holding it responsible for his deportation to Saudi Arabia or his death due to the lack of necessary medical treatment.”
Army intelligence moved Majed, who occupies spot 70 on Saudi Arabia’s 85 most-wanted, to a secure location, and took special protection measures amid information of potential suicide bombings among his followers to aid in his escape.
Majed’s Rise
Majed’s name was first mentioned five years ago. A security report detailed “a large number of strangers” entering Lebanon’s Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp, and that a Saudi named Majed al-Majed was organizing them. Prominent al-Qaeda-linked militants at the time included Palestinians Naim Abbas (AKA Abu Ismail) and Ziad Abu al-Niaj (AKA Abu Osama), and Lebanese Toufic Taha (AKA Abu Mohammed).
Interestingly, Majed’s name was never mentioned in any of the investigations into suspects from “jihadi cells” linked to Taha, but he was renowned in audio tapes that took responsibility for military operations and set the general policy of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
The United States quickly confirmed the news about Majed’s arrest. The US National Security Council announced that media reports regarding his arrest were credible.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of Iran’s Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, praised the Lebanese security forces for Majed’s arrest.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades were established in 2004 and have been behind a number of operations inside Lebanon, including launching missiles from the south toward occupied Palestine, and several attacks targeting UNIFIL personnel. The Brigades issued many statements, including one from 29 April 2009 that attacked UNIFIL, army intelligence and Hezbollah.
Following the events in Syria, it issued a number of audio tapes, including one titled “A Message to Lebanese Shia,” which stated “disown Hezbollah and spare us your blood.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
The Lebanese army arrested the emir of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Majed al-Majed. This sounds almost unbelievable. Capturing the Saudi national alive was something many security forces dreamed of, yet the Lebanese army made it a reality a few days ago.
Authorities were quick to contain the story after it was leaked to the media. Army command made no official statement concerning the circumstances of the arrest, and officials would neither confirm nor deny the arrest. Even Lebanese Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn declined to provide a statement.
Nothing about this operation was ordinary, as Majed himself was no ordinary man. He is the emir of one of the international jihad’s most prominent and mysterious organizations.
Ten days ago, US military intelligence sent an urgent cable to the Strategic Security Branch at the Lebanese Defense Ministry, revealing that Majed was in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border town of Ersal. Later, he was moved to a house inside the town due to his critical health condition. Two days later, another cable arrived indicating there was talk of transporting Majed to a Beirut hospital to undergo urgent dialysis. On December 24, an ambulance took Majed from Ersal to Makassed Hospital in Beirut, and another cable confirmed the transfer.
Meanwhile, a special unit was formed inside army intelligence and surveyed patients who had recently entered hospitals to undergo dialysis. The unit registered 415 patients, all Lebanese except two. One was identified as an Arab citizen at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, and the other was an anonymous patient at Makassed.
A security official was later sent to Makassed Hospital and took a picture of Majed while he was sedated. The Defense Ministry compared it to another photo of the armed group leader, and a decision was made to arrest him.
An initial suggestion was made to attack the hospital and extract Majed, yet this idea was dismissed due to fears that he might have guards. Therefore, it was later decided to await the doctor’s report.
On December 26 at noon, Majed was released from the hospital, but insisted through a Syrian companion on returning to Ersal. Military intelligence monitored his ambulance as it traveled after sunset along the international highway leading to the Bekaa. A special army unit ambushed the vehicle in the Joumhour region. Several army vehicles intercepted the ambulance, and members of the military intelligence pounced on it quickly to prevent Majed and his companion from reacting due to fears that they might be holding explosive belts.
In less than two minutes, both men were arrested while the paramedics were later released.
Security forces had already received information about Majed’s poor health, indicating that one of his kidneys had completely shut down while the other had many problems that compelled him to frequent dialysis centers.
Following Majed’s arrest, a meeting was held at the army commander’s office, attended by high-ranking intelligence officers. They agreed to keep the information related to his arrest a secret and to begin his interrogation before his health further deteriorated.
A medical team was dispatched to oversee Majed’s medical condition, but security sources said no worthy information was extracted from him due to his poor health. Iran asked for its officers to participate in interrogating Majed, as his brigade claimed the suicide bombings that targeted its embassy in Beirut. Meanwhile, US intelligence received a detailed report about the arrest and Majed’s health condition.
Saudi Arabia officially requested that Lebanese authorities hand over Majed for interrogation, and that they would later return him to Lebanon. This exchange would be in line with the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, wherein Saudi Arabia could “borrow” a suspect.
