Ideology of Hezbollah

The ideology of Hezbollah has been summarized as Shi'i radicalism. [Barak, Oren. "Hizballah." "The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East". Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. p. 350.] [Rosenthal, Donna. "The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land". New York: Free Press, 2003. p. 15.] [Collier, Robert. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/29/MNGBN3V54A1.DTL "Everyone casting suspicious eye on Iraq's Hezbollah."] "SFGate". 29 December 2003. 14 March 2008.] Hezbollah was largely formed with the aid of the Ayatollah Khomeini's followers in the early 1980s in order to spread Islamic revolution (Student newspaper)] [Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada [http://www.psepc.gc.ca/prg/ns/le/cle-en.asp#h20 Listed Entities - Hizballah] Accessed July 31, 2006] the elimination of the state of Israel has been a primary goal for Hezbollah. Its 1985 manifesto reportedly states "our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no ceasefire, and no peace agreements." [this text is reportedly in the original Arabic-language manifesto but not in the original translation, nor found on Hezbollah website, according to the pro-Israel, anti-Hezbollah website where the text appears.] Secretary-General Nasrallah’s has stated that "Israel is an illegal usurper entity, which is based on falsehood, massacres, and illusions,"Thisreen (Syrian newspaper) June 21, 1999, reprinted by MEMRI [http://memri.org/bin/opener.cgi?Page=archives&ID=SP3699 Secretary General of Hizbullah Discusses the New Israeli Government and Hizbullah’s Struggle Against Israel] Accessed July 30, 2006] and considers that the elimination of Israel will bring peace in the Middle East: "There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel." [ [http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2006/07/14/1152637865649.html Little choice for a defiant Israel] , by Andrew Markus, The Age, July 15, 2006] [United Nations Document A/54/723 S/2000/55, citing Washington Post, 1 January 2000 [http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/fd807e46661e3689852570d00069e918/50862df07adbd884852569ad0054a527!OpenDocument Letter dated 25 January 2000 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General] Accessed August 17, 2006] In an interview with the "Washington Post", Nasrallah said, "I am against any reconciliation with Israel. I do not even recognize the presence of a state that is called 'Israel.' I consider its presence both unjust and unlawful. That is why if Lebanon concludes a peace agreement with Israel and brings that accord to the Parliament our deputies will reject it; Hezbollah refuses any conciliation with Israel in principle. ... When a peace agreement is concluded between the Lebanese government and Israel, we would surely disagree with the Lebanese government about that, but we would not make any turmoil out of it." [] some of whom have been imprisoned for eighteen years. [Private website, registered to Bassam Kantar, Beirut Lebanon (WHOIS search, August 4, 2006) [http://www.samirkuntar.org/english.html Freedom for Samir Kuntar] Accessed August 4, 2006]

Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms, along with the presence of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, is often used as a pretext and stated as justification for the Hezbollah's continued hostilities against Israel even after Israel's verified withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah's spokesperson Hassan Ezzedin, however, had this to said that

"the Hezbollah campaign to rid Shebaa of Israeli troops is a pretext for something larger. 'If they go from Shebaa, we will not stop fighting them," he told [the New Yorker] . 'Our goal is to liberate the 1948 borders of Palestine, ... The Jews who survive this war of liberation can go back to Germany or wherever they came from.' He added, however, that the Jews who lived in Palestine before 1948 will be 'allowed to live as a minority and they will be cared for by the Muslim majority.'"Jeffrey Goldberg, [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/021014fa_fact4 "In the Party of God."] "The New Yorker". 10 July 2002. Accessed 2 September 2006.]

In 2002, according to the BBC, Hezbollah, "said publicly that it is ready to open a second front against Israel in support of the intifada."cite web|title=Who are Hezbollah?|date=2002-04-04|publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1908671.stm |accessdate=2006-08-11] In a 2003 interview, Nasrallah has answered questions concerning the establishment of a Palestinian state established alongside an Israeli state stating "that he would not sabotage what is finally a 'Palestinian matter.' But until such a settlement is reached, he will, he said, continue to encourage Palestinian suicide bombers."cite news|title=The Syrian Bet|last=Hersh |first=Seymour|authorlink=Seymour Hersh|publisher=The New Yorker|date=2003-07-18|url=http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/030728fa_fact|accessdate=2006-08-07] In the same interview, Nasrallah stated that "at the end of the road no one can go to war on behalf of the Palestinians, even if that one is not in agreement with what the Palestinians agreed on," adding, "Of course, it would bother us that Jerusalem goes to Israel ... [but] let it happen. I would not say O.K. I would say nothing." Similarly, in 2004, when asked whether he was prepared to live with a two-state settlement between Israel and Palestine, Nasrallah said he would not sabotage what is a Palestinian matter. He also said that outside of Lebanon, Hezbollah will act only in a defensive manner towards Israeli forces, and that Hezbollah's missiles were acquired to deter attacks on Lebanon. [cite news | url = http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/16/sun.11.html | title = Interview With Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah | first = Sheila | last = Macvicar|publisher = CNN|date = March 16, 2003 | accessdate = 2006-08-01 ]

