Daily Archives: July 16, 2008

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Lebanese Bloggers Not Happy With Kuntar Celebrations

Psst…If you think all Lebanese are drooling and clapping over Mr. Kuntar’s release, think again.

Many Lebanese bloggers are clearly not amused by what they see as a disingenuous posturing by politicians pretending to enjoy today’s “national celebrations”

Over at ouwet.com , N10452 writes:

I cannot believe we are cheering for an animal that is being freed from Israeli prisons …We are cheering for a man who killed a 4 year old baby after killing her father in front of her ..You tell me he was retaliating ?? By killing innocent children & civilians you retaliate ?? Or even worse, some people tell me 2 kills is ok compared to the atrocities Israel committed over the years. ..As if it makes any difference if you kill one or 20 !! Killing is killing & KILLING IS WRONG !! Shame on our people … shame shame shame !!

MS Levantine saw her cynicism tested:

I consider myself a Teflon Lebanese: nothing in my country really
surprises me. I am cynical enough to always expect the worse, and I am
never disappointed. Still, I am perplexed by the festivities organized
for the return of Mr. Qantar. The man is a child killer.

Charles at LPJ concurs:

Qantar killed Israeli government personnel and civilians during a raid
in the middle of a war. However, he also killed a four year old girl by
smashing a rock into her head. There is no excuse on Earth to justify
that action, and there is no way that I can ever say that this man is a
hero. Any man willing to smash in the head of a 4 year old child with a
rock should remain in prison for the rest of his life. My disgust has no words… My tears…

And Lebanon Foreign Policy blog rhymes along:

To receive Samir Kuntar with the red carpet is [or should be] a major
embarrassment for Lebanon. In spite of the political calculations,
Kuntar’s most “heroic” gesture was to murder in cold blood a four years
old girl. Oh wait. He did kill Einat’s dad before smashing her skull.

And bloggers are not alone; A quick look at the dozens of denouncing comments in one of my previous posts, and you get the general pulse of the disgusted class.

In short, many Lebanese, just like many foreigners just don’t “get” what there is to celebrate..

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Why Walid Jumblat Has Embraced Samir Kuntar

The erstwhile defender of freedom and liberalism sees in the freed prisoner a great political opportunity.

To listen to Mr. Walid Jumblat speak to the international media about how happy he is with the release of Mr. Kuntar, one would be excused to doublecheck who the speaker is. In his interview today with a clearly baffled Owen Benett Jones of the BBC, Mr. Jumblat refused to concede even one bit that Mr. Kuntar might have ever made a mistake. He replied to all questions relating to Mr. Kuntar’s killing of an Israeli family by changing the subject and defiantly denouncing Israel’s crimes against humanity and illegal occupation of Arab lands.

So why is Mr. Jumblat, the darling of Washington –and the only major Lebanese politician who publicly denounced Hezbollah’s “militia” as terrorists– risking his and Lebanon’s international reputations by so effusively embracing Mr. Kuntar and by instructing his loyalists to celebrate his release?

The answer lies in the Druze community which he leads and to which Mr. Kuntar belongs. (To all those of you who though he was a Shiaa, correct your notes)

Mr. Jumblat realized back when Hezbollah invaded Beirut and attempted to invade the mountains, that the small Druze community could be facing an existential threat from the Shiaas, who in taking their cue from Mr. Nassrallah’s very public and harsh denouncement of Mr. Jumblat, have come to look to the Druze as a Judeo-American fifth column. In Samir Kuntar, Mr. Jumblat saw a powerful symbol to remind everyone of the “Druze’s history in Arab resistance”, as he told the BBC’s Bennett Jones.

By this posturing, Mr. Jumblat can strike two birds in one stone: He can undermines the perception of Shiaa monopoly on resistance and reduce the heat on his community, and he can open the door for a potential electoral alliance with Hezbollah in the upcoming elections (a far fetched wish, but can’t stop a politician from dreaming)

Still, it remains to be seen whether Mr. Jumblatt’s fabled elasticity will work for him this time…