While Saudi claimed that its request was quickly approved by Lebanese authorities, some information suggests that Majed’s deportation is not that simple. Security sources mention “very serious threats” by al-Qaeda to Lebanese authorities, “holding it responsible for his deportation to Saudi Arabia or his death due to the lack of necessary medical treatment.”
Army intelligence moved Majed, who occupies spot 70 on Saudi Arabia’s 85 most-wanted, to a secure location, and took special protection measures amid information of potential suicide bombings among his followers to aid in his escape.
Majed’s Rise
Majed’s name was first mentioned five years ago. A security report detailed “a large number of strangers” entering Lebanon’s Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp, and that a Saudi named Majed al-Majed was organizing them. Prominent al-Qaeda-linked militants at the time included Palestinians Naim Abbas (AKA Abu Ismail) and Ziad Abu al-Niaj (AKA Abu Osama), and Lebanese Toufic Taha (AKA Abu Mohammed).
Interestingly, Majed’s name was never mentioned in any of the investigations into suspects from “jihadi cells” linked to Taha, but he was renowned in audio tapes that took responsibility for military operations and set the general policy of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
The United States quickly confirmed the news about Majed’s arrest. The US National Security Council announced that media reports regarding his arrest were credible.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of Iran’s Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, praised the Lebanese security forces for Majed’s arrest.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades were established in 2004 and have been behind a number of operations inside Lebanon, including launching missiles from the south toward occupied Palestine, and several attacks targeting UNIFIL personnel. The Brigades issued many statements, including one from 29 April 2009 that attacked UNIFIL, army intelligence and Hezbollah.
Following the events in Syria, it issued a number of audio tapes, including one titled “A Message to Lebanese Shia,” which stated “disown Hezbollah and spare us your blood.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Hezbollah calls for national unity after bombing
Date and Time:3 January 2014 - 9:12 - http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2014/01/03/hezbollah-calls-for-national-unity-after-bombing/
Hezbollah has called for national unity among the Lebanese hours after a bombing killed at least five people and injured more than 70 others in southern Beirut.
Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement, on Thursday called for “political understanding and the quick formation of a national unity cabinet” to avoid the destruction of Lebanon.
“The criminal bombing that occurred in Dahieh today is part of a series and we cannot tackle it as a separate or extraordinary act,” Qassem said, adding, “The bombing targeted ordinary people and not Hezbollah.”
“Hezbollah will not trade accusations and will not respond to the allegations,” he stated.
“We are keen on the country’s stability and safety and we won’t heed the nervous statements of some parties,” Qassem said.
“Lebanon will head to destruction if there is no political understanding,” he said, adding that “we cannot save it if we don’t close ranks.”
“If some parties don’t want to acknowledge this, it means that they will drag the country into destruction,” Qassem noted.
Earlier in the day, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said the terrorists behind the bombing are those who have committed crimes recently in other parts of the country.
The car bomb had been planted “by the same hand that plants terrorism, killing and destruction everywhere in Lebanon,” the president said.
“[I] affirm the importance of solidarity among the Lebanese who should recognize the danger facing Lebanon and engage in dialogue to protect the country in the face of conspiracies aimed at dealing a blow to stability,” Sleiman stated.
He called on the country’s security services to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also said that the blast shows that terrorism does not discriminate between civilians and non-civilians.
“The hand of terrorism does not differentiate between us… Rather, it is planning a despicable conspiracy to drown Lebanese in sectarian strife,” Mikati said.
“I call on everyone to be wise more than at any other time and overcome political disputes so that we can meet and engage in dialogue,” he added.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the attack was part of the “series of conspiracies targeting Lebanon and its national unity.”
“This crime is aimed at terrorizing citizens, misleading, and creating the impression that there are many hands committing the crimes,” he said.
Berri blamed the bomb explosion on those who assassinated former Finance Minister Mohamad Chatah last week.
Thursday’s attack occurred in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik. The area is the stronghold of Lebanon’s resistance movement, Hezbollah.
The Lebanese capital has been hit by several terrorist attacks in recent months, which have left a large number of casualties.
Last November, 25 people were killed and more than 150 injured in two explosions near the Iranian Embassy in southern Beirut.
Hezbollah is partner in National Unity Gov’t
Lebanon’s PM arrived in Cairo on Wednesday on his first official visit to Egypt. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Shami, Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi, Information Minister Tarek Mitri and other officials. He was also accompanied for the first time by his wife Lara, who lives in Saudi Arabia with the couple’s three children.
