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- Force is the only Language that Hezbollah knows and understands
- Force is the only Language that Hezbollah knows and understands
- Armenian people: Pain, faith, & hope
- Iraqi Christians: Exodus, Ethnic Cleansing & Identity Annihilation
- The Lebanese Government needs to declare Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization
- Christ has Truly Risen and we are Witnesses to His Resurrection
- The Iraqi Chaldean Archbishop murder is a new victory for Terrorism
- The Axis of Evil Stands Behind the Jerusalem Crime
- MP. Michele Aoun Represent the Axis Of Evil, & not the Lebanese Christians
- Lebanon's Saniora Government & and the Israeli Complex
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Force is the only Language that Hezbollah knows and understands
10 May, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
The recent ongoing bloody terrorist riots that Hezbollah has been inflicted on Lebanon and its peaceful people since last Wednesday, tragically show that this country today is confronting challenges of a magnitude unseen since the end of its civil war in 1990.
Hezbollah's military criminal acts against the Lebanese civilians, and its armed rebellion coup d'état against the country's legitimate Government were not, in fact, a surprise to those well-informed observers and political activists who have been closely monitoring this Iranian armed militia since it was founded in Lebanon by the Iranian mullahs (Shiites clergymen) in 1982. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's main mission is to export, advocate for, force and spread the Khomeini's religious ideology and its revolution to all the Middle Eastern countries.
Hezbollah is not a Lebanese party by any criteria, but a foreign army in Lebanon, no more and no less. Its decision-making process, financing, ideology, training, supplies and weapons all come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards headquarters and leadership. It is well documented by many neutral informed resources that Iran annually pays Hezbollah more than three billion dollars.
Hezbollah's Iranian mission and objectives have never ever been a secret at any time. They are public and well known to each and every Lebanese, while Hezbollah boasts with their divinity every day. Simply this group and as planned by its masters the Iranian mullahs has been from day one working on all levels, and by all means, to topple the Lebanese democratic, peaceful, consensual, multicultural, free and liberal regime in a bid to replace it by a religious state, a replicate of the forced on the Iranian people.
Hezbollah, who has an actual state inside the Lebanese Central state, fully controls more than 40% of Lebanon's territories in Beirut, the South and Bekaa. Its state was erected during the Stalinist Syrian occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005). Iran with Syria helped Hezbollah to control the Shiite Lebanese community and in fact to take its members as hostages of intimidation and oppression. The Lebanese people in general and the Shiites Lebanese community in particular had no say whatsoever in this matter. Syria forced Hezbollah on the Shiites and on the rest of the Lebanese communities through murder, kidnapping, terrorization and violence.
When the Syrian Army was forced to withdraw from Lebanon in 2005 after thirty years of nasty occupation, Hezbollah replaced Syria's occupationa and criminal role. Since then it has been purposefully crippling the country and not allowing its democratic process to take place. Numerous pro-Lebanon - anti Syrian MP's. Journalists, officials, army officers and intellectuals including ex PM Raffic Hariri were assassinated by Hezbollah and Syria. The country's Parliament was closed by force and the MP's have been unable to elect a president. In 2006 Hezbollah instigated a devastating war with Israel that cost the country more than1500 victims and about 30 billion dollars in losses.
Hezbollah refuses to disarm, and has kept the central Lebanese government and its authority on all levels out side its closed cantons. It has its own army (60 thousand well armed and well trained men), it runs its own schools, jails, hospital, social services, construction companies, communication network, transportation, foreign relations, etc. It does not recognize the central government and has withdrawn its ministers from it in a bid to stop the Hariri International Tribunal and protect the Syrian regime and its leaders whom many believe are behind the Hariri assassination.
In simple mathematics we can assume that one state has to cancel the other. It is either the Lebanese Central government that will prevail and Hezbollah's state inside the state will disintegrate or visa versa. Hezbollah backed by both Axis of evil countries Iran and Syria is systematically working on destroying the Lebanese state and toppling all its institution, the parliament. the cabinet, the presidency, the judiciary, the armed forces etc. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are viciously planning to take control of the whole country.
Hezbollah Party wants to keep by force its own communication network and appoint his own loyal men in all government key positions and specially the security ones. In this context, its present on going bloody riots took place after its leadership falsely accused the country's cabinet of declaring a war against the Shiite community because the government is questioning the party's communication illegal network and has decided to transfer the country's airport security chief who was helping Hezbollah keep an on going surveillance over the Beirut International airport through very advanced cameras planted secretly and without the government's knowledge.
Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is threatening to severe the hands and cut the necks of any one who dares to approach his party's weapons. Nasrallah tagged his weapons as holy and sacred and tied its fate to the Holy Quran and Jihad.
Hezbollah is endeavoring to force on the Lebanese an education of Jihadism (holy war against Israel, USA and the infidels), in conjunction with the Iranian mullah's religious ideology (Welaet Al Fakeh Islamic governing concept), the same ideology that is forced on the Iranian people.
Simply Hezbollah is not a resistance group as it alleges, but a mere Iranian-Syrian terrorist army stationed in Lebanon. Its bloody global and regional terrorism record is extremely notorious and there is no way in the world that this terrorist armed party will peacefully or willingly give up its state inside the state. (Hezbollah launched suicide attacks on Western targets and took Westerners hostage in Beirut in the 1980s. The most spectacular attack was a suicide bombing that destroyed the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut in October 1983, killing 241 servicemen. One of the groups, Islamic Jihad, was thought to be led by Imad Moughniyah, who was Hezbollah's military commander when he was assassinated on February 13 in Syria).
Hezbollah was supposed to disarm like all other Lebanese militias after the "Taef accord" in 1990, but the Syrian occupation hindered this procedure and imposed it as a resistance armed organization through force and terror and not through consensus.
The whole world should be put on notice, and understand that losing Lebanon for Hezbollah will create a fundamentalist monster that will devour the middle East countries one after the other. Meanwhile Hezbollah's actual and serious danger will not be limited to the Middle East, but will definitely target all the free world countries.
Based on all the above, we call on the UN, USA, European countries, Canada, Australia, the Arab states and the rest of all the free world countries to help Lebanon and its government in disarming Hezbollah by all means including the military one before it takes over Lebanon and becomes a serious threat for peace and stability not only in the Middle East, but in the entire world.
In the face of this organized and intentional evil deadlock that Lebanon and its people are facing alone, we call on the Free World democratic countries, the moderate Arab countries, the United Nations and the Arab League to step in militarily under UN Security Council Chapter Seven mandate and take over Lebanon for a rehabilitation interval as was the situation in Afghanistan, East Timor, Kosovo and some African countries. It will be even more effective and deterrent if NATO forces can assume this mission and not the UN.
The solid and proved fact that no one in the entire world should ignore is that Hezbollah, like the rest of the regional and global terrorist groups understands and bows to only one language. This language that they master and understand is a combination of force, deterrence and decisiveness. Hopefully the world will be able to communicate with Hezbollah with the only language that it knows and understands.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Force is the only Language that Hezbollah knows and understands
10 May, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
The recent ongoing bloody terrorist riots that Hezbollah has been inflicted on Lebanon and its peaceful people since last Wednesday, tragically show that this country today is confronting challenges of a magnitude unseen since the end of its civil war in 1990.
Hezbollah's military criminal acts against the Lebanese civilians, and its armed rebellion coup d'état against the country's legitimate Government were not, in fact, a surprise to those well-informed observers and political activists who have been closely monitoring this Iranian armed militia since it was founded in Lebanon by the Iranian mullahs (Shiites clergymen) in 1982. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's main mission is to export, advocate for, force and spread the Khomeini's religious ideology and its revolution to all the Middle Eastern countries.
Hezbollah is not a Lebanese party by any criteria, but a foreign army in Lebanon, no more and no less. Its decision-making process, financing, ideology, training, supplies and weapons all come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards headquarters and leadership. It is well documented by many neutral informed resources that Iran annually pays Hezbollah more than three billion dollars.
Hezbollah's Iranian mission and objectives have never ever been a secret at any time. They are public and well known to each and every Lebanese, while Hezbollah boasts with their divinity every day. Simply this group and as planned by its masters the Iranian mullahs has been from day one working on all levels, and by all means, to topple the Lebanese democratic, peaceful, consensual, multicultural, free and liberal regime in a bid to replace it by a religious state, a replicate of the forced on the Iranian people.