In 2004 the Hezbollah-owned television station Al-Manar was banned in France on the grounds that it was inciting racial hatred. The court cited a 23 November 2004 broadcast in which a speaker accused Israel of deliberately disseminating AIDS in Arab nations. [BBC News, December 14, 2004 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4093579.stm France pulls plug on Arab network] Accessed August 18, 2006]

Hezbollah's desire for Israeli prisoners to be that could be exchanged with Israel led to Hezbollah's abduction of Israeli soldiers which triggered the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. [Myre, Greg and Steven Erlanger. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/world/middleeast/13mideast.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1152849600&en=7c501785edb16cc8&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin "Israelis Enter Lebanon After Attacks." "The New York Times". 13 July 2006. 21 October 2007.]

Attitudes, statements, and actions concerning the United States

During the years prior to its official founding, Hezbollah was held responsible or partially responsible for several attacks on Western (mostly American) targets and it has been blamed for killing many Americans. [Rosen, Laura. " [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/13/islamic_radical_groups_are_not_all_alike/ Islamic radical groups are not all alike.] " Boston.com. 13 August 2006. 15 August 2007.] Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attacks but its manifesto does claim

the whole world knows that whoever wishes to oppose the US, that arrogant superpower, cannot indulge in marginal acts which may make deviate from its major objective. We combat abomination and we shall tear out its very roots, its primary roots, which are the US.

Hezbollah leader Fadlallah has told an interviewer:

We believe there is no difference between the United States and Israel; the latter is a mere extension of the former. The United States is ready to fight the whole world to defend Israel's existence and security. The two countries are working in complete harmony, and the United States is certainly not inclined to exert pressure on Israel. [Interview in July 1985, quoted in Martin Kramer, `The Oracle of Hizbullah: Sayiid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, Part II, in Spokesmen for the Despised: Fundamentalist Leaders of the Middle East, ed. R. Scott Appleby (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1997), p.8]

On its Al-Manar Television network, which is viewed by "an estimated 10-15 million people a day across the world," the United States is portrayed by an animated image of "the Statue of Liberty as a ghoul, her gown dripping blood, a knife instead of a torch in her raised hand. In Arabic the video ... concludes with the words: 'America owes blood to all of humanity.'" [ [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/jorisch200412220812.asp Terrorist Television ] ]

Attitudes, statements, and actions concerning Jews and Judaism

Hezbollah has declared that it distinguishes between Zionism and Judaism.

*In a Pro-Palestinian Convention held in Beirut in 2005, Hezbollah representative in the Lebanese Parliament Abdallah Qussayr [ [http://www.lebanonwire.com/parliament/members_2000.asp Lebanonwire.com/Lebanese Parliament Members ] ] stated that "Hezbollah has never been against religions. Hezbollah supports all religions, it supports interfaith dialogue, and it has no problem with any religion. Hezbollah considers Zionism to be the enemy, not the Jews as a people or a religion." [ [http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/570.htm "Anti-Zionist Rabbis Join Hizbullah and Hamas At Beirut Pro-Palestinian Convention"] ]

*According to Joseph Alagha, Hezbollah considers the Jews as People of the book and only regards the Jews living in Israel, either civilian or not, as "racist Zionists Jews", who as Nasrallah puts it, should be killed. Alagha concluded that Hezbollah is not anti-Semitic in its overall orientation. ["The Shifts in Hizbullah's Ideology: Religious Ideology, Political Ideology, and Political Program"By Joseph Elie Alagha,Published by Amsterdam University Press, 2006,ISBN 9053569103, 9789053569108,380 pages,Page 188]

*Commenting on a recent project for rebuilding the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Beirut, Hussein Rahhal, a spokesman for Hezbollah said that the group supported the restoration of the synagogue: "We respect the Jewish religion just like we do Christianity...The Jews have always lived among us. We have an issue with Israel's occupation of land." [ [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aNOWKEnqxKdU&refer=europe Lebanon Jews Tap Diaspora to Rebuild Beirut's Shelled Synagogue] ]

However, the group has been accused of using antisemitism.

*Jeffery Goldberg, staff writer for "The New Yorker", described the group as a "very, very radical, anti-Semitic organization." [Block, Melissa. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5658944 "'New Yorker' Writer Warns of Hezbollah's Radicalism."] "National Public Radio". 16 August 2006. 16 February 2008.] He stated that Hezbollah has embraced an ideology "melding of Arab nationalist-based anti-Zionism, anti-Jewish rhetoric from the Koran, and, most disturbingly, the antique anti-Semitic beliefs and conspiracy theories of European fascism." [ [http://www.ujc.org/page.html?ArticleID=35387 "JCPA Middle East Briefing: Hezbollah"] . "United Jewish Communities". 14 February 2008.]