“Threatening any part of Lebanon is a threat against its government which will act on this basis,” Hariri warned following his meeting with the Egyptian President. He said that there would be a unified Arab stance towards the Israeli threats.
One day earlier, Hariri held a round of talks with his Egyptian counterpart and other officials.
At a news conference in Cairo, Hariri said the so-called Hezbollah cell is an Egyptian issue. “The issue of the Hezbollah cell is an Egyptian judiciary matter, and we reject foreign intervention in Egyptian affairs,” he stressed.
“Hezbollah is part of the political forces that emerged as a result of parliamentary elections,” Hariri said at the same time. Hezbollah “is a partner in the government of national unity,” he emphasized.
Hariri’s visit comes after trips to France and Turkey earlier this month and after his landmark December trip to Syria.
Commenting on Hariri’s state visit to Egypt, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit told reporters in Paris that talks would focus on promoting mutual cooperation. He also condemned recent Israeli threats against Lebanon. “We are against any act which would be unjustified and unacceptable,” he said.
‘Israel can do no wrong’: Jewish dissent, Jewish repression
Date and Time:4 January 2014 - 17:07 - http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2014/01/04/israel-can-do-no-wrong-jewish-dissent-jewish-repression/
American Jews are expected by the Israeli government and by its American lobbying arms, such as AIPAC, to unequivocally support Israel against its very real enemies, but also any against criticism whether from abroad or within the American Jewish community.
The prevailing mode is “Israel can do no wrong,” and AIPAC demands American Jews march in lockstep. But Israeli policies of the moment can and do betray values held by a large swatch of American Jewry, including their independence of mind, and the right to dissent, whether as Americans or as Jews.
The moment is difficult. Benjamin Netanyahu’s embarrassing, intemperate outbursts following the interim agreement between the United States and its allies and Iran further isolated Israel diplomatically.
But the Israeli Prime Minister continues to work the back door as he recently announced that he had dispatched a delegation of Israeli military and intelligence experts to “advise” their American counterparts on Iran. We can be certain that he did not send any prominent and numerous Israeli experts who have courageously opposed his adventurism.
Now comes a “bipartisan” group of U.S. senators determined to join Israel in isolation. They are motivated from little else other than electoral fears and campaign contributions.
They have offered legislation imposing new, more severe sanctions on Iran at a most inopportune time, and a pledge of American diplomatic and military support if the Israelis attack Iran. Talk about blank checks.
Israeli lobby groups such as AIPAC actively support the measure, meaning so does the Israeli government. It seemed inconceivable that anything could surpass Netanyahu’s audacity and obtuseness. Maybe Congress’s dysfunctional is better than functional.
Since Barack Obama emerged on the national political scene, there has been a sub-current of belief that he was “bad for the Jews,” and would undermine the Israelis. Given Obama’s circle of Jewish friends, financial backers, and ardent supporters, this was absurd on its face.
But the underlying motivation is obvious — start with racism and the belief that Obama is a covert Muslim. Such whispered sentiments became commonplace in influential Israeli circles — the governing Likud party, religious parties, and settlers. The proposed congressional action is intended to embrace an Israeli alliance as never before, and added bonus, embarrass the President of the United States, which makes for good spin in Israel.
American Jews do not support such knee-jerk reactions. Polls consistently show support for Obama at a very high level of; further, they reject (albeit passively) the Israeli maintenance of the Occupation and oppose an Israeli air strike against Iran. It is not rocket science to see the downside for both Israelis and Americans if Iran is attacked. Who wants radioactive clouds over the entire region?
Would it destroy Iran’s future capability to develop nuclear weapons? Would it destroy Iran’s nuclear development — which it has every right to do notwithstanding Israel’s singular objections? And then what of Israel’s place in the international community — let alone the United States’s preeminent role in international leadership?…
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Carl Levin (D-MI) — and not insignificantly, they are Jewish — only delicately criticized their bellicose colleagues, as did the administration’s chief spokesman, Secretary of State John Kerry.
Beyond the international flap, American Jews ought to be concerned how controversial Israeli positions and statements are causing significant cleavages within our own Jewish community. An undeservedly little-known website, MuzzleWatch, which is devoted to tracking the stifling of open debate about US – Israeli foreign-policy is most instructive.
MuzzleWatch reported an incident at Harvard in November 2013, when Harvard’s Hillel “student organization,” barred a talk from Avraham Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset. The governing body, not the students, complained that the talk was co-sponsored by the Palestinian Solidarity committee, as well as several Jewish pro-peace groups. A Harvard student appropriately responded that this was “an attack on free speech in its most naked form.”