Hezbollah, who has an actual state inside the Lebanese Central state, fully controls more than 40% of Lebanon's territories in Beirut, the South and Bekaa. Its state was erected during the Stalinist Syrian occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005). Iran with Syria helped Hezbollah to control the Shiite Lebanese community and in fact to take its members as hostages of intimidation and oppression. The Lebanese people in general and the Shiites Lebanese community in particular had no say whatsoever in this matter. Syria forced Hezbollah on the Shiites and on the rest of the Lebanese communities through murder, kidnapping, terrorization and violence.
When the Syrian Army was forced to withdraw from Lebanon in 2005 after thirty years of nasty occupation, Hezbollah replaced Syria's occupationa and criminal role. Since then it has been purposefully crippling the country and not allowing its democratic process to take place. Numerous pro-Lebanon - anti Syrian MP's. Journalists, officials, army officers and intellectuals including ex PM Raffic Hariri were assassinated by Hezbollah and Syria. The country's Parliament was closed by force and the MP's have been unable to elect a president. In 2006 Hezbollah instigated a devastating war with Israel that cost the country more than1500 victims and about 30 billion dollars in losses.
Hezbollah refuses to disarm, and has kept the central Lebanese government and its authority on all levels out side its closed cantons. It has its own army (60 thousand well armed and well trained men), it runs its own schools, jails, hospital, social services, construction companies, communication network, transportation, foreign relations, etc. It does not recognize the central government and has withdrawn its ministers from it in a bid to stop the Hariri International Tribunal and protect the Syrian regime and its leaders whom many believe are behind the Hariri assassination.
In simple mathematics we can assume that one state has to cancel the other. It is either the Lebanese Central government that will prevail and Hezbollah's state inside the state will disintegrate or visa versa. Hezbollah backed by both Axis of evil countries Iran and Syria is systematically working on destroying the Lebanese state and toppling all its institution, the parliament. the cabinet, the presidency, the judiciary, the armed forces etc. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are viciously planning to take control of the whole country.
Hezbollah Party wants to keep by force its own communication network and appoint his own loyal men in all government key positions and specially the security ones. In this context, its present on going bloody riots took place after its leadership falsely accused the country's cabinet of declaring a war against the Shiite community because the government is questioning the party's communication illegal network and has decided to transfer the country's airport security chief who was helping Hezbollah keep an on going surveillance over the Beirut International airport through very advanced cameras planted secretly and without the government's knowledge.
Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is threatening to severe the hands and cut the necks of any one who dares to approach his party's weapons. Nasrallah tagged his weapons as holy and sacred and tied its fate to the Holy Quran and Jihad.
Hezbollah is endeavoring to force on the Lebanese an education of Jihadism (holy war against Israel, USA and the infidels), in conjunction with the Iranian mullah's religious ideology (Welaet Al Fakeh Islamic governing concept), the same ideology that is forced on the Iranian people.
Simply Hezbollah is not a resistance group as it alleges, but a mere Iranian-Syrian terrorist army stationed in Lebanon. Its bloody global and regional terrorism record is extremely notorious and there is no way in the world that this terrorist armed party will peacefully or willingly give up its state inside the state. (Hezbollah launched suicide attacks on Western targets and took Westerners hostage in Beirut in the 1980s. The most spectacular attack was a suicide bombing that destroyed the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut in October 1983, killing 241 servicemen. One of the groups, Islamic Jihad, was thought to be led by Imad Moughniyah, who was Hezbollah's military commander when he was assassinated on February 13 in Syria).
Hezbollah was supposed to disarm like all other Lebanese militias after the "Taef accord" in 1990, but the Syrian occupation hindered this procedure and imposed it as a resistance armed organization through force and terror and not through consensus.
The whole world should be put on notice, and understand that losing Lebanon for Hezbollah will create a fundamentalist monster that will devour the middle East countries one after the other. Meanwhile Hezbollah's actual and serious danger will not be limited to the Middle East, but will definitely target all the free world countries.
Based on all the above, we call on the UN, USA, European countries, Canada, Australia, the Arab states and the rest of all the free world countries to help Lebanon and its government in disarming Hezbollah by all means including the military one before it takes over Lebanon and becomes a serious threat for peace and stability not only in the Middle East, but in the entire world.
In the face of this organized and intentional evil deadlock that Lebanon and its people are facing alone, we call on the Free World democratic countries, the moderate Arab countries, the United Nations and the Arab League to step in militarily under UN Security Council Chapter Seven mandate and take over Lebanon for a rehabilitation interval as was the situation in Afghanistan, East Timor, Kosovo and some African countries. It will be even more effective and deterrent if NATO forces can assume this mission and not the UN.
The solid and proved fact that no one in the entire world should ignore is that Hezbollah, like the rest of the regional and global terrorist groups understands and bows to only one language. This language that they master and understand is a combination of force, deterrence and decisiveness. Hopefully the world will be able to communicate with Hezbollah with the only language that it knows and understands.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Armenian people: Pain, faith, & hope
25 April, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
On the ninety-third anniversary of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire government's military forces which took place in 1915 in what is known today as Turkey, we, from the Lebanese Canadian Coordination Council (LCCC), offer our heartily felt condolences to the Armenian people all over the world, share their grief, pain and anguish, as well as their on going cry for justice.
Many historians believe that contemporary history has not yet witnessed a more terrible crime - a crime against humanity - than that of the Armenian genocide. There is no doubt that the faithful and patriotic Armenian People shall keep vivid this sad memory that has touched deeply and extensively their lives, hearts, conscience, and hopes.
With the Armenians, and all people world-wide who believe in Human Rights, justice and enforcement of law and order, we ask Almighty God to grant the souls of the genocide 1.5 million victims the eternal resting peace dwelling in His Holy Heaven alongside saints and angels.
With great admiration, we salute the Armenian people for their great courage, tireless perseverance and stanched witnessing for what is righteous and just. For ninety three hard and tough painful years they've held their cause alive and never allowed themselves or the world to forget the genocide crime that the Ottoman Empire inflicted with cold blood on their families.
It is worth mentioning that on April 1915 the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its civilian Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey. The Armenian population of the Ottoman state was reported at about two million in 1915. An estimated one million had perished by 1918, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless refugees. By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared.
The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Turks who had conquered lands extending across West Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe. The Ottoman government was centered in Istanbul (Constantinople) and was headed by a sultan who was vested with absolute power. The Turks practiced Islam and were a martial people. The Armenians, a Christian minority, lived as second class citizens subject to legal restrictions which denied them normal safeguards. Neither their lives nor their properties were guaranteed security. As non-Muslims they were also obligated to pay discriminatory taxes and denied participation in government. Scattered across the empire, the status of the Armenians was further complicated by the fact that the territory of historic Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Russians.
The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916 (with subsidiaries to 1922-23). One and a half million Armenians were killed, out of a total of three million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Armenians all over the world commemorate this great tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were rounded up, deported and killed. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes.
The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party (Committee for Union and Progress [Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyet, in Turkish]) which was dominated by Mehmed Talât [Pasha], Ismail Enver [Pasha], and Ahmed Djemal [Pasha]. They were a racist group whose ideology was articulated by Zia Gökalp, Dr. Mehmed Nazim, and Dr. Behaeddin Shakir.
The Turkish government today denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only removed from the eastern "war zone." The Armenian Genocide, however, occurred all over Anatolia [present-day Turkey], and not just in the so-called "war zone." Deportations and killings occurred in the west, in and around Ismid (Izmit) and Broussa (Bursa); in the center, in and around Angora (Ankara); in the south-west, in and around Konia (Konya) and Adana (which is near the Mediterranean Sea); in the central portion of Anatolia, in and around Diyarbekir (Diyarbakir), Harpout (Harput), Marash, Sivas (Sepastia), Shabin Kara-Hissar (þebin Karahisar), and Ourfa (Urfa); and on the Black Sea coast, in and around Trebizond (Trabzon), all of which are not part of a war zone. Only Erzeroum, Bitlis, and Van in the east were in the war zone.
The Armenian Genocide was condemned at the time by representatives of the British, French, Russian, German, and Austrian governments—namely all the major Powers. The first three were foes of the Ottoman Empire, the latter two, allies of the Ottoman Empire. The United States, neutral towards the Ottoman Empire, also condemned the Armenian Genocide and was the chief spokesman in behalf of the Armenians.
