Illustration by Carlos Latuff

By Aijaz Zaka Syed* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Check this out. Here's a story of two countries from the Middle East. One is an ancient civilization with a rich history that goes back five thousand years.

It's a functioning democracy with free elections held at regular intervals. It's a huge country of 70 million people. It has remained within its borders and hasn't attacked any country in the last 100 years. It is pursuing a nuclear power programme, which it insists is for 
peaceful purposes.

Second country also claims to be a democracy. In this democracy though you get citizenship and voting rights not on the basis of your origins even if you were born in this land but on your ancestry. This country was founded on the land stolen and forcibly taken from its original inhabitants. It has fought at least three wars and is locked in permanent conflict with its neighbors on all sides. It has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and other state-of-the-art killing machines. It pursues assassination as a state policy and regularly sends death squads around the world to take out people it doesn't like.

Which country do you think is a real threat to world peace? The first country that has no history of aggression or the second state that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people in wars of aggression against neighbors and in coldblooded executions?

And no prizes, dear readers, for guessing that the two countries in question are Iran and Israel.

If anyone had any doubts about the evil and criminal nature of the State of Israel, they should have been cleared after what happened in Dubai.

Sending death squads into a five-star hotel in posh and peaceful Dubai using European passports and IDs – the whole business reads like a John Le Carre or Robert Ludlum potboiler. But, as they say, reality is more interesting than fiction. International media and diplomatic circles are buzzing with stories and theories about how the Israelis planned the whole thing and executed with professional precision.

Typically, the entire European press has been obsessing over the forged passports and fake IDs, totally ignoring the real issue at the heart of this unfolding crisis: Another coldblooded murder of a top Palestinian leader by Israel.

The UAE authorities, especially Dubai Police, therefore deserve a pat on the back for not only cracking the murder but having built a solid case against the Israelis with credible and irrefutable evidence. They caught the killers with blood on their hands, thanks to their solid security structure in place. It was this watertight case that forced the British, Irish, German and French authorities to summon Israeli envoys to "explain."

But is that enough? Imagine if such a thing had happened in any other city or country and the finger of suspicion had pointed at an Arab or Muslim country, not Israel. All hell would have broken loose and ambassadors of the concerned country would have been thrown out within 12 hours.

In fact, as the Guardian's Seumas Milne argued in a brilliant piece this week, imagine what would have happened if it was not Israel but Iran that had sent in the killers and the assassination had taken place in a Western country using the passports and IDs of Western citizens?

By now the US and NATO jets would have bombed Iran back to the Stone age, just as they did in the neighboring Iraq, with the UN and its movers and shakers passing a dozen resolutions against the Islamic republic.

But, mind you, we are talking about the almighty Israel. And when it comes to Israel, there are different laws and rules of engagement. It can get away with anything – even with murder. And it repeatedly has. This isn't the first time Israel has sent killer squads to take out its detractors and individuals who refuse to accept its tyranny and stand and stare while it kills at will a helpless and defenceless people.

Steven Spielberg's Munich, a glorified version of Mossad's murderous operations against Palestinian officials in 1972, is only one chapter out of Israel's long history of crimes against Palestinian people and its Arab neighbors.

How can we forget what happened in Lebanon in the 1980s and as early as 2006? What about the carnage in Sabra and Shatila, Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon that killed at least 3,000 Palestinians? And what about 
Gaza 2008-2009?

Israel has gotten away with all that. And in all likelihood it will get away with the murder in Dubai as well no matter how forcefully the UAE authorities demand the arrest of Mossad chief and action against the killers.

Hillary Clinton was in the Middle East when this whole thing blew up in Israel's face last week.

However, the top US diplomat who would have been president remained focused on Iran's ayatollahs. She repeatedly warned the Arabs against the "clear and present danger" presented by Iran, accusing Tehran of building nuclear weapons and "sponsoring terrorism" in the Middle East, a new charge to the long litany of charges against the Islamic republic. But we have been here before – and not very long ago – in Iraq.

And of course there was no reference to the threat Israel poses to its Arab neighbors. Nary a reference to its continuing persecution of Palestinians and the blaze it fuels across the 
Muslim world.

Madam Secretary couldn't have chosen a more appropriate platform to launch the offensive against Iran. She chose the US-Islam dialogue forum in Doha to strike at Tehran, concluding it rather nicely in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It's Iran, she warned the Arabs ad nauseam, not Israel that poses a grave threat to peace and security of 
the Middle East.

So what if Israel is still squatting on Palestinian and Arab land! So what if Israel continues to send killer squads into Arab cities! So what if Iran hasn't attacked any Arab or Muslim neighbour in a long, long time. The Shia Iran must be a threat to Sunni Arabs because the US, Israel and their Western allies say so. If this is a breathtaking example of hypocrisy and double standards, so be it! No matter what ordinary Arabs and people across the Muslim world think. What matters is what Israel wants and how far the West will bend over backwards to humour it.

If this isn't true, let Israel's friends prove it. I would love to get corrected. The Sunday Times has disclosed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally visited the Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv to give his blessings for the Dubai operation. Just as his predecessors had blessed the killing of other Palestinian leaders including Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and, very possibly, Yasser Arafat, the tallest 
Palestinian leader.