“I’m not sure what they were afraid of — people with all kinds of political views had a very constructive conversation with Mr. Burg,” she added. Are we to believe that nearly 8 million Israeli Jews think alike?
Burg is a well-known Israeli political figure; his father was the longtime Minister for Religious Affairs in Israel’s founding decades. Views such as his apparently are dangerous for the tender minds of Harvard students. In 2003, he published an article in of all places, Israel Today, a right-wing Israeli newspaper owned by casino owner Sheldon Adelstein, in which Burg observed:
Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centers of Israeli escapism.
Burg is reviled in Israel for breaking Israel’s long-standing “nuclear ambiguity” and denounced as a “self hating Jew” because of his criticism of the religious establishment and the Occupation, among other deviations from the now-prevailing nationalist, right-wing Israeli ideology.
Commentary magazine denounced his attempt to define a post-Zionist Israeli state as an exercise “despising Israeli democracy.”
Swarthmore College’s Hillel chapter also tried to have a balanced discussion of the Palestinian question, but the governing body prevented it. Later, apropos nothing, the chapter was vigorously denounced by the notoriously intemperate John Podhoretz, the hereditary editor of Commentary.
Parenthetically, the latter affair illustrates only too sadly what the media chooses to report. Politico described a public panel discussion as strictly a personality clash between some well-known names in the Jewish community over snubs and insults, real or alleged. MuzzleWatch, however noted that the outburst was over the very real repression at Swarthmore.
The Swarthmore Hillel student board’s reaction to the clumsy attempt at censorship undoubtedly triggered Podhoretz’s outburst. Hillel International’s declared policy prohibited student groups from partnering or hosting anyone who denied Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, or who “delegitimizes, demonizes, or applies a double standard to Israel, “or who supported any boycott or sanctions against Israel.
The students responded with a direct attack on the barring of speakers such as Burg and from Jewish Voice for Peace. Such policies, they declared, insulted the memory of their namesake, Rabbi Hillel, “who was famed for encouraging debate.”
They attacked attempts to present “a monolithic face pertaining to Zionism that does not accurately reflect the diverse opinions of young American Jews.” The Swarthmore chapter then declared itself to be an “Open Hillel,” one that would encourage “dialogue within the diverse and pluralistic Jewish student body” — meaning that they would host a partner or any speaker at their own discretion and retain “the values of open debate and discourse espoused by Rabbi Hillel.”
Beyond AIPAC’s destructive lobbying efforts — and let us hope, self-defeating — American Jews should be concerned with what is happening in their own communities. AIPAC and its like-minded allies can praise Israeli democracy but first they must respect it at home.
The Israeli government and the various lobby groups in the United States would do well to heed the stark reality of polls revealing ever-declining support for Israel among younger American Jews.
Stanley Kutler is the author of The American Inquisition: Cold War Political Trials and Dissent, among other writings. – E. Gordon Fox Professor of U.S. Institutions, University of Wisconsin.
The article originally appeared at Huffington Post.
Related posts:
- Israel to move Iran’s Jewish to Palestine
- Israel no top priority for Jewish voters in US election: Report
- Punish Israel: Iran Jewish community
- Jewish flotilla to set sail for Gaza
- Panetta’s Slaughterer Israel visit part of political bid to win Jewish vote in US
- Racist Israel spurns blood donation of Ethiopian-born Jewish MP
- Israel alone in the world
- Israel vows to stop Jewish aid boat
- Israel seals off Gaza on Jewish holiday
- Racism rising in Israel, survey shows
Jihadist ISIS captures Fallujah from Iraqi forces
Smoke
billows from a police car following clashes between jihadists and Iraqi
forces backed by tribesmen in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, West of
Baghdad, on January 1, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Azhar Shallal)
The Iraqi government has lost control of Fallujah to Al-Qaeda-linked
militants, a senior security official said Saturday, after days of
fighting sparked by an anti-government protest camp's removal.
Parts of the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad, have been held by militants for days.
Fighting erupted in the Ramadi area Monday, when security forces removed the main anti-government protest camp set up after demonstrations broke out in late 2012 against what minority Sunnis say is the marginalization and targeting of their community.
Anger at the government among the Sunni minority is seen as one of the main drivers of the worst violence to hit Iraq in five years.
"Fallujah is under the control of ISIS," a senior security official in Anbar province told AFP, referring to al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
However, the city's outskirts were in the hands of local police, the official added.
An AFP journalist in Fallujah also said that ISIS seemed to be in control, with no security forces or Sahwa anti-al-Qaeda militiamen visible on the streets.
