LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember
19/2010
Bible Of The
Day
Paul's Letter to Titus 1-15 & 16:
"To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving,
nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being
abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work".
Free Opinions,
Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Journalists keep the Hezbollah myth
alive/By: Tony Badran/November
18/10
Latest News
Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November
18/10
Sfeir: Lebanon, Middle East in
Danger/Naharnet
Israel's 'Surprise' in the
Next War/Naharnet
BBC Suspends Airing
Documentary about Hariri's Assassination/Naharnet
Hariri in Tehran Nov.
28-29 on a Visit Described as 'Significant'/Naharnet
Israel Worried about
Russian Arms to Lebanon/Naharnet
Islamist Riot Breaks Out in
Roumieh as Security Forces Take Control of the Situation/Naharnet
Nasrallah: We'll hurt regime if charged with Hariri murder/Ynetnews
Geagea: Unfortunately we cannot live a normal life/Ya Libnan
BBC series on Rafik al-Hariri pulled as tension rises in Lebanon/The Guardian
America's Bunker Mentality About the Middle East/CBS News
Arab Residents Protest Israeli Pullout from Village on Lebanon
Border/Voice of America
Berri Commenting on Israel's
Ghajar Pullout Plan: Resistance Remains a National Need/Naharnet
Hizbullah: Israel's Decision to
Withdraw from Ghajar Attempt to Elude UN Resolutions/Naharnet
France Welcomes Israeli
Withdrawal from Ghajar: It Should Take Place as Soon as Possible/Naharnet
Saudi King Names Son Head of
National Guard/Naharnet
Israel Close to Clinch Deal with
US over New Settlement Freeze/Naharnet
2 Brothers Killed in Israeli Air
Strike on Car in Gaza City/Naharnet
Clinton Thanks UK for STL
Donation: Tribunal's Work Intended to End Impunity for Political Assassinations/Naharnet
Sfeir: Lebanon, Middle East in
Danger
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir warned that Lebanon and the Middle
East were in danger. "Not only is the Lebanese
Republic in danger, but the situation in the Middle East as a whole," Sfeir said
in an interview to al-Usbu al-Arabi magazine, excerpts of which were made
available to the media on Thursday. He believed the government was facing
difficulties, pointing to Cabinet's failure to convene.
Regarding talk about a Cabinet change, Sfeir said "this is up to them."On
his opinion about the so-called Syrian-Saudi "safety umbrella" over Lebanon,
Sfeir said Lebanon should have good ties with neighboring countries, especially
Damascus and Riyadh. "Some difficulties, however, may
arise and we must work to remove them," he added. Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 10:58
BBC Suspends Airing Documentary about Hariri's Assassination
Naharnet/The BBC has suddenly pulled a documentary about the assassination of
ex-PM Rafik Hariri after al-Akhbar newspaper described how the film accused
Hizbullah in the 2005 murder in which Hariri and 22 others were killed by a
massive car bomb.The Guardian said that the first of the three-part documentary
"Murder in Beirut" was scheduled to be broadcast on BBC World this Saturday, but
the producer was told without warning on Tuesday that it was being delayed. The
BBC said the film had not yet complied with its editorial guidelines. No new
date has been set. Extracts of the documentary were broadcast on al-Jadeed
TV.The Guardian said the series was made by ORTV, a British-Saudi production
company, and originally commissioned by al-Arabiyya TV. The first version was
completed last summer but never broadcast as Saudi Arabia sought to improve
relations with Syria. BBC World then commissioned a re-edited version.
At first Syria was widely blamed for the Hariri assassination but in
recent months accusations shifted toward Hizbullah, raising fears of unrest if
indictments are issued.
The films, according to the Guardian, include interviews with decision-makers in
Beirut, Damascus, Washington and Paris, promising to tell "the gripping inside
story of what's really at stake in the struggle for power in the Middle East."
Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 09:07
Islamist Riot Breaks Out in Roumieh as Security Forces Take Control of the
Situation
Naharnet/Islamist inmates rioted in Roumieh prison on Thursday, according to New
TV.
