Hezbollah Condemns Organized Campaign against Sayyed Fadlallah

Hezbollah Condemns Organized Campaign against Sayyed Fadlallah

28/08/2009 Two days after the March 14 "orchestra" started a campaign against Lebanon's top cleric Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah because of the latter's criticism of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir's latest comments, Hezbollah broke its silence and condemned the "organized" campaign against Sayyed Fadlallah declaring its complete solidarity with the top cleric.

Sayyed Fadlallah slammed on Tuesday Patriarch Sfeir who has been calling for a cabinet based on the outcome of the parliamentary polls.

"Why do you restrict the issue to the parliamentary majority?" Sayyed Fadlallah wondered during an Iftar in a clear reference to Sfeir's demands. "We call for a popular majority and popular referendum … so that people would have their say."

Sfeir has said that the government should be made up of the parliamentary majority while the opposition should remain outside the cabinet.

In response to Sayyed Fadlallah's comments, Patriarch Sfeir's "spokesmen" in the March 14 secretariat general said Wednesday that no one can take away "the glory of Lebanon from its makers." In a statement after its regular meeting, March 14 slammed what it called "the organized campaign" targeting Sfeir, paving the way for the whole "majority orchestra" to show their "verbal" competences.

In reaction, and while Sayyed Fadlallah remained silent and refrained from responding to such campaign, Hezbollah media relations issued a statement on Friday in which it condemned the campaign that broke all red lines.

"In the logic of freedom, it's everybody's right to discuss the stances taken by Sayyed Mohamad Hussein Fadlallah concerning the glory of Lebanon or the partnership, parliamentary and popular majority. It's also everybody's right to accept or reject Sayyed Fadlallah's statements," Hezbollah said, regretting the issuance in response of comments and statements "that surpassed all the limits of courtesy and decency and made use of fierce expressions, resorting to the personal insult of Sayyed Fadlallah, ignoring his eminence's position, status and symbolism at national and Islamic levels."

"Hezbollah condemns and denounces this organized media campaign that targeted his eminence and that reflects the level of deterioration and decadence reached not only in the political rhetoric but also in the political life in Lebanon where there aren't anymore values or dignities," the statement read.

The Resistance bloc said that discussing the ideas of any religious figure was natural "and everyone is free to accept or reject the stances of any religious figure. But to insult the other's dignities is completely unacceptable. This is how the discussion of the political stances of the Maronite Patriarch becomes eligible and is difference than insulting his religious dignity."

Hezbollah concluded its statement by calling to re-purify the political and media scene from inappropriate speeches and to safeguard the religious dignity to all sects alongside holding the right of discussion and dialogue. "This is Lebanese that we all claim that we are keen on preserving."