*The Hezbollah-owned and operated television station Al-Manar was criticized for airing "anti-Semitic propaganda" in the form of a television drama depicting a Jewish world domination conspiracy, [Sciolino, Elaine. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E7DE1031F93AA35751C1A9629C8B63 " A New French Headache: When Is Hate on TV Illegal?"] "The New York Times". 9 December 2004. 16 February 2008.] [ [http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_recycled.asp "Anti-Semitic Series Airs on Arab Television."] "ADL." 9 January 2004. 16 February 2008.] [ [http://www.wiesenthal.com/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=297065 "Urge President Chirac to Block Hezbollah's Antisemitic and Hate TV."] "Simon Wiesenthal Center". 21 May 2008.] and for making accusations that Jews deliberately spread AIDS. [Sciolino, Elaine. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/international/europe/12france.html "French Court Delays Decision on Hezbollah-Run TV Channel."] "The New York Times" 12 December 2004. 14 February 2008.] [Carvajal, Doreen. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/international/europe/14france.html "French Court Orders a Ban on hezbollah-Run TV Channel."] "The New York Times". 14 December 2004. 14 February 2008.] Hezbollah also used antisemitic educational materials designed for 5-year-old scouts. [ [http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=245494&ct=2943661 "UN Human Rights High Commissioner Admits to Wiesenthal Center Delegation ... 'Hezbollah Deliberately Targeted Israeli Civilians.'"] "Simon Wiesenthal Center". 19 September 2006. 22 May 2008.] [Brown, Roy. [http://www.iheu.org/node/2390 "Hezbollah attacks IHEU speaker."] "International Humanist and Ethical Union". 25 September 2006. 22 May 2008.]

*In 1996, Hezbollah called on Muslims to boycott the movie "Independence Day", calling it "propaganda for the so-called genius of the Jews and their alleged concern for humanity."Miller, Judith. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E7DB1F3BF935A15752C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Making Money Abroad, And Also a Few Enemies."] "The New York Times". 26 January 1997. 20 February 2008.] In the movie, a Jewish scientist played by Jeff Goldblum helps save the world from an alien invasion. Goldblum replied that "Hezbollah has missed the point: the film is not about American Jews saving the world; it's about teamwork among people of different religions and nationalities to defeat a common enemy." Hezbollah's anti-Jewish crusade, Goldblum added, "does not sit well with me."

*Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese writer and political analyst, devoted an entire chapter of her book "Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion" to an analysis of Hezbollah's anti-Jewish beliefs.Saad-Ghorayeb, Amal. "Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion". London: Pluto Press, 2002. pp. 168-186.] Sadd-Ghorayeb argues that although Zionism has influenced Hezbollah's anti-Judaism, "it is not contingent upon it" because Hezbollah's hatred of Jews is more religiously motivated than politically motivated.

*According to Shaul Shai, The Hassan Nasrallah has often made sharp anti-Semitic statements that not only revile Israel as a state, but also the entire Jewish people, while using themes taken from classic and Muslim anti-Semitism."Islamic Terror Abductions in the Middle East"By Shaul Shay,Published by Sussex Academic Press, 2007,ISBN 1845191676, 9781845191672,197 pages,Page 78]

Anti-Semitic statements have also been attributed to prominent figures in Hezbollah and to Hassan Nasrallah.

*In a 1998 speech marking the Day of Ashura, and published in what was Hassan Nasrallah's official website ["Profiles in Terror: The Guide to Middle East Terrorist Organizations"By Aaron Mannes,Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2004,ISBN 0742535258, 9780742535251,372 pages,p178] ["Shaping the Current Islamic Reformation"By Barbara Allen Roberson,Contributor Barbara Allen Roberson,Published by Routledge, 2003,ISBN 0714653411, 9780714653419,262 pages,p 245] ["The Internet and Politics: Citizens, Voters and Activists"By Sarah Oates, Diana Marie Owen, Rachel Kay Gibson, Diana Owen,Published by Routledge, 2006,ISBN 041534784X, 9780415347846,228 pages,p 109] at that time, Nasrallah referred to Israel as "the state of the grandsons of apes and pigs – the Zionist Jews" and condemned them as "the murderers of the prophets."cite web|title=" Based on Koranic Verses, Interpretations, and Traditions, Muslim Clerics State: The Jews Are the Descendants of Apes, Pigs, And Other Animals " |url= http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR01102#_edn6 |publisher=MEMRI |date=2002-11-01| language=English] "Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges"By Gabriel Weimann,Contributor Bruce Hoffman,Published by United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006,ISBN 1929223714, 9781929223718,309 pages,Page 90] "The Axis of Evil: Iran, Hizballah, And The Palestinian Terror"By Shaul Shai,Published by Transaction Publishers, 2005,ISBN 0765802554, 9780765802552,262 pages,Page 131] MEMRI, CAMERA and Shaul Shai interpret this language as broadly antisemitic.cite web
url = http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1158
title = "Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words"
publisher = CAMERA
date = 2006-07-26
language = English]