It reported that the riot was instigated by a cleric upon which the prisoners
started calling for jihad.Sources told New TV that "until now, the situation was
under control, but there are fears that there can be no backing down from the
call for jihad."Meanwhile, MTV reported that the riot took place as inmates were
being transported from one section of the jail to another, adding that the
situation was under control of the security forces.The riot erupted shortly
after some inmates managed to escape from Roumieh earlier this week. Beirut, 18
Nov 10, 16:20
Berri Commenting on Israel's Ghajar Pullout Plan: Resistance Remains a National
Need
Naharnet/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday commenting on Israel's plans
to withdraw from the border town of Ghajar, said: "The resistance is a national
need."
"Whether the Israeli move toward Ghajar is considered a political maneuver or
delayed awareness of Resolution 1701, which required Israel to withdraw from
Lebanese territory in the wake of the July 2006 war, thus the return of every
inch of Lebanese territory y is the return of the right to its rightful owners,
" Berri said. "Pending a unified Lebanese stance on how to deal with the Israeli
move and read the dimensions and timing (of the plan), we will keep echoing the
same thing from Ghajar that the 'Resistance will remain a national need.'"
Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 14:11
Hizbullah: Israel's Decision to Withdraw from Ghajar Attempt to Elude UN
Resolutions
Naharnet/Hizbullah MP Kamel al-Rifai said Thursday that Israel's decision to
withdraw from the Lebanese border town of Ghajar is an attempt to "elude" U.N.
Security Council resolutions.
The Israeli "plan to pull out from Ghajar is to shift attention and elude the
international resolution," Rifai told ANB television station. "The withdrawal
from Ghajar is transfer of Israel's authority from an occupation force to a
mandate," he stressed.Rifai ruled out a Cabinet meeting unless the false
witnesses' issue topped the agenda. Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 14:02
France Welcomes Israeli
Withdrawal from Ghajar: It Should Take Place as Soon as Possible
Naharnet/France welcomed on Thursday Israel's decision to withdraw from the
northern section of the village of Ghajar, hoping it to take place as soon as
possible.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said: "This decision falls
in line with commitments pledged in U.N. Security Council resolution 1701."
Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 15:46
US State Dept: Israel Similar to Iran, Iraq and Sudan
by Chana Ya'ar/Arutz Sheva
The U.S. State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton claims that Israel
violates religious freedom at the same level as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan
and China.
“Religious freedom can be restricted in a variety of ways, from the overt to the
subtle,” explains the department's annual International Religious Freedom Report
on 198 countries and territories surveyed by its foreign service personnel,
released Wednesday for the period July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009. A wide spectrum
of efforts are used to undermine such rights, extending to multilateral,
regional and global arenas, the report continues.
Part I of the Executive Summary discusses overall conditions during the
reporting period in countries where “violations of religious freedom have been
noteworthy.” Israel is listed among 30 nations selected for this category --
including Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- due to the emphasis of the
Jewish State on maintaining the status quo with regard to respect for Jewish
legal standards
Israel's adherence to specific Jewish legal (halakhic) strictures are the basis
for some of the American claims, though the State Department report does not
note that non-adherence to these would violate Jewish religious freedoms. (For
last year's State Department denunciation of Israel and responses, click here.)
The report complained, for instance, that three Messianic Jews were denied the
right to immigrate to Israel during the reporting period. Other issues of
contention included Israel’s unwillingness to recognize conversions performed in
the country which do not meet criteria under Torah law, identification cards (Teudot
Zehut) that differentiate between Jews and non-Jews, and the authority over
marriages and burials exercised by the Chief Rabbinate, which is Orthodox.
All religions have freedom of worship in Israel -- unlike the other four
countries mentioned above.
In addition, the report erroneously claimed that Israel extends protection only
to Jewish holy sites, rather than to all holy sites as is mandated under the
law. “The 1967 Protection of Holy Sites Law applies to holy sites of all
religious groups within the country and in all of Jerusalem, but the Government
implements regulations only for Jewish sites,” complained the report.