Up until now, the Turkish government has consistently refused to recognize the Armenian genocide and keeps on exerting a great deal of pressure on countries that do. Meanwhile more than 20 countries, including Belgium, Canada, Poland and Switzerland, have officially recognized the killings as genocide. In 2006, French lawmakers voted to make it a criminal offence to deny that Armenians were victims of genocide. But still many countries, including Britain and the United States, refuse to use the term to describe the events, mindful of relations with Turkey. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee's endorsement of a resolution labeling the killings as genocide last October sparked fury in Ankara, which recalled its ambassador to Washington. Under intense pressure from the White House, the authors of the bill later asked Congress not to hold a debate on the issue.
We call on all the European countries to make the full scale recognition of the Armenian genocide conditional for Turkey's future membership in their Union, and we urge all the free world countries to pressure Turkey to recognize the horrible Armenian massacre and accordingly abide by all due international laws that needs to be enforced in such cases like apologies, recognition and compensations.
The entire free world should not rest until justice is served to the Armenian people and the Ottoman genocide against them is fully recognized.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Iraqi Christians: Exodus, Ethnic Cleansing & Identity Annihilation
07 April, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
In Bagdad on Saturday (5 April 2008), another innocent Iraqi clergyman fell victim to the on-going persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in Iraq. Iraqi security sources announced that a group of unknown armed men gunned down Father Youssef Adel Aboudi, a Christian priest with Saint Peter's Assyrian Orthodox Church. He was murdered while on his way to the church which is located in the centre of Baghdad.
It is worth mentioning that last month, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, Chaldean Catholic archbishop of the Iraqi city of Mosul, was found in a shallow grave in the northern suburb of the city, two weeks after he was kidnapped. During Rahho's kidnapping by terrorists, three of his escorting deacons were murdered in cold blood. It is of great concern that Iraq's Christians, with the Chaldean rite the largest community, which were said to number as many as 800,000 before the American Liberation of Iraq nearly five years ago, is believed to have dropped to half that figure.
The Muslim fundamentalists in an apparent and avert venomous scheme masterminded, financed, orchestrated and executed by the Axis of evil countries and their armed terrorist tools (Iran, Syria, Hezbollah), as well as by Al Qaeda global armed militias, are all adamant to force the exodus or eradication of the Iraqi Christians.
What is going on in Iraq is an organized and systematic ethnic cleaning, targeting its historic Christian communities while the whole world is silent and indifferent.
We repeat our urgent call that was made last month after the heinous murder of Archbishop Rahho and his deacons. We again call on all the free world countries, in particular the United States, moderate Arab countries, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Russia, to end their shameful silence and come to the rescue of the Middle East Christian communities, especially the Iraqi Christian communities, before it is too late.
The United States and the rest of the world should know that elimination of Middle East Christian communities will put terrorist and fundamentalist criminals, with their savage anti-humanity plots and their sharpened swords of hatred, in complete control in those countries. If the West remains silent and indifferent while the Christians in Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon and other middle East and Muslim countries are being eradicated from their own historic lands, the near future will bring many more days like September 11, 2001 in many Western countries.
The civilized communities of the world should understand that by defending and protecting the Christian communities of the Middle East, they will be defending and protecting their own national security. They should not sit idle, watching from a distance under the false belief that they are safe, while the education of death, suicide, hatred, intolerance and fanaticism is destroying the Middle East, and spreading. This kind of education, spearheaded by Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and the other terrorist and fundamentalist groups, must be totally uprooted, while its sponsors, protectors, advocates, proponents and financiers are brought to justice and put on trial on charges of premeditated murder against civilization and humanity.
As far as Iraq is concerned, it has become more than necessary for the Iraqi government, the United States, Britain, moderate Arab neighbors and the United Nations to take full and immediate action to end the horrible suffering of Iraqi Christians. Their safety and welfare is not a favor from anybody, but rather a holy duty and a national obligation that the whole world is ought to fulfill.
While we remind the world that the peace loving Lebanese people and their troubled country, Lebanon, are still the victims of this Iranian and Syrian satanic culture of death, fundamentalism and terrorism, we pray that Almighty God will grant the Iraqi Christian communities all the needed faith, hope and perseverance to enable them to endure with love and forgiveness this on-going nightmare that has been mercilessly targeting their peaceful people.
The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council, (LCCC) offers the Iraqi Christian Churches, communities, and father Aboud's family and friends its warmest heartily felt condolences. We ask Almighty God to grant them all patience, solace, and courage to endure this great loss with a forgiving spirit and solid faith.
We pray that the Father Aboudi's soul is now resting peacefully in heaven alongside all the other Saints and Angels.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
The Lebanese Government needs to declare Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization
27 March, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
The Lebanese government has done well in boycotting the Arab League summit to be held in Damascus on March 29-30.
We wished that this government had shown more steel and had overcome its hesitation with a potion of courage and clarity earlier. Had it done so, it would have saved our Lebanese tortured people lots of intimidation, conning, and the Hezbollah “Godly” anger and noise, as well as General Michel Aoun's lost and cheating general Herculean postures which surpassed basic decency, morality, and logic, even reached insolence and insult to the Lebanese people intelligence and memory.
This clear boycott re-establishes the authority of the Lebanese government and confirms that it is legitimate and constitutional despite the screams and insults of Michel Aoun and the edicts of Hezbollah’s rulers.
This clear boycott re-establishes the authority of the Lebanese government and confirms that it is legitimate and constitutional despite the screams and insults of Michel Aoun and the edicts of Hezbollah’s rulers.
This boycott affirms a proper stand which should have been the framework of the government since the resignation of Hezbollah’s and Amal Movement's Shiite ministers in accordance with Syria’s leaders instructions in fear of the Hariri international Tribunal. Our country, Lebanon, would have been in much better shape had the Saniora government shown firmness earlier. We would have had a president by now, and the downtown protest would have been over.
The thousand miles trip always starts with the first step. We hope that the Saniora government, after all the disappointments it caused to itself and to Lebanon, has decided to exit the bondage of hesitation to deal with the Syrian-Iranian agents (Hezbollah, Amal Movement, Fundamentalists and Syrian made Lebanese and Palestinian military armed groups) as such, and not as resistance, otherwise we will remain in the endless circle.
The government must begin immediately to name political matters clearly and frankly, and abandon its calling of Hezbollah as resistance, such falsification of history as the liberation of the south, and that prior to the year 2000 it enjoyed the support of all the Lebanese people.
Fundamentalist Persian Hezbollah is nothing but an Iranian army in Lebanon according to all measures. Everyone knows it has only retarded the liberation of the south for 14 years. It has never been a Lebanese option never received unanimity in any fashion or shape.
During the Syrian despicable occupation, Hezbollah, the Iranian armed militia in Lebanon, was imposed logistically upon the Lebanese, and specifically on the Shiite community, with financing, organization, command, decision making process and political will of the Iranian revolutionary guard, as an instrument to export the Iranian Khomeini Islamic revolution.
Hezbollah was supposed to disarm like all other Lebanese militias after the "Taef accord" in 1990, but the Syrian occupation hindered this procedure and imposed it as a resistance armed organization through force and terror and not through consensus.
In summary, we wish to state that the Lebanese government has taken an important step today on the road of national and independent governance. But it will not be able to continue this trek unless it maintains its honesty and witness to the truth. This Government must move with courage and chivalry from the reaction to the action mode. Will it do so? We hope.
Background
Lebanon Boycotts Damascus Summit, Urges Arabs to 'Shepherd' Relations with Syria
Naharnet/Beirut, 25 Mar 08/ The Lebanese government on Tuesday decided to boycott the forthcoming summit in Damascus and urged Arabs to tackle the deteriorating Lebanese-Syrian relations. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, reading a statement after a meeting by Premier Fouad Saniora's government, said Lebanon would also boycott preparatory meetings that set the stage for the summit that would convene in Damascus on March 29. The government urged "Arab brethren to shepherd Lebanese-Syrian relations to help Lebanon spread its sovereignty over its territories," the statement said. Such an Arab effort should lead to "sound relations between Lebanon and Syria," it added. The decision, according to the statement, is not tantamount to a breach of Lebanon's relations with Syria, but it reflects the need "to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and independence." The decision was adopted in light of blocking presidential elections and Lebanon's determination to be represented at the summit by "the only Christian president among all Arab heads of state," the statement noted. It also reflects the rejection by the Lebanese people to adapt to the existing presidential void, according to the statement. Such a boycott is a "precedent that has been imposed on us," it noted.
