Breaking: the visit of convicted #hezbollah terrorist tmrw at TelAvivU is CANCELED. Once again, sanity won (but not without a fight).
— Ido Daniel (@IdoDaniel) April 6, 2014
Labels: Hezbullah fundraising, Tel Aviv University
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:26 PM
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EU's blacklisting of Hezbollah's armed wing was "insufficient" and "a typically half-done job" - @AvigdorLiberman
— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) July 22, 2013
But evidence from Bulgaria about the attack and concerns over Hezbollah's growing involvement in the war in Syria persuaded opponents to back the move, which triggers the freezing of any assets the group's armed wing may hold in the 28-nation EU.
"It is good that the EU has decided to call Hezbollah what it is: a terrorist organisation," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers who decided on the blacklisting.
"We took this important step today, by dealing with the military wing of Hezbollah, freezing its assets, hindering its fundraising and thereby limiting its capacity to act."
According to London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, four countries had previously had reservations about the proposal to blacklist Hezbollah - the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta.Freezing its assets? Limiting its ability to act? Let's not overstate it.
Blacklisting the military wing means the freezing of any assets it may hold in the 28-nation bloc, though officials say there is scant information on the extent of Hezbollah's presence in Europe or on its assets.And for those who still don't know what Hezbullah is about, the IDF posted this video.
Labels: European Union, Hezbullah, Hezbullah fundraising, Islamic terrorism
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:43 PM
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According to the French source, Paris's openness to label the military wing of Hezbollah a terror organization stems from its responsibility for the Burgas attack and its participation in Syria's civil war on the side of Presisdent Bashar Assad.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius discussed the matter with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, according to the report.
According to the source the move is more symbolic than practical because it will not lead the EU to blacklist the "political branch" of Hezbollah, and therefore, will not stop the organization from receiving funds from Europe.
The report came after a criminal court in Limassol, Cyprus, on Thursday sentenced Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, an admitted Hezbollah operative, to four years in prison for plotting to kill Israeli tourists on the island.So they're willing to name Hezbullah a terror organization so long as they can keep on fundraising in Europe, Yellow-bellied cowards.
Labels: European Union, feckless French, France, Hezbullah, Hezbullah fundraising
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:00 PM
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A ban on Hezbollah could cripple it. Hezbollah‘s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged this reality several years ago, noting that an EU terror listing "would dry up the sources of finance, end moral, political and material support, stifle voices, whether they are the voices of the resistance or the voices which support the resistance, pressure states which protect the resistance in one way and another, and pressure the Lebanese state, Iran and Iraq, but especially the Lebanese state, in order to classify it as a state which supports terrorism."Hmmm.
Labels: designated terror organization, European Union, funding terrorists, Hezbullah, Hezbullah fundraising
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:21 AM
1 comments
Hussein Fahs, Hezbollah’s CFO and head of the organization’s communications network, has apparently fled to Israel along with 5 million dollars in Iranian money.
According to official Hezbollah sources, Fahs took with him maps, classified documents and a large sum of money. According to the report, seven women and one man are charged in absentia with collaborating with Israel, entering Israel illegally and obtaining Israeli citizenship.Why would Fahs flee to Israel?
One possibility is that the story was made up to discredit him within Hezbollah. But the second possibility is that there are few other options. As a Shiite, there are few places that Fahs can go that are outside the Shiite or Sunni axis. Israel is religiously neutral in the Muslim religious civil war and it has a definite interest in gaining intelligence on Hezbollah.Read the whole thing.
Labels: Hezbullah, Hezbullah fundraising
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:25 PM
2 comments
A document released by Wikileaks reveals that the United States has believed since as far back as 2006 that Hezbullah has a presence in Chile. An unclassified embassy cable dated February 27, 2006, and released Tuesday by WikiLeaks, said a "radical fundamentalist presence" was centered in the northern city of Iquique, and to a lesser degree in Santiago.But the Obama administration has no Latin American policy other than shaking hands with Hugo Chavez and his friends.