“Non-Jewish holy sites do not enjoy legal protection under it because the
Government does not recognize them as official holy sites."
Outright Lie
In fact, this last is an outright lie. Government security forces often prevent
Jews from even approaching the Temple Mount, and numerous Jews have been
arrested -- including a young bride and her father at one point -- for
infractions as spurious as simply "moving their lips" on the site, because the
area has been designated an official holy site for Muslims, where the Al-Aqsa
mosque is located. All Islamic sites are controlled by the Waqf, also known as
the Islamic Religious Authority – due to the preference of the imams themselves,
and under a special arrangement. Much damage has been caused and thousands of
priceless artifacts from the First and Second Temple eras have been destroyed
due to damage caused by construction near the Dome of the Rock mosque – which
rests on the Temple Mount, where the Jewish Holy of Holies is located --
authorized by the Waqf.
Likewise the churches, which each fall under the authority of their own
religious groups. For example, the Vatican controls its own churches, convents
and monasteries, and even other properties. Israel has been involved in delicate
talks with the Vatican over the issue of sovereignty of some 21 disputed
properties in the Land of Israel for more than 11 years – and in fact, the Holy
See has not even paid taxes on most of the properties. To read the 2009
International Report on Religious Freedom's specific section on Israel, click
here.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htm
To read the U.S. State Department's full 2009 International Report on
Religious Freedom, click here.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/index.htm
IDF Hits Second Army of Islam Leader in Gaza
by Maayana Miskin/Arutz Sheva ظOne terrorist was
killed on Wednesday night when a car exploded in central Gaza City. The IDF
later confirmed that its troops were responsible for the targeted killing. Four
people were wounded in the explosion. One was said to be in critical condition.
Gaza Arabs identified the deceased terrorist as Islam Yassin. The critically
wounded man was said to be Yassin's brother. Yassin was a member of the Army of
Islam, one of the Salafi groups that has been increasingly gaining power in
Gaza. Members of the Army of Islam have previously clashed with the ruling Hamas
terrorist group. The Army of Islam supports the creation of a worldwide Islamic
caliphate, and has criticized Hamas as overly liberal because it has not fully
instituted Islamic law (Sharia) in Gaza. Two weeks ago the IDF assassinated Army
of Islam terrorist Mohammed Jamal a-Nahmnam. He was killed by a car bomb near
the Hamas police station in Gaza City. After the assassination IDF officials
explained that A-Nahmnam had been plotting attacks against Israelis and
Americans in Sinai. IDF spokespeople said Wednesday that Yassin was A-Nahmnam's
right-hand man, and was involved in a plot to kidnap Israelis. Retired IDF
Brigadier-General Yechiam Sasson, the former head of the IDF's counter-terrorism
division, praised the decision to resume assassinations.
Spanish Summit Postponed Again Due to Peace Talk Deadlock
by Elad Benari/Arutz Sheva ظA Mediterranean Union
summit, originally planned to be held on November 21 in Barcelona, has been
postponed due to the deadlock in the peace talks between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority, AFP reported on Monday. The Spanish government said in a
statement: “Given the evidence that the deadlocked peace process in the Middle
East would make a satisfactory participation in the summit scheduled for
November 21 impossible, the co-presidency and Spain have decided to postpone
it.”
Direct peace negotiations between the two sides resumed in September, nine
months after Israel's unilateral construction freeze in Judea, Samaria and
Jerusalem, but the PA walked away from the talks once the construction freeze
expired at the end of September.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is now waiting for written guarantees in order
to begin discussing with his cabinet a new three-month freeze which was demanded
during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week. The
U.S. has promised 20 jet fighters, as well as an automatic veto of any
anti-Israel resolution or demand for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian
state in the United Nations, but those will go into effect only after a peace
agreement is reached and not because of the freeze, claims Likud minister Uzi
Landau..