The statement concluded that Lebanon would remain committed to inter-Arab relations "especially in confronting Israeli threats."
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Christ has Truly Risen and we are Witnesses to His Resurrection
22 March, 2008
But what does it say? The word is with you, in your mouth, and in your heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says; whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. (Romans 10: 8 -11)
Oh how great is the need nowadays, to understand the meaning and message of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! The fast pace of life has turned us merely into sad human shells of crippled beings, consumed by greed, selfishness and the race for worldly pleasures. Our thoughts and actions are directed by trifle material matters and concerns. In the midst of all this moral and ethical havoc, we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of Almighty God and that He has created us in His image and likeness and made our bodies a temple for Him.
We often find ourselves intentionally forgetting the fact that our Heavenly Father has shown us His great love and affection by sending us His only son; born as human, He suffered humiliation and pain and was crucified so that we could be relieved from the burden of our original sin. Through His crucifixion and death, Jesus triumphed over death and resurrected from the dead, thereby resurrecting us with Him, pure and forgiven of all sin and impurity. Oh how the yoke of death and sin has been lifted from our shoulders and carried by our Lord Jesus!
Worldly matters frequently make us easy prey to our sinful instincts and wrongful human inclinations. How easy we are seduced by sin knowing that our Father gave so much for our salvation. In such darkness, our faith, perseverance and hope become weakened, as we drift away from the teachings of our Lord. Shame is our neglect of our rightful obligations towards our heavenly Father and towards those who need our love, compassion and friendship.
We need to realize wholly and become fully aware of the great blessing that Jesus’ resurrection from death is indeed a new life for all mankind, free from all sin. This fact alone is a comfort that must be remembered with every breath and allowed to settle deep within our minds, hearts and souls. His resurrection is an established truth in its essence, and this truth should penetrate into our bones.
“He is not here, rather He has risen”. We as Christians truly believe that Christ rose from the dead and is alive within all of us. His resurrection is the essence of our faith, beginning with the holy Apostles and ending with us, the Church. His resurrection is not solely a historical event, but rather it is our source of faith which explodes forth like a powerful volcano in our conscience and thoughts.
For the believers, this truth cultivates and purifies the faith, allowing them to courageously walk the road of salvation with steadfastness, strength, and veracity. The Father blesses His sons and daughters with the same compassion and love that resurrected His beloved Jesus. Our heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of His only Son, provided for us a lesson and an example of true love, fatherly compassion and parental sacrifice. He proved to us, His flock and children, that He is love and that His love for us has no limits and that His forgiveness is unending. What peace and comfort is this for us!
The Resurrection of Christ grants every one of us the right to call himself a child of God; it is the return of Paradise lost, the threshold of the Holy of Holies of immortal life and communion with God. St. Paul tells us that if there had been no Resurrection then our Christian faith would have been deprived of any foundation or value: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17)."
Easter is a festival of hope for salvation and for a new life and a new beginning. This Holy season calls on us to renew our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and to consolidate our confidence in His Church and its teachings. Easter calls on us all to love and forgive each other and as a family to unite together in celebration of our risen Lord. It is also a time to repent for our wrongful deeds and thoughts; to cleanse our hearts and walk forward with steadfast the righteous path of salvation.
Let us never forget the humbling truth that all of us will one day stand before our Almighty God to answer for our all our deeds, good and bad. It is in this light we need to remember the teachings of the Apostles; That In the end times, there will be hypocrites, walking before their own ungodly lusts and causing divisions, lacking the Spirit. They taught us to strengthen ourselves and our faith through prayer and the Holy Spirit and to nurture our love for our God, while seeking the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our resurrection through Jesus Christ occurs today and lives on in each day of our life. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten and empower us on this Holy day just as with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. Let us all proudly proclaim that Christ is living in us and with us, Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!
Happy Easter to all and especially to our family and friends in Diaspora and in our Lebanon!
May God Bless You All!
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
The Iraqi Chaldean Archbishop murder is a new victory for Terrorism
14 March, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) strongly condemns the vicious, heinous and cowardice kidnapping and murder of the Iraqi Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, Paulus Faraj Rahho. The Archbishop's body was found on Thursday 13/02/08 in a grave located in Al-Intisar suburb of the south-east Mosul Iraqi City. An anonymous phone call was received by the police informing them where he was buried. The condition of the body indicated that he had been dead for some time. Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped on February 29/08 during which three of his escorting deacons were also murdered in cold blood.
We offer our warmest and deeply heartfelt condolences to the Archbishop's family, friends, his beleaguered Chaldean Iraqi Catholic Church Sheppard's and members, and to all the Middle East Christian Communities. We ask Almighty God to grant them all patience, solace, and courage to endure this big loss with forgiving spirit and solid faith. We pray that the Archbishop's soul is now resting peacefully in heaven alongside all the other saints and angels.
The kidnapping and murder of the Archbishop along with three of his escorting deacons cannot be accepted or justified by any human means or criteria. There is no doubt that the sole motive for such a barbaric and brutal crime is a deeply rooted sickening hatred complex, a set of evil grudges and a malevolent mentality of intolerance.
This crime is not only a terrorist and immoral atrocity that is committed by wicked individuals and organizations against a prominent Christian figure, but in fact, an organized and systematic pre-set venomous cleansing scheme against all the Middle Eastern Christian Communities.
This scheme is taking place openly and overtly on daily basis in different forms and on many levels in almost all the so-called Arabic countries; Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf countries, Gaza Palestinian territory, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon etc
The Middle East Christians communities are targeted in their very core existence, ethnic identities, properties, freedom, culture, history, civilization and lives.
This repugnant cleansing scheme is covert and not a secret anymore. The global evil forces of fundamentalism and terrorism spearheaded by the Axis of Evil countries and terrorist organizations aim to uproot, annihilate, subjugate, enslave and ultimately either force all the Middle East Christian Communities into exodus or mass murder them.
In almost all the Middle East countries, the Christian communities are exposed without any kind of mercy and subjected on daily basis to an orchestrated and well planned tragic and disastrous persecution, torture, terrorism and systematic killing. Meanwhile their historic and deeply rooted existence in Lebanon, the last safe Christian haven left, is becoming more and more hazardous, while the conspiracy against their existence, land, identity and freedoms is escalating around the clock
What is actually unfortunate, disappointing, despicable and sad about this on-going deadly systematic prosecution and religious cleansing that is targeting all Christian communities in the Middle East lies in the fact that it is carried on with unprecedented brutality while the free world countries are silent, indifferent and completely detaching themselves from this criminal dilemma.
We call on the free world in general, and in particular on the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Russia, who boast and brag with their secular and anti-religious democracies to step forward out of their deadly and shameful silence and come to the rescue of the Middle East Christian communities before it is too late.
We denounce these Western countries' naive, shortsighted, uncalculated and uneducated silence. Meanwhile we assure them that the fall of the Middle East Christian communities for terrorism and fundamentalism will put these criminals with their savage anti-humanity schemes on their own Western countries' front doors and backyards.
We are putting all the free world countries on notice and serving them with this warning: Allowing the emptying and cleansing of the Middle East from Christian communities through persecution, annihilation and exodus means simply emptying this historic part of the world from all aspects of civilization, morals, peace, freedom, democracy, stability and human rights.
It remains that the continuation of this Middle East Christian barbaric killing, cleansing and mass exodus is a colossal victory for the education of death, terrorism and fundamentalism, and an abominable defeat for the education of life, freedoms, peace, equality, human rights and moral values.
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
The Axis of Evil Stands Behind the Jerusalem Crime
08 March, 2008
The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) strongly condemns the heinous and barbaric crime that was committed by the fundamentalist Hamas organization and Hezbollah militants against a religious school students' in Jerusalem. In this immoral act, we see a flagrant violation of all international Human Rights, laws and covenants which prohibit the killing of civilians, or attacking them under any given circumstance. At the same time, we strongly denounce all the commemoration of glorifying, praising and sanctifying of this suicide and homicide atrocity that was publicly uttered and shamefully exhibited in Lebanon and other countries.