The question is how long will Israel get away with murder? And how long will its Western friends and allies protect it because of their own so-called historical guilt or whatever?

Why do we have two sets of laws and standards for Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors?

Secretary Clinton was confronted with these questions during a Q&A session with Arab students in Doha. Not surprisingly, Madam Clinton had no answers to offer. Instead she introduced her audience to new US envoys to the OIC and Muslim world, Rashad Hussein and Farah Pandit, both 
Indian Americans.

Why is it so hard for Washington to see that it's not cosmetic gestures like this but real justice that can bridge the widening gulf with the Islamic world?

* Aijaz Zaka Syed is Opinion Editor of Khaleej Times and can be reached at aijaz@khaleejtimes.com

By Franklin Lamb, Beirut

Time for transparency at Der Spiegel?

"We don't know where the Der Spiegel magazine did get their information from and we don't know where they brought this story from. No one in the prosecutor's office has spoken to the German magazine about anything. We have a clear policy of not leaking any information about the tribunal through media outlets, and we have been stressing this since the beginning. When Der Spiegel spoke about Bellemar's spokesperson, they meant me. They emailed me and asked a few questions. My answer was that the tribunal does not deal with investigation files through the media and adopts the policy of direct announcement by the part of Mr. Bellemar.If we had something to say, we would have said it directly, not through media outlets."
Radiya Ashouri, Spokeswoman for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) (5/24/09)

"It is a black fabricated campaign adopted by known groups to harm Hezbollah. It is not the first time such lies are published. Tthe timing of the accusations and the immediate hype of the report by Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabia TV-"which is known for its political affiliation"-- leaves no doubt that it is a campaign aimed at affecting Lebanon's upcoming elections and to deflect attention from the news about the dismantling of spy networks working for Israel on the other."
Hezbollah Media Relations Department statement 5/24/09

The Der Spiegel headline was dramatic. Even provocative. Some Lebanese were surprised but others said they knew it all along. It offered bold "new information" that the strongly pro-Israel German Weekly Der Speigel claimed came from secret sources based on documents reporters and editors may have seen. No documents were published and no blurred or redacted copies shown to its readers. The shocking claims were said to based on "Inside investigative sources who were working on the Rafic Hariri assassination and they had now solved the mystery and the case could soon be wrapped up. Eye catching.

The Der Spiegel breakthrough 'exclusive' with 'new evidence pointing to those who were guilty. It was published on October 24, 2005, nearly four years ago.

The Headline screamed, in arguably poor taste:

"BYE-BYE, HARIRI!"
UN Report Links Syrian Officials to Murder of Former Lebanese Leader"
By Erich Follath et al.

That was then back in 2005. Syria was accused in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri of being the 'real' assassins. A massive international anti-Syria campaign was launched by the Bush Administration and Israel to demonize its government.

But things have changed. This weekend, a new exclusive, secret, investigative report showing the real real assassins was published by the same weekly, Der Speigel. Same author. Same editor. New target.

This time Der Speigel's Erich Follath claimed solo that the international committee investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister martyr Rafik Hariri has reached" surprising new secret conclusions", this time pointing to Hezbollah.

The new Der Spiegel head line (5/24/09)

BREAKTHROUGH IN TRIBUNAL INVESTIGATION
New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Murder
By Erich Follath,

According to this weekend's article, which offers information provided by the Der SPIEGEL source, the long investigated case may finally have been "cracked."

The German weekly claims the target is now Hezbollah after the Tribunal pressured the Lebanese government to release four Lebanese Generals last month for lack of evidence- given the growing outcry in the international legal and human rights community. After the generals release, more questions are being raised such as why the four Generals were never charged if there was inadequate evidence, or released years ago or given a bail bond, house arrest, or allowed to face their accusers or even see the supposed evidence against them. The credibility of the Tribunal diminished with each day the four remained jailed.

In many respects the 2009 Der Spiegel article is similar to the 2005 piece:

"There are signs that the investigation has yielded new and explosive results", "Spiegel has learned from sources close to the tribunal and verified by examining internal documents that the Hariri case is about to take a sensational turn", "Intensive investigations in Lebanon are all pointing to a new conclusion, this time that it was not the special forces of Syria, but instead special forces of Hezbollah that planned and carried out Hariri's Feb. 2005 murder, the weekly said.

Similar to 2005, Der Speigel claimed the investigator's "apparently want to hold back the information that they have been aware of for about a month".

Without offering any proof, Der Spiegel asserts that "According to the Lebanese security forces, all of the telephone numbers involved (by the assassins -ed) apparently belong to the 'operational arm' of Hezbollah."

Without an apology for what some thought was a 'hatchet job'' on Syrian President Bashar Assad four years ago, Der Speigel's new article added that President Assad is no longer as suspect. "Hardly anything suggests anymore that he was personally aware of the murder plot or even ordered the killing", Follath writes.

Suspicions are widespread this afternoon in Beirut over the Der Spiegel article suggesting a link between the assassination of Rafic Hariri and Hezbollah.

