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July 12, 2013
Hezbollah Official Deplores ‘Terrorism’; Pot Calls Kettle Black
A bombing on July 9 in Beirut’s Bir al-Abed suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, reportedly injured more than 50 people and caused numerous fires. Rebels fighting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is backed by Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to The Washington Post (“Dozens injured in blast in suburban Beirut’s Hezbollah bastion; Tensions over conflict in Syria ripple in Lebanon’s capital,�? July 10), “Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar called the attack ‘a despicable act of terrorism’ and implied that he held Israel and the United States responsible, without providing evidence.�?
When it comes to “despicable acts of terrorism,�? Ammar ought to know what he’s talking about. From the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon through the 1992 and 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires, Argentina of the Israeli embassy and Jewish community headquarters, respectively, to the 2005 car bomb murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah has left a long and despicable trail.
Terrorism, to paraphrase U.S. law, is the threat or use of force against non-combatants to influence a larger audience and compel government policies to favor certain ideological, religious, economic or other objectives. The United States, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands and other countries have designated Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite “Party of God,�? as a terrorist organization.
But The Post, as in the above article, continues predominately to refer to the movement as “Lebanon’s most powerful political and military force.�? Most powerful terrorist force, complaining about being treated as it treats others, would be more accurate.
Posted by ER at July 12, 2013 02:55 PM
Comments
Isn't this a similar phenomenon to European media calling Palestinian terrorists "militants," but when European countries suffer the same atrocities, the attackers are "terrorists?"
Posted by: Gary Katz at July 18, 2013 11:22 AM
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