Lebanon controlled by ‘terrorist spy’: Bahraini FM
The Daily Star/Jan. 16, 2015
BEIRUT: Lebanon is controlled by a “terrorist agent,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister said Friday in reference to Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah, while criticizing the country’s “fake unity.” “Lebanon is a great country that was ruled by respectful men and sheikhs such as Bechara al-Khoury, Camille Chammoun, Saeb Salam and Rafik Hariri but today, unfortunately, it is controlled by a terrorist agent,” Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on his Twitter page. “The Arab League’s statement concerning the terrorist Nasrallah is clear as day,” he added, one day after Arab foreign ministers condemned last week’s speech by Nasrallah in which he criticized Bahrain’s recent arrest of Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of the country’s main Shiite opposition group, Al-Wefaq. Hezbollah’s opponents frequently accuse the group’s leader of being an Israeli agent. In a statement after a special meeting held in Cairo Thursday, the Arab League deemed Nasrallah’s remarks a “repetitive interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain.”Bahrain earlier this week also summoned Lebanon’s envoy over the speech.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil rejected the Arab League statement, saying Lebanese national unity was more important that Arab solidarity. In his Twitter response Friday, Khalifa said that the Lebanese delegation to the Arab League favors “fake national unity” over Arab unity, claiming that the Gulf Cooperation Council has saved Lebanon from strife and never failed to support it. Bahrain has been in turmoil since 2011 when authorities, backed by a Saudi-led Gulf force, crushed a pro-democracy movement.
A backer of the uprising, Nasrallah in a speech last week accused the Bahraini government of being “tyrannical and oppressive.” He also compared the Bahraini government’s behavior to the “Zionist project” which established Israel, accusing it of naturalizing Sunnis from across the region to change the country’s majority-Shiite demographic, who form the bulk of the opposition. Commenting on the affair Friday, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt criticized Nasrallah’s Bahraini-Zionist comparison.
“This comparison is unacceptable, irrespective of the depth of political differences,” he said in a statement released by the party’s media office. The PSP chief noted the heavy presence of Lebanese expats in Bahrain, warning that “political positions” would have a negative impact on the Lebanese diaspora.
Jumblat Rejects Nasrallah’s Bahrain Stands: Lebanese Immigrants in Gulf Must be Taken into Account Naharnet 16.01.15/ /Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat rejected on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s stands regarding Bahrain, saying that “hundreds of thousands of Lebanese immigrants live in the gulf,” and these remarks are not in their “benefit”.In a statement issued by Jumblat’s media office, he stated “on January 9, political stands were taken comparing Bahrain and its role to Israel and the Zionists who have been the historic enemies of the Arabs for decades. We must object these stands.”
On January 9, Nasrallah alleged the presence of a “Zionist-like naturalization scheme” in Bahrain. Jumblat noted that “this comparison is unacceptable even if the political differences are deep.”He also stressed that “it is important to take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese immigrants who live in the gulf, and who are contributing effectively in the community and benefiting from living there.” “The huge money transfers sent by them to their families in Lebanon play an important role in the Lebanese economical survival,” he added. Based on that, the PSP chief stated that “it is not in their benefit to issue such political positions at this sensitive stage.” Nasrallah’s stands were condemned by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League on Thursday.