It is extremely shocking and disgusting to hear and watch numerous Arab and Iranian officials and well known religious figures praising this murder that targeted a religious school in the Holy City of Jerusalem that took the lives of eight students. It is inhuman and demeaning to see high-ranking religious clerics in Lebanon and other Middle East countries rejoice in the killings of the unarmed students and tag the crime as heroic and martyrdom.
This glorification and praising of terrorism is void of all human values, ethics, and is a bold infringement on the International covenant of Human Rights, and on all laws and regulations that safeguard the rights of civilians in situations of war.
It is worth mentioning that this kind of sickening mentality reflects clearly the current tragedy of Lebanon that can be summarized as an existential conflict between two cultures and educations: The culture and education of death, and suicide, that the Iranian-Syrian fundamentalist Hezbollah armed militia personify, and is trying by all terrorism means to force on the Lebanese people, and between the culture and education of life, civilization, coexistence, love , human rights, peace, democracy and law that are all honored by the majority of the Lebanese multicultural and multi ethnic peace-loving people who are longing for freedom, openness, sovereignty and independence.
The LCCC calls on all free and democratic counties, and in particular, the United States, the European Union and Russia to face the global terrorism challenge that is led by the axis of evil (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda) and utilize immediately all their human, economic and military resources to eradicate all the roots and branches of fundamentalism and terrorist organizations wherever they exist, and at the same time punish all those countries that sponsor and finance them.
The entire world should know very well and without any doubt that the only language that terrorist groups, states, organizations and individuals, understand and respond to is the language of force, deterrence and decisiveness. Continued military confrontation with global terrorism is inevitable and will become increasingly more complex, more difficult, more costly and more dangerous for the whole world and all of humanity as long as it is postponed or falsely believed that it can be won or contained through diplomacy, persuasion and peaceful civilized means.
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
It is extremely shocking and disgusting to hear and watch numerous Arab and Iranian officials and well known religious figures praising this murder that targeted a religious school in the Holy City of Jerusalem that took the lives of eight students. It is inhuman and demeaning to see high-ranking religious clerics in Lebanon and other Middle East countries rejoice in the killings of the unarmed students and tag the crime as heroic and martyrdom.
This glorification and praising of terrorism is void of all human values, ethics, and is a bold infringement on the International covenant of Human Rights, and on all laws and regulations that safeguard the rights of civilians in situations of war.
It is worth mentioning that this kind of sickening mentality reflects clearly the current tragedy of Lebanon that can be summarized as an existential conflict between two cultures and educations: The culture and education of death, and suicide, that the Iranian-Syrian fundamentalist Hezbollah armed militia personify, and is trying by all terrorism means to force on the Lebanese people, and between the culture and education of life, civilization, coexistence, love , human rights, peace, democracy and law that are all honored by the majority of the Lebanese multicultural and multi ethnic peace-loving people who are longing for freedom, openness, sovereignty and independence.
The LCCC calls on all free and democratic counties, and in particular, the United States, the European Union and Russia to face the global terrorism challenge that is led by the axis of evil (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda) and utilize immediately all their human, economic and military resources to eradicate all the roots and branches of fundamentalism and terrorist organizations wherever they exist, and at the same time punish all those countries that sponsor and finance them.
The entire world should know very well and without any doubt that the only language that terrorist groups, states, organizations and individuals, understand and respond to is the language of force, deterrence and decisiveness. Continued military confrontation with global terrorism is inevitable and will become increasingly more complex, more difficult, more costly and more dangerous for the whole world and all of humanity as long as it is postponed or falsely believed that it can be won or contained through diplomacy, persuasion and peaceful civilized means.
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
MP. Michele Aoun Represent the Axis Of Evil, & not the Lebanese Christians
04 March, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
On February the 2nd, 2008, the National Lebanese News Agency has reported the following: “An FPM (Free Patriotic Movement) student committee delegation from French St. Joseph's University in Beirut laid a wreath of flowers at the tomb of the martyr Imad Mughniyah in Ghobeiri (Beirut), in a salute to his sacrifices and accomplishments in regard the sovereignty and liberation of the nation, then they stood one minute in silence for his soul.”
On January 30, 2008, news agency and Lebanese newspapers published the following statement that was made by Sheik Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s VP: “The Paper Memorandum of Understanding between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is not an understanding on subjects, not one constrained by a specific time, rather it is a strategic understanding, steadfast as the mountains, and whoever approaches it we will shatter his head, and the understanding shall remain.”
On February 28, 2008, in an interview with the Lebanese LBC TV, MP. Michele Aoun stated openly that Imad Mughniyah is a martyr and made his alleged martyrdom equal to that of Lebanon's assassinated late PM, Rafic Hariri. At the same time Aoun okayed what he termed Hezbollah's legitimate right to retaliate for Mughniyahi's killing. Although he had no legal or substantial proof to blame Israel for this killing that took place in the Syrian Capital Damascus, Aoun agreed with Hezbollah's anti-Israeli rhetoric and allegations. Meanwhile Aoun did not see any wrongdoing in Hezbollah's resorting to its huge piled Iranian-Syrian weapons against the Lebanese themselves if they try, to in any way, disarm it. Aoun in the same interview used Hezbollah's weapons to threaten the Lebanese ruling majority when he said : "Those who are capable of igniting a civil war and winning it don't want to resort to that choice," Aoun added without giving any detailed explanations.
Based on the above sad, nauseating and disappointing Aoun overt stances, we send a thousand congratulations to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM-Aounist Movement), and to MP. General Michele Aoun himself, its leader, the derailed deluded and day dreaming self acclaimed Lebanon’s Napoleon, and sole representative for Lebanon's Christian rights. This camouflaging, Judastic, demagogic, ungrateful man who was strongly behind the well known Pro-Lebanese American Act: "Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003", that aimed to: Halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil, and hold Syria accountable for its role in the Middle East, and for other purposes.
Michele Aoun, who was tagged for 18 years as the champion of freedoms and the number one anti Syrian Lebanese Christian politician, has sadly changed his skin, abandoned all his promises to the Lebanese people, sold his country's independence cause for thirty pieces of silver, betrayed all his sovereignty platforms, turned his back to the USA, European and moderate Arab countries, as well as to other free world nations who supported Lebanon to restore its confiscated independence and force the Syrian occupation army to withdraw in 2005. Aoun actually has joined the Hezbollah-Syrian-Iranian Axis of Evil.
Why would a man with this patriotic magnitude take such a bizarre, treacherous and hazardous shift? Simply because his lust for power and longing for the presidential post has overcome his patriotic stances. His mean succumbing to a personal selfish agenda on the account of Lebanon's future is so disgraceful and so disappointing, but what is more disappointing and saddening is indeed the status of many of his supporters who have turned a blind eye to all his Axis of Evil transformation and despite all odd still stand behind him and defend his derailed and anti Lebanese-anti Christian stances.
Aoun actually had adopted Hezbollah's Godly strategies which have now become in materiel reality his own too. And as declared by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah following the assassination of Imad Mughniyah., this strategy calls for the elimination of Israel from existence, and for the declaring of an open global war against it and against all the arrogant whether American or mercenary Arabs and others as Nasrallah stated verbatim in his speech.
We Lebanese waited with anticipation to hear a reply and explanation from General Michele Aoun on the statements of his ally Sheik Kassem regarding their strategic understanding, and the reply came so clear-cut through the FPM students' laying of the wreath of flowers on Imad Mughniyah's tomb in “salute to his sacrifices and accomplishments in regard the sovereignty and liberation of the nation”. The picture became even more crystal clear in the Aoun's LBC interview.
So that Aoun and his FPM party share now and adopt Hezbollah's strategy, let us see what are the implications of such a shift, and what is actually Hezbollah's strategy?
In summary, Hezbollah’s strategy that encompasses its long and short term declared objectives, includes the advocacy for death, suicide and martyrdom concept, erection of a Shiite Islamic state in Lebanon, a replica of the Iranian Mullas' Khomeini Republic, enforcement of the "Welaet Al Fakeah" Shiite religious doctrine and its way of life, elimination of the state of Israel, a global fight till a total victory over the American Satan and all the Western infidel countries is accomplished, etc
Based on the above facts and declared stances, We call on those well intending and patriotic Lebanese in Lebanon and Diaspora who blindly still support Aoun, either because they hate and despise other Lebanese leaders, or because of poor political information and lack of follow up for unfolding events, we call on them to wake up and get out of their self imposed darkness and start immediately reviewing thoroughly their naive Aoun loyalty.
