Daniel Lubetzky

Legislation making its way through the US Congressional process is finally addressing financing of Hezbollah.  The US Government is finally targeting banks, individuals and institutions that fund and do business with terrorist groups and their proxies, including incendiary stations like Al Manar.  It is important to double down on this track, so funders of terror will know there will be consequences to their impunity.  As the below article indicates,  impact is beginning to be felt.  Hezbollah has over decades built a global funding network that traffics in drugs and contraband from Latin America to the US.   It is high time that those networks be targeted also.

Times of Israel: Hezbollah Said Mired in Financial Crisis, by Times of Israel Staff and Agencies

A Lebanese banking delegation is reportedly heading to the US next month after Washington said it would impose sanctions on terror group Hezbollah, which is said to be mired in financial crisis.

The US House of Representatives voted unanimously on December 16 to impose tough new sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

According to Lebanese media reports, a team representing the Association of Banks in Lebanon will head to New York and Washington to discuss the new proposed guidelines with Treasury and State Department officials.

Sources linked to the delegation told the Lebanese An Nahar daily “the sector has no problem with the US authorities which are closely following up on Lebanon’s commitment to international laws and adherence to them, but that these commitments must be re-confirmed after the issuance of the said law,” according to a translation by the Naharnet website.

The reports said the Iran-backed Hezbollah is facing financial difficulties, and failed to pay November and December salaries to its officials.

The bill targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by Washington and Israel, passed the Senate last month. It now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.

The legislation also targets Hezbollah’s television channel Al-Manar by aiming to cut the broadcast of satellite operators that air the channel’s programming.

The House adopted the measure 422 to 0, following a unanimous vote in the Senate on November 17.

Obama will sign the legislation, a senior administration official told AFP, adding that the administration has worked with Congress for years “to intensify the pressure against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”

The new rules direct the president to prescribe punishing regulations against financial institutions that conduct transactions with Hezbollah or otherwise launder funds for the organization.

It also requires the administration to present to Congress a series of reports highlighting the group’s narcotics trafficking, transnational crime and operations of international groups linked to Hezbollah, especially in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The administration will list those particular countries that support Hezbollah, or in which the group maintains a key logistical base.

“Hezbollah has had to cast a wide net because most Lebanese banks have not wanted to do business with them,” a congressional expert on the legislation told AFP.

With participants in Hezbollah’s global networks “in our cross-hairs, they should be worried,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce told lawmakers Wednesday ahead of the vote.

“There is no question that Hezbollah is stronger than ever,” said congresswoman Jackie Walorski, who described the group as a dangerous enemy to Israel and one that has amassed more than 150,000 rockets and missiles and gained hardened battlefield experience in Syria.

Hanin Ghaddar sets the scene for more change to come in the Middle East in his New York Time‘s piece. With Assad’s position growing ever precarious in Syria, Ghaddar asks if Hezbollah militants in Lebanon will be able to survive.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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Hezbollah means ‘party of God’ and it claims to be pious. But it doesn’t mind destroying the lives of millions by addicting them to cocaine as it controls South American drug routes and benefits from criminal enterprises. The below recent exposé is a must read.

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It is something everyone in the corridors of Arab power tends to acknowledge: that the current Iranian regime is a destabilizing apocalyptic messianic cult whose acquisition of nuclear weapons would be an overwhelming threat to the region.  But it is never publicly discussed or shared with the masses. Till now.  The leaks of diplomatic memos between the US and its foreign allies is a stark affirmation of the danger that Arab – and Israeli – leaders perceive from Iran. 

Here is just one summary:

Graphic: Fears of a Nuclear Iran

Middle East leaders speak about their powerful neighbor with a directness seldom, if ever, heard in public.

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I just read a New York Times article that reminded me think that it is astonishing how deep is the cult of ‘resistance’ in the Arab world that thugs like Nassrallah are seen as heroes. He is among the most popular figures in Egypt and Palestine (and all across the Mideast) and seen as an upright honest leader. It is fascinating how human beings can rationalize facts away when they interfere with their romantic notions. The way Hezbollah has been bullying Saad Hariri and the Lebanese people to stop seeking answers for who was behind the assassination of the former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri should disgust any human being who cares about justice. Nassrallah is to Lebanon what an organized Mafia family head would be to a jury investigating their crimes if he publicly threatened the jury in court.

Too bad the Saudis, the Sunnis and the Americans among many others who should compose civil society and the police have done so little to protect them.

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by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

Security sources report that Syria has been delivering arms from clandestine depots in Syria to bases in Lebanon. This accusation heightens fears that Syria’s President Bashar Assad is becoming close with Hizbollah, and by extension, its friend, Iran. As part of this concern, some worry that should a clash erupt between Lebanon and Israel, Syria would be entered into the fighting. The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bans providing arms to Hizbollah and many Western leaders are pressing President Assad to stop undermining this provision.

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I have noticed over the years that every incident, every data point, every fact, and certainly every news story is interpreted differently by Israelis and Palestinians, each time suspecting bias against them.  Here is a study that explains the psychology behind the perceived partisan bias towards the other side.

Interesting article about an investment scandal in Lebanon that has tarnished Hezbollah’s reputation.

As this article illustrates, looks like OneVoice could be a positive and missing ingredient in Lebanese soil.

The New York Times reports about (OneVoice/PeaceWorks Foundation Board member) Dennis Ross’s move from the State Department to the White House.  It offers a lot of theories for the move, many of them probably on target. But it fails to mention one of the most important likely factors: the interplay between all these Mideast conflicts, and the need for an integrated broad approach and appreciation when tackling them. 

It does not mean that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will fix the Middle East! (Ross would plainly disagree with that, as the article points out).  But it does mean that Iran’s arming of Hezbollah and Hamas deeply handicaps efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peace, and that lack of Israeli-Palestinian progress hampers US national interests – as well as Israeli and Palestinian and Arab progress itself.

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