The Arab League has said that it will likely reject direct talks based on this
freeze and is waiting to see if the Obama administration will offer it further
inducements, such as compensation, guarantees on its desired borders and its
demand that five million foreign Arabs can move to Israel, on the basis of
claims that they or their parents and grandparents lived in the country.
As it is not yet clear whether a new freeze will lead to the resumption of peace
negotiations, it remains unknown when the meeting of the Mediterranean Union
will indeed be held. The summit was initially scheduled to take place on June 7
in Barcelona but was postponed to November after several Arab countries said
they would boycott it over the presence of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman. Egypt and France co-chair the Mediterranean Union, while Spain hosts
the group's headquarters in Barcelona. The statement published by the Spanish
governments said that the three nations “want this summit to be held in
Barcelona in the coming months,” add added that they are calling for “an early
resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians on the basis of
international law, the agreements signed between the parties and other terms of
reference of the peace process.”
43 nations are members of the Mediterranean Union, which was launched in Paris
in July 2008 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The union groups all 27 EU
member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as
well as Israel.
Saudi King Names Son Head of National Guard
Naharnet/Saudi King Abdullah named his son Prince Mitaeb bin Abdullah a member
of the council of ministers and head of the national guard on Wednesday, the
kingdom's second army commanded from the palace.In the announcement carried by
the official SPA news agency, the king also accepted the resignation "for health
reasons" of his brother Prince Badr bin Abdul Aziz as deputy head of the
national guard. The announcement suggested, without saying so explicitly, that
as the new guard chief Mitaeb would be replacing King Abdullah, 86, who has been
head of the national guard since 1962. Sandhurst-educated Mitaeb, 57, has been
with the national guard for many years and was named deputy commander in June
2009.
The national guard is a fully trained army of between 100,000 and 120,000 men
that operates in parallel, and as a palace-directed counter-balance, to the
Saudi ground forces under the defence ministry. It has been boosting its
capabilities with the addition of light armoured vehicles and a plan to develop
its own air wing. A large number of the 178 attack and transport helicopters
included in a 30 to 60 billion dollar arms deal with the United States announced
in October are destined for the national guard, according to Saudi and US
officials.(AFP)
2 Brothers Killed in Israeli Air Strike on Car in Gaza City
Naharnet/Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza
City during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on Wednesday, medical sources and an
Agence France Press photographer said. "Mohammed and Islam Yassin were killed in
an Israeli strike on a car in the Samer area of Gaza City," emergency services
spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP.
The bodies were seen by an AFP photographer at Gaza City's Shifa hospital. A
witness told AFP he saw an Israeli warplane fire towards a white car in the city
center. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the raid, which was the
fourth air strike on Gaza within two weeks.On November 3, Israeli warplanes
fired a missile at another car in Gaza City, killing Mohammed al-Nemnem, a
senior militant with the Army of Islam, a radical group which espouses an
ideology similar to al-Qaida. The army confirmed the strike, describing Nemnem
as a "ticking bomb" in what appeared to signal a return to the Israeli army's
policy of targeted killings.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 18:53
Israel Close to Clinch Deal with US over New Settlement Freeze
Naharnet/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to "soon" clinch a deal
with the United States over a fresh freeze on Jewish settlement building in the
West Bank, his office said on Wednesday.In talks last week, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton put together a package of incentives to get Netanyahu to
accept a fresh 90-day moratorium on new settlement building in the occupied West
Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem in a bid to get peace talks with the
Palestinians back on track. But Netanyahu has baulked at bringing the deal to
his security cabinet until he receives the pledges in writing. Netanyahu "hopes
to soon complete his contacts with the US administration in order to bring a
written commitment before the cabinet," his office said. "If the US document
reflects those principles, it will be an excellent agreement for Israel and the
prime minister will push determinedly for a positive decision from the cabinet,"
the statement said. It came after David Hale, assistant to US Middle East envoy
George Mitchell, briefed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on details of the
plan at a meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah, presidential spokesman
Nabil Abu Rudeina said. It was the first time the Palestinians had been
officially informed of details, but the spokesman said Hale had not presented
Abbas with a solid proposal as Israel and the United States had yet to finalise
terms of the deal. "For the moment, there is no agreement. But
Palestinian-American discussions are continuing and we are still awaiting the
official US position on what they have agreed with the Israeli side," he told
AFP.