They ought to ask themselves what in reality is common between their Aoun's FPM and the Hezbollah Iranian fundamentalist Militia. In fact there is nothing, but mere and antagonistic contradictions in every and each aspect. The only reason Aoun is cajoling and appeasing Hezbollah is his “delusion” and lust for the presidency post.
Our comrades must know that Aoun, because of his delusion and lust, has detached himself from reality and from the hopes and aspirations of his Lebanese Christian communities, negated all its deeply rooted culture, identity, national convictions and education. In this context of derailment he also declared a dirty war against his Maronite Patriarch and his Bkerke's national religious authority. The man is deluding himself that Hezbollah can secure the presidency post for him, while Hezbollah sees in him a Trojan horse no more no less.
We bring to the attention of our Lebanese people, the Christians in particular who voted for Aoun in 2005, along with the sovereign and free crowd who still see in this lost man the image of the savior-leader, We bring to their attention that the mandate a people grants to a leader is legally a conditional trust linked to declared and well documented plans, principle, programs, promises, platforms and commitments. In this perspective, Aoun boasted during the last parliamentary elections (2005) that his party owned a complete platform totally different of all other groupings and parties, that people had to review it, and if convinced vote for him and for his candidates on its basis. And indeed, the FPM disseminated these thesis which included several titles covering critical national and sovereignty subjects, the South, Hezbollah’s weapons, the economy and many other issues. The elections were conducted and the results gave Aoun 70 percent to 80 percent Christian votes throughout Lebanon.
Therefore the votes were cast in favor of a specific platform, and certainly not on the basis of personality nor personal liking. This mandate vote confidence was conditionally granted on adherence to the Lebanese cause, rights, freedoms, the state's sovereignty and its right to impose its authority over all its land, and restricting arms to its own legitimate armed forces, the ending of chaos, anarchy and the cantons, the militia weapons, and most importantly putting an end to the education of killing, suicide, and the godly wars. Wasn’t this the general’s own position for 16 years?
By joining the Hezbollah-Syrian-Iranian Axis of Evil and adopting their strategies of terrorism, Aoun has completely negated all his promises and made null and void all his platforms. Accordingly he does not any more represent those Lebanese citizens who voted for him, and specially the majority of the Lebanese Christian community members who adore peace, honor human rights and long for a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon.
How could we ignore the fact that Imad Mughniyah was involved in masterminding and executing many killings and crimes against the French and American forces in Lebanon, and in kidnapping at least four planes, in addition to the bombing and killing of hundreds of people all over the world. Since 1984 and with the assistance of the two Hamada brothers, Mughniyah was involved in the kidnapping of 50 French, American, British German and other western citizens. He was a stringent tool in the hands of the Iranian intelligence bodies. He did not act alone but through a network of Iranian Fanatics and fundamentalists, especially Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' military wing. He was well known by his extreme hostility to the West in general and to the United States in particular.
For the FPM members who are peace lovers and for one reason or another are still supporting Aoun either in Lebanon or the Diaspora, here below are the superb achievements of Imad Mughniyah, the acts that Aoun and his University students see as accomplishments in regard the sovereignty and liberation of the nation".
We call on these members to look thoroughly in the below list and take a stance. A transparent one: either with the Axis of Evil or against it, remembering what Jesus said (Luke 11,14)23. "whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters".
Crimes attributed directly or indirectly to Imad Mughniyah:
1-Islamic Jihad, a shadowy pro-Iranian group widely believed linked to Hezbollah, kidnapped dozens of Western hostages in Beirut in the mid 1980s at a time when Moughniyah was thought to be the group's commander. The group killed some of its captives and exchanged others for U.S. weapons to Iran in what was later known as the Iran-Contra scandal. Among the victims of Islamic Jihad was the CIA's Middle East station chief.
2- September 3, 1981: Assassination of the French Ambassador Louis DeLamare in Beirut
3-April 1983: A van packed with explosives targeted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
4-October 1983: Near simultaneous truck bombings against barracks of French and U.S. peacekeeping forces in Beirut, killing 241 American Marines and 58 French paratroopers.
5-March 1984: Kidnapping of Lt. Col. William F. Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut, who was eventually killed in the beginning of a spate of kidnappings linked to Hezbollah.
6-1985: Mughniyah lost two of his own brothers in acts of terrorism that he exclusively masterminded. His brother "Jihad" was killed during the attempt of blowing up the headquarters of Mr. Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah in which 75 individuals were killed. Jihad was one of Fadlallah body guards.
7-March 1985: Kidnapping of the Associated Press chief Mideast correspondent Terry Anderson who was then held for more than six years.
8-1985: Failed attempt to assassinate late Kuwait Prince, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and at the same time bombing of the American and French embassies in Kuwait resulting in the death and injury of tens of individuals
9-June 1985: The hijacking of the TWA Flight 847 heading from Athens to Rome, flying it back and forth between Beirut and Algeria. At Beirut's airport, the hijackers lead by Mughniyah personally shoot U.S. Navy diver Robert Stetham, a passenger on the plane, and dumped his body on the runway. Most of the 150 passengers were freed during the three day hijacking; some were held for two weeks. The United States indicted Mughniyah for his role in the hijacking, and he was put on FBI's most wanted list with a $5 million bounty for information leading to his capture.
10-1988: Hijacking of a Kuwaiti passenger jet. Hijackers killed with cold blood two Kuwaiti passengers before surrendering at the airport in Algeria. None of the hijackers was prosecuted.
11-March 1992: Bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires -Argentina, killing 29 people
12-March 1992: A pickup truck packed with explosives smashed into the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29 people.
13-July 1994: A van packed with explosives leveled a seven-story Jewish center in Buenos Aires-Argentine, killing 85 people. Argentina issued an arrest warrant for Mughniyah in 1999.
14-1996: A deadly explosions hit Al Kobar complex in Saudi Arabia killing 19 Americans
15-2002: Disguising and smuggling many key Al Qaeda leadership individuals out of Afghanistan including Osama Ben Laden through the Pakistani borders
16- 2006: Kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers through the Lebanese-Israeli borders that kicked off the Israeli-Hezbollah devastating war in 2006.
The whole world should know that the Lebanese Christian Communities are civilized and peace loving people whose ancestors gave humanity the Alphabet, and whose country Lebanon is mentioned in the Holy Bible more than 74 times. In this context its our obligation to state loudly that MP. Michele Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement, the new allies of the Axis of Evil and who adopted its strategy does not by any way represent the hopes, aspirations, religious beliefs, culture, code of ethics, education, identity or national convictions of the majority of the Lebanese Christian communities in particular, or the Lebanese people in general.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Lebanon's Saniora Government & and the Israeli Complex
22 February, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani
("News Agencies (Naharnet) Beirut, 19 Feb 08: Syrian Border Guards Kill Lebanese Child/Syrian border guards on Tuesday opened fire at a Lebanese child killing him, the state-run National News Agency reported. The short report said Abbas Abbas, 16, was shot and seriously wounded by Syrian border guards at the Grand River borderline in north Lebanon. He died later at hospital. The development is the second of its kind in about a week. Lebanon has been demanding demarcation of its borders with Syria in an effort to control illegal activities in both directions".)
During his two years in office, Lebanon's PM, Mr. Fouad Saniora has proved time after time, and without any shed of doubt that psychologically he is like many other "day dreaming Arabs", still possessed by the obsolete rhetoric of the "Nasser phenomenon", that was founded by the late Egyptian President Jamal Abdel Nasser. In the fifties and sixties Nasser promised his fellow Arabs a strong, unified Arab nation, and advocated for throwing the State of Israel into the sea. In the end, he caused the Arabs more and more divisions and led them in the six days war with Israel in 1967, to the worst humiliating defeat in their history.