Ricocheting around Lebanon's capitol and on the Internet ( Syria.comment.org) are comments questioning the timing of the report as if aimed to cause maximum damage to the Hezbollah led opposition, the supposed source of the 'leaks' and why now since the UN investigative office has taken great pains not to leak or politicize its work in contrast to former Investigator Detlev Mehlis, Hasan Nassrallah has never been known to order the killing of rival politicians, the 2005-2006 accusations against Syria where shown to be fallacious and based on a false witness, Der Spiegel has a rumored long history with Israeli intelligence, the "key" eight phones were never in the hands of Hezbollah but rather a Muslim Sunni organization in Trablus as Detlev Mehlis claimed to have documented, where were "the surprising new conclusions" when the Court was set up but claimed no solid case had been put together.

One claim that this observer found odd is the suggestion that a senior Hezbollah member would call his girl friend on a secure line was 'on duty". I know of two cases where female students at AUB became quite angry when their Hezbollah boyfriends up and disappeared from Campus and did not even call them for a whole month. When they returned "from duty" to resume classes both tried to explain that they could not make contact while 'working'. I find Der Spiegel's girlfriend telephone call story a bit awkward and very 'un-Hezbollah'.

Puzzling also is the German weekly's claim that it learned "from sources close to the tribunal" and verified by examining internal documents, that the Hariri case is about to take a sensational turn." Der Speigel does not make it clear if it was the source that examined the internal documents or if it was Der Spiegel that examined these documents. If it is the latter, did the source to take these documents outside the very tight security building in The Hague? Surely, the investigation should be able to track this so-called source.

No evidence is offered by Der Spiegel for any of its "revelations" such as Hezbollah members who supposedly trained in Iran, bought phones, "two men who report only to their superior" (who else would they report to?) etc. How does Der Spiegel know all these secret things and why not offer some proof? How does Der Spiegel know, for example who reports to who in Hezbollah? Far too much left to the imagination by the author. Does some of this highly secret information come to Der Seigel via recently apprehended Israeli spy cells—passed on from the three Israeli intelligence agencies known to be here in Lebanon or sources connected with them?
Too volatile for Lebanon's Campaign?

So far none of Lebanon's political parties are crediting the article. As my neighbor mentioned this morning, in Lebanon there are so many 'Reports' that turn out not to be true that many here are very skeptical without solid proof.

MP Walid Jumblatt, Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party currently allied with the pro-US March 14th majority, commenting on the Der Spiegel article, warned in a Sunday speech dedicated to announce his Chouf candidates, that the article is "the game of nations that could, God forbid, derail justice and use it for things that we don't believe in."

The Saad Hariri led Future Movement refused to comment on the article.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawsi Salloukh labeled it as "totally false and all lies", Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem challenged Der Spiegel and the author of the report to show evidence. "This article is politicized and reminds us of (former international investigator) Detlev Mehlis's practices," Moallem added. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the report "was nothing but a new attempt to sow sedition among the Lebanese."

"This is a media fabrication that only lacked the stamp: 'Made in Israel'," Berri said.

Hezbollah responds to Der Speigel

Hezbollah candidate Nawaf Moussawi predicted last month that the campaign against Hezbollah would intensify, especially after the release of the four generals who were held, without trial or charge, for nearly four years over the assassination of Hariri. "The Der Spiegel report is not the first baseless report posted by this magazine, "Moussawi said during an interview with NBN TV. He made a comparison between the magazine's report and" previous reports by Lebanese journalists who deluded the public opinion during the investigation into the Hariri murder, and published reports about a similar scenario."

He stressed the campaign launched against Hezbollah and the resistance "paves the way for the assassination scheme Israel is preparing against the party's Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah."

Hezbollah Media Relations Office issued a statement on Sunday in which it dismissed allegations published by Der Spiegel and broadcast by Al-Arabiyya Channel saying that it is nothing less than "police fabrications". The statement said, "It's not the first time that a magazine or newspaper aimed at publishing such fabrications and previously Kuwaiti paper "Al-Siyasa" has repeatedly published such reports along with other dailies." However, the statement continued "It is nothing more than police fabrications cooked in the same black room that has been keen on fabricating such stories for over four years regarding the Syrians and the four Lebanese officers and others."

The statement added that "publishing this report by Der Spiegel and promoting for it by Al-Arabiyya is suspicious in its timing and its political and psychological exploitation especially for two reasons: "First it is a pure fabrication aimed at influencing the election campaign in Lebanon on one side, and to deflect attention from the news about the dismantling of spy networks working for Israel on other."

"The report comes just two weeks ahead of a June 7 parliamentary election in Lebanon. One Hezbollah member commented: "We look forward to seeing the purported evidence in this case."

Questions for Der Spiegel

The German Embassy in Beirut claims not to have heard about the article and would have no comment. By press time, neither Mr. Follath nor his editors at Der Spiegel has replied to any of the following questions forwarded by this observer:

Hopefully will answer these inquiries in a follow-up article.

Franklin Lamb works with the Sabra Shatila Foundation in Beirut. He is reachable at: fplamb@sabrashatila.org.