"These fundamentalists who are known to be associated with Hizbullah are increasing their presence and activity in Chile," the cable said, adding the intelligence on them was insufficient to gauge their true intentions.
"There is substantial information that indicates that significant financial fund-raising for Hizbullah is taking place in northern Chile within the Muslim community," it said.
However, the cable went on to say that no hostile activity had been detected originating from either the Islamic Center in Santiago, nor from a Sunni mosque.
"The Hizbullah groups in the northern part of Chile are believed to be financial cells," it said.
Periodically, there also have been unsubstantiated reports of plans for a terrorist attack in the region, "but nothing definite," the cable said.
The cable, which took the form of a questionnaire on the security environment in Chile, provided no details of the alleged Hizbullah financing.
In another cable dated August 10, 2005, U.S. ambassador Craig Kelly asserted the fundamentalists based in Iquique were known to have connections with Islamic organizations in the so-called Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
He said intelligence information indicated they help collect funds for Islamic charities and possibly other groups, according to the cable, which was made public by the Chilean Center for Journalistic Investigation and Information.
Labels: Chile, Hezbullah, Hezbullah fundraising, Wikileaks
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:58 PM
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The United States has sanctioned Lebanese Canadian bank SAL for laundering money for drug traffickers and supporting Hezbullah (Hat Tip: Ya Libnan). The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday designated Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL as a "primary money laundering concern" under Patriot Act provisions aimed at curbing terrorism finance.Probably just the tip of the iceberg....
Treasury and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials alleged that hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds were laundered through accounts at the lender.
In a statement, the bank denied "knowledge of any involvement in any manner whatsoever in illicit transactions or wrongdoing." The bank said it was "committed to fully cooperate and coordinate with the relevant regulatory authorities in an effort to demonstrate the integrity and transparency of its operations."
Last month, Treasury officials made an initial move against the laundering network by designating its alleged leader, Ayman Joumaa, as a drug kingpin and seeking to seize assets belonging to him and associates. The DEA says the Joumaa network moves as much as $200 million per month through various conduits, including bulk-cash smuggling, deposits in Lebanese exchange houses and shipments of consumer goods.
Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the action was intended to "protect the U.S. financial system from illicit proceeds flowing through LCB" and to deprive the Joumaa network from access to the legitimate financial system. Investigators leading the probe believe Lebanese Canadian Bank managers "are complicit in the network's money-laundering activities," Mr. Levey said.
U.S. officials said they advised Canadian officials of their actions but that the alleged offenses didn't occur in Canada. The Lebanese Embassy in Washington didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a related move Thursday, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCen, proposed measures that, if approved, would largely prohibit U.S. financial institutions from doing business with the Lebanese bank.
Labels: drug running, Hezbullah fundraising, Lebanese Canadian Bank, money laundering
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:46 PM
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In a somewhat surprising move, Paraguay has agreed to extradite to the United States a Hezbullah Moussa Ali Hamdan, 38, was arrested in mid-June 2010 in a hotel in Ciudad del Este, the hub of the busy and often lawless tri-border area between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.I guess we'll just have to add his arrest to the annual 'Islamophobia' statistics for Paraguay.
The free-trade zone city of Ciudad del Este is home a large foreign-born population, including some 30,000 Arabs, mostly of Lebanese origin.
Foreign intelligence officials claim that Ciudad del Este harbors Islamist terrorist sleeper cells, an allegation the three countries deny.
In November 2009, a US district court in the state of Pennsylvania indicted Hamdan on several charges related to money laundering, using counterfeit currency, passport forgery, and exporting stolen laptops, cell phones and cars.
The proceeds were to benefit Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist group, according to the US indictment.
Hamdan, who claims to have moved to Paraguay to work at an electronics store with a friend, told Paraguayan reporters that Washington wants him “because I’m a Muslim.”
“If I had been a Christian, I would not have been arrested,” he said.
Labels: Ciudad del Este, crickets, extradition, Hezbullah fundraising, Islamophobia, Paraguay
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:32 PM
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I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
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