The US package of incentives is aimed at cajoling the Jewish state into imposing
a new moratorium, opening the way for a return to the negotiating table.
Direct peace talks resumed on September 2 but collapsed three weeks later with
the expiry of a 10-month Israeli ban on West Bank settlement building. Abbas has
since refused to rejoin the talks until a new moratorium is imposed. Ahead of
the Abbas-Hale meeting, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said that for
talks to resume Israel would have to stop construction in all of the West Bank,
including east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their
promised state. "The Israelis know our position: that the key to the
negotiations is in the hands of Mr Netanyahu. We hope today that he will stop
settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem so we can resume negotiations
immediately," he told Israel's army radio. But the statement from Netanyahu's
office reiterated Israel's longstanding position that there can be no freeze on
construction in east Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is not part of these discussions,"
the statement said. "The clear Israeli position during the whole process is that
building in Jerusalem will continue." Washington's aim is to bring Abbas back to
the negotiating table so the two parties can begin discussing borders,
commentators say. Erakat confirmed that should a new 90-day freeze be
implemented and peace talks get back on track, the focus would initially be on
core issues such as borders and security. "We said we will negotiate beginning
with borders and security and that we hope to finalise them whether in three
days, or three weeks or three months ... and that the settlement freeze will be
done throughout," he said. Until now, Netanyahu has avoided all talk of borders,
an issue of great concern for hardliners within his cabinet.
"The whole fact of the matter is that we want to reach a two-state solution on
the 1967 lines," Erakat said. "Unfortunately, Israel is the only country on
earth that is not willing to recognise its borders." Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 07:36
Hariri in Tehran Nov. 28-29 on a Visit Described as 'Significant'
NaharnetظPrime Minister Saad Hariri will make his
first visit to Tehran Nov. 28-29 for talks with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and senior officials.
Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Thursday said Hariri's visit was described as
"significant" given the delicate circumstances Lebanon is going through in light
of the political deadlock and the role being played by Syria and Saudi Arabia
toward establishing calm and maintaining stability. Beirut, 18 Nov 10, 07:52
Journalists keep the
Hezbollah myth alive
Tony Badran, November 18, 2010
Now Lebanon/Supporters wave Hezbollah flags and posters of party leader Hassan
Nasrallah. (AFP Photo/Anwar Amro)
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s speech last week, in which he
rehashed an old conspiracy theory featuring former US Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, offered an opportunity for a critical examination of the harmful
effects of Arab political culture and journalism. This review needs to extend
beyond Arab journalists to their Western counterparts, who, for various reasons,
have been complicit in the glorification, legitimization and perpetuation of the
violence epitomized by Nasrallah’s discourse.
For years now, a personality cult has developed around Nasrallah. The mythology,
carefully nurtured by the party, has also been enthusiastically embraced and
built up by Western journalists. A central tenet of the legend is that the
Hezbollah leader’s word is always truthful, unlike your typical Arab politician
or autocrat. Of course, Hezbollah has backed this cult of personality by the
implicit, and at times explicit, threat of violence against those who dare
tarnish it.
All too frequently, Western reporters affirm his sainthood through the
repetition of the stock phrase about Nasrallah’s (and, more broadly,
Hezbollah’s) “reputation for honesty.” This also often takes the form of
anecdotal quotes from pious followers along the lines of, “Unlike all the other
politicians, [Nasrallah] is not a liar.”
