Despite Everything, Israel Remains 'Innocent' in Bellemare's Eyes!

Wael Karaki - Hussein Assi

16/08/2010

One week has passed on the exceptional press conference made by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in which he accused the Israeli enemy of direct involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, but the scenario seemed to be unchanged…

That's it. The scenario is already written and no change can be accepted in the meantime. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set to be a tool to achieve the Israeli announced goals, and nothing must change.

It's true that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said it loudly and presented tangible evidence of an Israeli potential role in the crime as well as other crimes that hit Lebanon during the few past years.

It's true that Israel mobilized one agent who sought to delude former PM Rafiq Hariri since 1993 and make him believe that Hezbollah wants to assassinate him.

It's true that Israel didn't stop its intelligence operations in Lebanon following the year 2004, a truth confirmed by the testimonies made by the agents who were recently arrested by the Lebanese authorities.

It's true that Israeli MK drones were caught monitoring the movements of Hariri prior to his assassination.

It's also true than an Israeli executive spy, named Ghassan Jedd, was on ground at the crime's scene on February 14, 2005, the unforgettable day.

All this is true.

Yet, the Israeli enemy is "innocent" and will remain so in the eyes of the international community and the STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare. The latter actually asked the Lebanese authorities to provide him with the data presented by Sayyed Nasrallah. But experts believe the request was just "formal" and that Bellemare sought through it to keep some 'lost credibility' for his 'politicized tribunal.'

It's too simply the international justice, the 'justice' which simply ignores the world's top criminal and refuses to only condemn the massacres it commits everywhere killing women and children and occupying others' land.

NASHABA TO AL-MANAR WEBSITE: BELLEMARE MUST TAKE ALL POSSIBILITIES INTO CONSIDERATION

In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar website, Lebanese expert in judicial affairs and Al-Akhbar daily journalist Omar Nashaba said that the STL prosecutor Daniel Bellemare must take all possibilities into consideration and therefore, has the duty of seeking all possible evidence to reach the truth behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

"Did the international tribunal launch its operations in March 2009 before Bellemare, who was the chief of the investigation committee before being appointed as STL Prosecutor, could collect data about the potential Israeli role in Hariri's murder?" Nashaba wondered.

Nashaba also wondered whether the international investigators have actually visited the occupied territories as part of their claimed search for truth, recalling how they have visited some states members in the United Nations to collect data on the February 14, 2005, crime. "Was it possible that such visit take secretly place without highlight from the part of the Israeli media? And why does Israel hide such visit at the time Syria didn't do the same when the investigators visited Damascus?"

BELLEMARE'S REQUEST… GOOD BUT FRUITLESS INITIATIVE

Yet, following Sayyed Nasrallah's press conference, Bellemare didn't keep quiet…

According to an official statement released last week by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare called for the submission of all material held by Hezbollah that could help the investigations. "

In line with its mandate, the Office of the Prosecutor has requested the Lebanese authorities to provide all the information in possession of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah," the statement said. "This request includes the video material that was shown on television during the press conference, as well any other material that would be of assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor in unveiling the truth," the statement added.

In this context, Nashaba told Al-Manar website that Bellemare's request is believed to be a good initiative. "However, this initiative is fruitless because Bellemare didn't make any tangible action since Sayyed Nasrallah uncovered the data in his possession," Nashaba noticed.

"For instance, who prevents the investigative committee of questioning the Israeli spies arrested by the Lebanese authorities? Do they believe that the data covered by Sayyed Nasrallah doesn't deserve a real action from the part of the committee under the slogan of justice?" the Al-Akhbar expert said.

Nashaba noted that Bellemare usually refuses to answer such questions under the pretext of "refraining from commenting investigation's developments." Yet, this pretext is unconvincing according to Nashaba. "His request to receive data presented by Sayyed Nasrallah means he's interested in such evidence and this is tantamount to commenting the investigation's developments," he said.

He noted that the investigative committee only mentioned Israel once among the countries it urged to sign the cooperation judicial agreement. The STL President at the time said that all these states rejected to sign such agreement, and at the top of them was Israel.

ISRAEL... INNOCENT!

That's it. Israel is 'innocent' in the STL Prosecutor's eyes. Of course, it is.
It is 'innocent' because the scheme to target the Resistance is an Israeli one.
Even more, it's Israel's 'last hope' to put an end to the Resistance's project.

After all this, would the STL deal with Israel as a potential suspect or it would put an end to its so-called credibility "for Israel's sake"?

Flashback: Hariri: Disturbing questions about UN's 'assassination investigator



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian