Israel Matzav

Lebanon threatens Israel over Gaza flotilla

Lebanon has threatened to 'hold Israel responsible' if Israel attacks two Lebanese ships that Israel has vowed to prevent from reaching Gaza. The Lebanese government will not allow the ships to sail directly to Gaza because of the state of war that exists between Israel and Lebanon, but one of them has been granted permission to sail to Cyprus. This is from the first link.

A Lebanese official said that Lebanon had sent a letter to the UN holding Israel responsible for any attack on the ships and that it cannot stop ships from leaving its ports if they comply with its law.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media on the record.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Beirut last week about boats setting sail for Gaza from Lebanon.

“I am saying clearly to the Lebanese government,” Barak said in a statement, “you are responsible for vessels leaving your ports with the clear intention of trying to block the naval blockade of Gaza.”

Barak, reflecting serious concern about the boats that Israel has linked to Hizbullah activists, said Lebanon had a responsibility to prevent the boats from being loaded with arms and ammunition, “which could lead to a violent and dangerous confrontation in the event that the boat refuses to come to Ashdod.”

The IDF reports that the Intelligence and Terror Information Center has confirmed that the ships are being organized by Syria and Hezbullah.

"We estimate that the purchase of the ships and the organization of the flotilla were carried out with the involvement and help of Syria and Hezbollah," thus reported the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) on Tuesday (June 22). According to ITIC, Hezbollah and Syria do not want to reveal their true identity out of fear of complications with Israel, and are thus trying to hide behind the identity of fictitious spearhead organizations and operatives who are irrelevant to Lebanese inner politics.

This is a well-tried system of using fictitious terror organizations in order to hide the identity of the real organizations. The central operatives being credited with standing behind the provocation flotilla from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip are junior ranking operatives without relevance in Lebanese inner politics, who belong to organizations supporting Hezbollah and Syria.

Hezbollah supports the continuation of sending flotillas to Israel. During an assembly held following the take-over of the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, emphasized that more and more ships should depart for the Gaza Strip, and that more Lebanese should participate in the flotilla operations. "Today, the European delegation announced that it has called for participation in a second flotilla, and it has already received hundreds of requests from Europe. Where are the Arabs? Where are the Muslims? Where are the Arab and Islamic peoples?" said Nasrallah.

Well, I can tell you one place the Arabs are: Israel Radio reported on Thursday morning that one of the ships is owned by a cousin of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Should the Lebanese ships be treated as coming from a hostile entity. Here's Yasser Qashlaq, who is one of the organizers on Hezbullah's al-Manar television in Lebanon.

Let's go to the videotape.



They sound real peaceful, don't they?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:33 AM