However, his unshakable image finally came under scrutiny following Nasrallah’s
“Martyr’s Day” speech last Thursday. Expounding on the alleged “Western
conspiracies” against Lebanon and “the Resistance,” Nasrallah presented supposed
evidence of these plots from recently published memoirs of former US President
George Bush and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Nasrallah also dedicated
considerable time referencing one of the Arab world’s favorite bêtes noires,
former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Nasrallah quoted what he claimed was a letter written by Kissinger in 1976. It
was a response to an open letter from Lebanese Christian politician Raymond Edde.
In brief, Kissinger’s alleged letter contained well-rehearsed elements of what’s
commonly known in the Arab world, and Lebanon especially, as the “Kissinger
conspiracy.”
The conspiracy theory holds that Kissinger, the Jew (of course), whose loyalty
is to Israel and who subjected US policies to Israeli interests, is the one who
instigated the Lebanese war of 1975 in order to create ethnic states “like
Israel.” Nasrallah told his followers that the Kissinger letter went on to say
that US conspiracies in other Arab countries have failed because of the
existence of a “national resistance,” naturally, and that spreading strife only
works in divided lands, such as Lebanon, which also serves as a launching pad
for plots against other Arab states.
Nasrallah pointed his Kissinger segment to Lebanese Christians in particular, as
a warning (and implicit threat) to all those who might put their faith in the
US. Singling out Christians is another staple of the popular “Kissinger
conspiracy,” which holds that the former American chief diplomat worked to have
all Christians removed from Lebanon and shipped abroad.
It was all standard Hezbollah discourse with its thinly veiled threats of
violence being reworked to tackle the impending indictments by the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon. But many quickly pointed out to Nasrallah that the
“Kissinger letter” never existed. Instead, what Nasrallah was quoting was a
hypothetical response to Raymond Edde written by an Arab journalist. The
journalist in question assured everyone that although he was the author, his
information nevertheless came from official sources who had met with Kissinger.
Similarly, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar daily jumped to Nasrallah’s defense
stating that while the form may have been different, the content was indeed
accurate.
This sad spectacle led veteran columnists like Hazem Saghiyeh and Abdul Rahman
al-Rashed to lament the pitiful state of Arab journalism and politics, not to
mention the general lack of knowledge among Arabs. But the blame does not lie
solely with Arab journalists, despite their notoriously cavalier attitude
towards facts and their willingness to engage in information operations on
behalf of political patrons. When it comes to the Nasrallah legend, Western
journalists bear their share of blame for enabling its continued dissemination.
For instance, in their bid to showcase Nasrallah’s sophistication and supposed
deep grasp of his enemies, Western correspondents have latched onto a hallowed
anecdote about how Nasrallah once told an interviewer that he was reading the
biographies of Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. This
oft-encountered conceit is regurgitated in the latest tome on Hezbollah by
journalist Thanassis Cambanis, who adds the following starry-eyed remark to the
mix: “I never heard an Israeli politician say he was reading Naim Qassem’s
Hezbollah: The Story From Within.”
There are various reasons for this behavior, some of it chronicled by Marvin
Kalb after the 2006 war. They range from outright sympathy to ensuring continued
access to a party that has wielded this weapon rather effectively. Despite these
journalists’ mystification of Nasrallah, his understanding, and that of other
Hezbollah officials, of the workings of the American political system, or even
the policy community in Washington, is often deficient.
A relevant example can be found in Hezbollah’s treatment of American policy
papers, which are often produced as “evidence” in support of whatever conspiracy
theory the party or its flacks are engaged in. Another example can be found in
the hysterical reaction to an article by columnist Ralph Peters in 2006 that
ostensibly “proved” beyond any doubt the American intention to “divide” the
region into ethnic mini-states, much like the Kissinger conspiracy.
Alas, as Saghiyeh and Al-Rashed noted, this is part of a much broader problem in
Arab societies, and it is part of the reason why Nasrallah knows that he is
preaching to a receptive choir. What is more appalling is that he is effectively
being cheered on by Western reporters too infatuated with their idealizations to
realize or care that they are elevating obscurantism and exalting the most
poisonous aspects of Arab political life.
Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.