More than 100 people were killed on Friday during fighting in Ramadi and Fallujah, in the country's deadliest single day in years.
Fourteen died in and near Ramadi on Monday and Tuesday, while later tolls were not immediately clear.
Hundreds of gunmen, some bearing the black flags often flown by jihadists, gathered at outdoor weekly Muslim prayers in central Fallujah on Friday, a witness said.
One went to where the prayer leader had stood, and said: "We announce that Fallujah is an Islamic state and call you to stand by our side."
Fallujah was the target of two major assaults after the 2003 invasion, in which American forces saw some of their heaviest fighting since the Vietnam War.
American troops fought for years, aided by Sunni tribesmen in the Sahwa militia forces from late 2006, but ultimately failed to conquer the city.
US forces suffered almost one-third of their total Iraq fatalities in Anbar, according to independent website icasualties.org.
Clashes erupted in the Ramadi area on Monday as security forces tore down the sprawling anti-government protest camp.
The violence then spread to Fallujah, and a subsequent withdrawal of security forces from areas of both cities cleared the way for ISIS to move in.
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
Parts of the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad, have been held by militants for days.
Fighting erupted in the Ramadi area Monday, when security forces removed the main anti-government protest camp set up after demonstrations broke out in late 2012 against what minority Sunnis say is the marginalization and targeting of their community.
Anger at the government among the Sunni minority is seen as one of the main drivers of the worst violence to hit Iraq in five years.
"Fallujah is under the control of ISIS," a senior security official in Anbar province told AFP, referring to al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
However, the city's outskirts were in the hands of local police, the official added.
An AFP journalist in Fallujah also said that ISIS seemed to be in control, with no security forces or Sahwa anti-al-Qaeda militiamen visible on the streets.
More than 100 people were killed on Friday during fighting in Ramadi and Fallujah, in the country's deadliest single day in years.
Fourteen died in and near Ramadi on Monday and Tuesday, while later tolls were not immediately clear.
Hundreds of gunmen, some bearing the black flags often flown by jihadists, gathered at outdoor weekly Muslim prayers in central Fallujah on Friday, a witness said.
One went to where the prayer leader had stood, and said: "We announce that Fallujah is an Islamic state and call you to stand by our side."
Fallujah was the target of two major assaults after the 2003 invasion, in which American forces saw some of their heaviest fighting since the Vietnam War.
American troops fought for years, aided by Sunni tribesmen in the Sahwa militia forces from late 2006, but ultimately failed to conquer the city.
US forces suffered almost one-third of their total Iraq fatalities in Anbar, according to independent website icasualties.org.
Clashes erupted in the Ramadi area on Monday as security forces tore down the sprawling anti-government protest camp.
The violence then spread to Fallujah, and a subsequent withdrawal of security forces from areas of both cities cleared the way for ISIS to move in.
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
KAMI SEKELUARGA MENGUCAPKAN BANYAK TERIMA KASIH ATAS BANTUANNYA MBAH , NOMOR YANG MBAH BERIKAN/ 4D SGP& HK SAYA DAPAT (350) JUTA ALHAMDULILLAH TEMBUS, SELURUH HUTANG2 SAYA SUDAH SAYA LUNAS DAN KAMI BISAH USAHA LAGI. JIKA ANDA INGIN SEPERTI SAYA HUB MBAH_PURO _085_342_734_904_ terima kasih.
BalasHapusKAMI SEKELUARGA MENGUCAPKAN BANYAK TERIMA KASIH ATAS BANTUANNYA MBAH , NOMOR YANG MBAH BERIKAN/ 4D SGP& HK SAYA DAPAT (350) JUTA ALHAMDULILLAH TEMBUS, SELURUH HUTANG2 SAYA SUDAH SAYA LUNAS DAN KAMI BISAH USAHA LAGI. JIKA ANDA INGIN SEPERTI SAYA HUB MBAH_PURO _085_342_734_904_ terima kasih.
KAMI SEKELUARGA MENGUCAPKAN BANYAK TERIMA KASIH ATAS BANTUANNYA MBAH , NOMOR YANG MBAH BERIKAN/ 4D SGP& HK SAYA DAPAT (350) JUTA ALHAMDULILLAH TEMBUS, SELURUH HUTANG2 SAYA SUDAH SAYA LUNAS DAN KAMI BISAH USAHA LAGI. JIKA ANDA INGIN SEPERTI SAYA HUB MBAH_PURO _085_342_734_904_ terima kasih.