Mr. Saniora, despite all of the serious difficulties, obstacles, hardships, and setbacks that the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah Axis of Evil and their puppet Lebanese machineries continue to inflict on his government, including tagging its members with treason, often falls prey to the rhetoric of this axis and issues impulsive statements or declares stances that are not in the interest of the Lebanese people, and merely motivated by the "Nasser phenomenon." Such statements and stances are usually void of any logic, common sense or gratitude for the Western countries that strongly support his government against the Axis of Evil's overt scheme to overthrow the whole Lebanese regime and erect on its ruins a Shiite (Welaet Al Fakeh) Islamic state, a replicate of the Iranian Mullahs Islamic Khomaini Republic.
One of the most devastating symptoms of the "Nasser phenomena" is an unconscious inclination to overlook all logic, reason, fairness, laws, international agreements, UN resolutions, national interests, etc. whenever Israel is the issue. This phenomenon comes to the surface with anything and everything that has to do with Israel, with no thought of what is right or wrong.
It might be very helpful to inject Mr. Saniora and all those Arabs who are hit by the "Nasser Phenomenon" with a big dose of reality, and remind them that Egypt, Jordan and all the Arab countries, including Syria and the Palestinians themselves have already and for many years officially recognized the State of Israel, either covertly or overtly. Many of these countries exchange full diplomatic relations with Israel and receive the Israeli officials openly and publically. Yet, all these countries with no exception forbid to Lebanon and the Lebanese what they legalize and okay for themselves.
These Arab countries want to fight Israel from Lebanon and through the Lebanese people, while they enjoy peace and stability in their own countries and forge peaceful agreements with Israel, directly or indirectly. They, the Arabs and the Iranian Mullahs have been and are still using Lebanon as an arena for their wars. Hezbollah, the Iranian armed Shiite fundamentalist militia has been since 1982 the spearhead for this heresy rhetoric.
We have surprisingly heard, Mr. Saniora several times fiercely criticize and reprimanded the United States for providing Israel with weapons and other aid, although Washington is his government's strongest ally, and its staunch supporter in the face of the of Axis of Evil's bloody scheme against Lebanon. That scheme aims to erect through Hezbollah, the terrorist militia, an Islamic Shiite republic in Lebanon, a replica of that which the Mullahs run in Iran.
We have witnessed a trend of repeated frenetic Saniora reactions to extremely minor incidents on the Lebanese-Israeli border. He called many times for filing official Lebanese complaints against Israel at the Security Council for trivial reasons, e.g. Lebanese shepherds being arrested by the Israeli troops when they get lost and cross the border between the two countries. He often overlooks the obliging requirements of the Armistice agreement with Israel, the UN resolutions 425, 426, 242, 383, 1559 and 1701 as well as the "Taef Accord". All these call among many other things, for controlling the borders with Israel, disarmament of all militias, especially Hezbollah, and the enforcement of security, law and order all over the Lebanese territories through the legitimate Lebanese armed forces. Unfortunately, Saniora loses both track and vision whenever Israeli is the issue. Here he falls into the Axis of Evil rhetoric trap, and the "Nasser Phenomena" surfaces.
Sadly, Saniora's government reaction and official stance in addressing the cold blood killing of a Lebanese child on February 19/08 by the Syrian border guards was so shy, extremely pathetic, shameful, inappropriate and disproportional. This blatant double standard that the Saniora government exercises regarding Syria is not acceptable and lacks credibility.
We call on the Lebanese government to file immediately an official complaint against Syria at the UN Security Council and demand that the Syrian regime be fully accountable on all levels for this savage, heinous and cowardly crime.
We also demand that the Saniora government, as well as many members in the Lebanese majority coalition of 4th March, put an end once and for all to their camouflaging and dhimmitude rhetoric regarding the false and fabricated role that Hezbollah alleges to have played in 2000 in forcing Israel to withdraw its troops from South Lebanon.
The blunt reality is that Israel withdrew its troops in accordance with the UN resolution 425, and the whole matter had nothing to do with Hezbollah. The Israeli decision for withdrawal that was regretted later was based completely on domestic strategies. Hezbollah did not liberate South Lebanon in 2000; in fact Syria and Iran, through Hezbollah, were the reason the Israelis delayed their troops' withdrawal for 14 years.
Meanwhile PM Saniora and many other Lebanese politicians and officials ought to stop their monotonous, dull and empty statement and say: Lebanon will be the last Arabic country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. In fact, all these Lebanese dignitaries should wake up and admit the fact that all the Arab countries including Syria and the Palestinians themselves have already recognized the State of Israel covertly or overtly. Only Lebanon is left as an open arena for Arab-Iranian, Israeli fights and an outlet for inter-Arab fights and conflicts.
Enough is enough. Lebanon and the Lebanese people deserve to enjoy peace with their neighbors, Syria and Israel alike.
The Lebanese leaders and politicians have an obligation to our people, to give priority to Lebanon's interests and only to Lebanon.
Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
General Aoun in his new Iranian, Syrian, and Godly Attire
17 February, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani/LCCC Chairman
I am duty-bound to congratulate Lebanon's MP, General Michel Aoun on his tremendous successes and accomplishments in the area of domesticating and Lebanising the Syrian Baathist policies, especially after his official appointment recently by Syrian Foreign minister Walid Moallem as representative for the Axis of Evil (Syria and Iran), its spokesman, and negotiator on behalf of its groupings in Lebanon. How blessed are we the Lebanese people in both Lebanon and Diaspora that the Syrian/Iranian oppressing conditions for allowing us to elect the president are now in the general’s pocket. (Aoun stated that these conditions are in his pocket). How fortunate we are that Syria has recognized "Rabieh", (Aoun's Residential city) instead of the Baabda palace (Lebanese official Presidential Palace). So what else do we want beyond this great victory that General Aoun spearheaded?
Those Lebanese citizens who unfortunately still blindly support the platform of this derailed and narcissist politician ought to carefully consider where his sickening delusions are dragging the country!! Must we also praise the fundamental change in the general Aoun's military and political precepts which have been transformed magically from academic, scientific, and factual, to Godly and Illusions? Must we at the same time praise the “herd-like” loyalty for those sovereign and free Lebanese who still support the general despite all the “Godly” reversals and changes that inflicted his policies, his speeches, practices, slogans, and approach in the nationalist, religious, and value domains?.
Congratulation to the allegedly stubborn Lebanese people that still blindly support this “errant” leader in his new attire, the self claimed political Christian Maronite patriarch that betrayed all the history, culture, civilization, and values of the Maronites. This newly crowned fundamentalist Christian extremist. This preacher of wooden slogans. The Godly general, and the self claimed Lebanese Napoleon!!
It astonishes me how this newly transformed general has deserted all that he learned in the military academies and now boasts of Hezbollah's godly victory in the July 2006 war, thus overturning all military principles and measures.
Follows is a verbatim declaration by the general on 12/31/2007 from the “Natinal News Agency”:
General Michel Aoun speaking to a delegation from the city of Byblos: “We still live the conditions of the July/06 war. For the first time, Israel was defeated in a small country called Lebanon in front of a small fighting force as measured to the its size. And the Lebanese people by its solidarity and the proper execution of the resistance has broken Israel’s power which scared the whole world. We must be punished for this great sin which we have committed. Haven’t you felt that when Abrams and David Welch (Two high rang US officials visited Lebanon last month) came to Lebanon, their visit resembled the days of the war? They were visiting a portion of the Lebanese supporters of the war. The Lebanese people were resisting politically and morally while the military front was resisting in the south. We succeeded in maintain the unity of the country and did not let it splinter under the pressure of the air force (Israeli air raids in July/06 Israeli-Hezbollah war). The party that fought was the opposition (Hezbollah and the Syrian-Iranian mercenaries in Lebanon). While the other side has supported the aggression. Today the issue of moving the war from the southern border to the interior continues. They attempted to revive it when we started the strikes and sit-ins. They started roaming troubles, internal which we were able to contain. Today, if they fail to elect a president, it means the continuation of this war because they will not accept any president. I do not want to name which nations that are trying to reverse this wonderful picture of Lebanon after the year 2006. The Lebanese people triumphed. This small people that they wished to muddy and claim it has no coexistence and wish to strike at its union. They want us to confront each others in an escalating path so that we lose the immunity that we gained from openness and understanding”.