*According to the Israel Ministry of Foreigm Affairs, Hassan Nasrallah, speaking at the Shi'ite Moslem "Ashura" flagellation ceremony on April 9, 2000, said: “Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history... Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment.” [ [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/4/Excerpts%20from%20Speech%20by%20Hizbullah%20Secretary-Genera] “Excerpts from Speech by Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah - 9-Apr-2000“] According to Charles Glass, Hezbollah spokeswoman Wafa Hoteit denied that Nasrallah compared Jews to cancer."

*According to Shaul Shai, Hassan Nasrallah said in a speach delivered in Beirut and aired on Al-Manar TV in September 28, 2001: "What do the Jews want? They want security and money. Throughout history the Jews have been Allah's most cowardly and avaricious creatures. If you look all over the world, you will find no one more miserly or greedy than they are.".

*Badih Chayban in his October 23 2002 article in The Daily Star, Nasrallah said that "if [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." [cite web| date=2004-05-23| url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CEEDB1F3CF930A15756C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
title= The Enemy Within| publisher=New York Times] Charles Glass believes that the quotation was likely a fabrication, citing other published accounts of Nasrallah's speech that had no reference to the anti-Semitic comment, and statements by the editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper which published the quotes, that questioned both the translation and the "agenda of the translator." Glass also wrote that a Hezbollah spokeswoman, Wafa Hoteit, denied that Nasrallah made the statement. [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n19/letters.html LRB · letters page from Vol. 28 No. 19 ] ]

*Saad-Ghorayeb quotes . [London Review of Books. [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n01/letters.html "Letters - Vol. 29, No. 1"] .]

*Saad-Ghorayeb quotes Hezbollah's Deputy-General Shaykh Na'im Qasim as saying, "The history of Jews has proven that, regardless of the Zionist proposal, they are a people who are evil in their ideas." ['Abbas al-Mussawi, "Amiru'l-Zakira", Dhu al-Hujja 1406, p. 197. qtd. in Saad-Ghorayeb, 2002, p. 174.]

Position on use of armed strength to achieve aims

Hezbollah's 1985 founding Manifesto reads:

"whatever touches or strikes the Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines and elsewhere reverberates throughout the whole Muslim umma of which we are an integral part. ... No one can imagine the importance of our military potential as our military apparatus is not separate from our overall social fabric. Each of us is a fighting soldier. And when it becomes necessary to carry out the Holy War, each of us takes up his assignment in the fight in accordance with the injunctions of the Law, and that in the framework of the mission carried out under the tutelage of the Commanding Jurist."

Women’s rights

In keeping with Lebanon’s generally secular and egalitarian culture, Hezbollah recognizes and promotes women’s rights somewhat more strongly than do other groups associated with Islamic jihad, or for that matter than does Iran, Hezbollah’s self-proclaimed "model and example."cite web|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=SP123206|publisher=The Middle East Media Research Institute|title=Iranian and Syrian Reactions to the Latest Developments in the Middle East Crisis|date=2006-08-04|accessdate=2006-08-08] cite web
url=http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1007.shtml
title=Free speech marked for death
first=Trish
last=Schuh
date=2006-07-18
accessdate=2006-08-19] See also|Women in Muslim societies

One member of the Hezbollah Political Council, speaking to an "Online Journal" correspondent in July 2006, claimed that "Hezbollah differs from many Islamic groups in our treatment of women. We believe women have the ability like men to participate in all parts of life." The "Online Journal" correspondent writes:

"From its founding in the 1980s, Hezbollah women have headed education, medical and social service organizations. Most recently Hezbollah nominated several women to run in the Lebanese elections. It named Wafa Hoteit as a chief of Al Noor Radio ..., and promoted 37-year-old Rima Fakhry to its highest ruling body, the Hezbollah Political Council. Part of Fakhry's duties include interpreting Islamic feminism in Sharia law for the Committee for Political Analysis."

ee also

* Hezbollah political activities
* Hezbollah military activities
* Hezbollah foreign relations
* Hezbollah

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/MoralLogic.htm The Moral Logic of Hizbullah] by Martin Kramer.
* [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Calculus.htm Hizbullah: The Calculus of Jihad] by Martin Kramer.