Israel Matzav

Hezbullah pays 'Palestinians' to 'avenge' Mughniyeh

Hezbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has been in hiding almost constantly since he provoked the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. In February, Hezbullah's military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, was assassinated in Syria. Hezbullah has accused Israel of being behind the assassination and has vowed to avenge it. But Nasrallah does not want to come out of hiding. And now that Hezbullah effectively controls Lebanon, he doesn't want Israel reeking havoc on his country in revenge for a terror attack. So Nasrallah is turning to everyone's terrorist proxy: The 'Palestinians.'

Hizbullah, Israeli officials told the Post, has paid tens of thousands of dollars to Palestinian terrorist groups, asking them to carry out large-scale attacks against Israel - including the kidnapping of IDF soldiers - in retaliation for the February assassination of Imad Mughniyeh.

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Hizbullah's decision to ask the Palestinian groups to attack Israel in its place stems from concern, officials said, that an attack carried out directly by Hizbullah operatives would lead to a fierce Israeli military response in Lebanon.

Defense officials have said in recent months that in the event of a renewed conflict with Hizbullah, Israel will not limit its strikes to Hizbullah targets but will also feel free to strike at Lebanese infrastructure now that Hizbullah is part of the government in Beirut.

According to the defense officials, while the Palestinian terrorist groups have received large sums of money from Hizbullah, their failure to carry out attacks against Israel has caused tension between Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel has beefed up security around embassies and institutions abroad out of fear that they may be targeted by Hizbullah, which is suspected of carrying out the bombings against the Israeli Embassy and Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s. Fearing a kidnapping attack, the defense establishment has also warned Israeli businessmen, and particularly former defense officials, to take extra precautions when traveling abroad.

Given the weakness and ineptitude of the current Israeli government, one has to wonder what Nasrallah fears. Would this government really take revenge? Answer - at this point they would probably try to take revenge. After all, there's an election coming.

On the other hand, one cannot say that the 'Palestinians' are not trying. They have tried and failed. May their failures continue!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:02 AM