One can only feel sadness with regards to what is happening in the Gaza Strip, which can only be described as a brutal and ruthless Israeli attack in the face of clear international inability to call a halt to this continued aggression on almost 1.5 million Gazans.
There can be no doubt that it is these innocent victims that are being injured and killed, rather than the Hamas leadership which has secluded itself in Damascus. But with the international inability to call a halt to this aggression, and the sheer size of this soul-draining anguish, it is necessary to examine the reactions of those who have put the people of Gaza in this tragedy situation.
It is imperative that the general public is aware of what Hezbollah is saying in Lebanon, and not what [Hassan] Nasrallah is saying publicly, especially since the Lebanese organization is a Hamas ally. If Hezbollah will not support Hamas today then when will they? Especially taking into account that Hezbollah has vested interest in what is happening now in the Gaza Strip.
The simplest example can be found in the comments made by Mohammed Raad, head of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc in the Lebanese parliament who said recently “What is happening in Gaza is an extension of the July War [2006 Lebanon War between Hezbollah and Israel], its aim is for the enemy [Israel] to boost its morale, because they believe that Gaza is a soft and weak target that they can gain control of easily. Perhaps they are trying to make up some of the morale they lost in Lebanon, when they lost the war against the resistance.”
He added that Israel is “trying to make amends [for their defeat in Lebanon] and boost the morale of its Zionist troops against Gaza which is weak and has small prospects [for fighting back]”
Addressing voters prior to the upcoming Lebanese elections, Raad said “Those who could not silence the weapons of the resistance by force, aerial power, shelling, and destruction, have illusions they will silence them in the elections by trying to control a majority that would demand the disarming of the resistance. But this decision lies with you, we would not do this unless you wanted to silence the resistance, if so refrain from voting for the resistance option. But if you adhere to the resistance then express this adherence in the voting ballots in the forthcoming elections”
The question then; is this Hezbollah’s support for the Hamas movement (note that I did not say the people of Gaza)? And is this the opinion of Hezbollah as to the reality of what is happening in Gaza and the prospects of Hamas?
If so, why have they endangered Hamas, and the Gaza Strip, by dropping them in this cruel predicament where we see a brute force mercilessly attacking an unarmed population? Moreover, Hamas’s [military] capabilities can not be compared with Israel’s.
When one speaks the language of reason in order to spare Gaza and its people from tragedy and massacre he is levied with the worst accusations, yet at the same time the Hezbollah leadership is exploiting this Palestinian wound with total impunity in order to strengthen their troops and presence in Lebanon.
And that’s not all, but on Saturday an advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister [Nouri Al Maliki] revealed that the Iranian President [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] and his deputy [Iranian Vice-President Parviz Davoudi] had congratulated Al Maliki on the signing of the US – Iraq Security Pact during their meeting in Tehran. This is the same agreement that Iran had previously described as surrender, so why did demonstrations not take place in Iran against Ahmadinejad as they did a few days previously against Saudi Arabia and Egypt?
It is clear that some have not waited for the war to end to exploit what has happened; rather they do so candidly taking advantage of the thunderous noise of the brutal Israeli military machine in the ravaged Gaza Strip to cover up their deeds.
So we must monitor them.