Since it is so hard for any leader or politician regardless of his status to continue to mock the intelligence and memory of the Lebanese, we shall let General Aoun himself explain this great contradiction in his stands regarding his newly acquired beliefs in Hezbollah’s “resistance” and its godly victories, he who officially and publicly declared that the resistance of this party occurs in collusion with Israel and at the expense of our people in the South. General Aoun declared in the year 2000 after Israel’s withdrawal from South Lebanon that, “Hezbollah did not liberate the south, rather it has delayed its liberation 14 years". He also said: "If actually Hezbollah has liberated the south, it has liberated it from its own people and sent them into exile in all nations of the world, and specially to Israel."
The general’s self-reply was published in the “Lebanese Communiqué” (Al Nachra Al Lubnania) on Friday 8/15/1997 under the title “The April Understanding, a security agreement and co-agreed resistance ”. We leave the judgment on the honesty of the general's newly adopted pro Syrian-Iranian evil stances to the Lebanese citizen themselves and definitely to their intelligence and knowledge.
We leave it to the reader to judge the content of the below article, that the general himself wrote meticulously and with deep thought and scientific and logical analysis, a year after the singing of the “April Understanding“ between Hezbollah and Israel with Arab, Iranian, and International mediation and sponsorship.
Click here to read the "April Understanding" in both Arabic and English
http://www.clhrf.com/unresagreements/aprilunderstanding.htm
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The April Understanding and Resistance With Compliance
By: General Michel Aoun
(Translated from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
August 15/1997
( Resisting occupation is a legitimate right and a patriotic obligation for each and every citizen struggling to free both his occupied land and his confiscated freedom from the occupiers. Resistance based on these two golden principles is fully legitimate; but with the same token it loses this legitimacy if allowed to deviate from its aims and objectives. Resistance in its essence is the struggle of the weak against the strong, and the striving of man against machine. Resistance requires a great deal of sacrifices to pave the way for acceptable and balanced negotiations between any parties in conflict.
After the Israeli "Grapes of Wrath" campaign against Lebanon in April 1996, the United States, France, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Iran, with the compliance of Hezbollah, reached a ceasefire agreement known as the "April Understanding." This agreement speaks about the safety of the Lebanese residents but does not provide any guarantees for those residents. This agreement has made the Lebanese soil an arena for military operations, thus endangering the lives of all Lebanese residents, whether in their homes or on the roads.
Lebanese men, women and children in South Lebanon leave their homes every morning heading to their fields, work places and schools. Many of them never succeed to make it back. These innocent victims are killed on the roads, their deaths a result of roadside bombs, explosions, rockets, and bullets. Arguments focusing on the "national identity" of these South Lebanese residents and whether they are nationalists, collaborators or resistant elements, is in fact a futile argument. It only escalates the levels of anxiety and confusion, and increases the emptiness in both domiciles and minds.
We do not care which countries or powers have participated in reaching the April Understanding. Why? Because it remains the sole concern of both the Lebanese and the Israelis. Accordingly, one urgent question jumps to our minds: Why has the resistance negotiated with the enemy and accepted his conditions rendering its resistance.... resistance with compliance, giving the occupier comprehensive peace and security on his soil, while turning its own into a killing field?
Northern Israel is progressing, growing and blooming, while South Lebanon is losing its original residents and becoming poorer and poorer! Who does the conspiracy target? Who are its heroes? And for whose interests does the war continue and flare?)
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It is worth mentioning that the drastic changes in the General's platforms are merely motivated by his sickening and delusional lust with the presidency post. He dreams day and night to be Lebanon's president at any cost and by any means, even by selling himself to the Axis of evil scheme against his own country and people. The man has betrayed all his 18 years patriotic stances, backed on his own promises and licked his own words. What a waste, and What a shame. What good could be expected from this man who boldly declared few days ago that he is close to the Syrian Baathist regime than he is to the USA!!!.
After the Israeli "Grapes of Wrath" campaign against Lebanon in April 1996, the United States, France, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Iran, with the compliance of Hezbollah, reached a ceasefire agreement known as the "April Understanding." This agreement speaks about the safety of the Lebanese residents but does not provide any guarantees for those residents. This agreement has made the Lebanese soil an arena for military operations, thus endangering the lives of all Lebanese residents, whether in their homes or on the roads.
Lebanese men, women and children in South Lebanon leave their homes every morning heading to their fields, work places and schools. Many of them never succeed to make it back. These innocent victims are killed on the roads, their deaths a result of roadside bombs, explosions, rockets, and bullets. Arguments focusing on the "national identity" of these South Lebanese residents and whether they are nationalists, collaborators or resistant elements, is in fact a futile argument. It only escalates the levels of anxiety and confusion, and increases the emptiness in both domiciles and minds.
We do not care which countries or powers have participated in reaching the April Understanding. Why? Because it remains the sole concern of both the Lebanese and the Israelis. Accordingly, one urgent question jumps to our minds: Why has the resistance negotiated with the enemy and accepted his conditions rendering its resistance.... resistance with compliance, giving the occupier comprehensive peace and security on his soil, while turning its own into a killing field?
Northern Israel is progressing, growing and blooming, while South Lebanon is losing its original residents and becoming poorer and poorer! Who does the conspiracy target? Who are its heroes? And for whose interests does the war continue and flare?)
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It is worth mentioning that the drastic changes in the General's platforms are merely motivated by his sickening and delusional lust with the presidency post. He dreams day and night to be Lebanon's president at any cost and by any means, even by selling himself to the Axis of evil scheme against his own country and people. The man has betrayed all his 18 years patriotic stances, backed on his own promises and licked his own words. What a waste, and What a shame. What good could be expected from this man who boldly declared few days ago that he is close to the Syrian Baathist regime than he is to the USA!!!.
**Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com
Graces to Pursue for the New Year: Faith and Hope
17 February, 2008
By: Elias Bejjani/LCCC Chairman
"Be on guard, then because you do not know what day your lord will come. If the owner of the house knew the time when the thief would come, you can be sure that he would stay awake and not let the thief break into his house. so then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come an hour when you are not expecting him". Matthew 24,/42-44
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come
Almighty God does not put us in any kind of difficulties, temptations or hardships that we cannot cope with and overcome. He always provides an outlet for each and every deadlocked situation we encounter. Only those who have faith and hope can see and pursue the outlet.
With the New Year I call on my beloved people of Lebanon to fill their hearts with love, forgiveness, modesty, transparency and courage.
I call on them to witness for the truth and train themselves to always consecrate their lives for Almighty God and fulfill his teachings through serving the just cause of their beloved Lebanon; the cause of freedom, independence, sovereignty and rights.
I call on them all to solidify and strengthen their faith and never ever fall prey to despair, lose hope or support any Lebanese leader, group or party that advocate for venomous schemes against the free state of Lebanon and its democratic regime.
There is no doubt that he who immunizes himself with faith will never be defeated, and no trouble or toil can ever vanquish him. The graces of the Lord fill his spirit and his mind with hope. But he who has no faith and hope will be frustrated with despair and hopelessness because he places no trust in the future and the everlasting life.
The Lord said that he who has faith as small as a grain of mustard can move mountains, and he scolded his disciples for the weakness of their faith when they feared the storm winds on their boat, "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm…He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’" Mark 4:39-40.
The law of the Nazarene teaches us that men of little faith have no sense of perfection, cannot be trusted, and nothing good can come out of them on this perishable earth. The testimonials of the disciples teach us that he who has faith in God and abides by his laws will walk the paths of life and its turns and tumbles with courage and constancy, and will keep his head high without fear or hesitation. But he who has no faith will accept shame and insult without resistance, and becomes an obedient beast to the will and whims of the devils of the earth.
Our Lebanese heroes who gave their lives on the altars of the nation also taught us that he who has faith in the nation, in liberty, and in the rights of its citizens will defend them with absolute vigor and most honorable dedication, and will not fear the threat of oppression, the loss of position or property, or the disappearance of fortune.
So did our good forefathers teach us that the faithful man who believes in the sanctity, obligations, and the commitment to family and community, will work hard to meet his family members’ needs and safety and convey to them creed and values.
From the sacrifices of our mothers we learn how they take the Virgin Mary as an example in their life to give without complaint or reluctance, and to fight back selfishness and egotism with faith.
Indeed, there is no room for egotism in the Law of Faith. He who loves will give himself for the sake of others. The lives of the saints and the free tell us that the faithful is never defeated by difficulties and is not crushed by toils.
Saint Paul said: “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:1-8.
Saint Paul teaches us that he who has no faith makes himself a slave to his greed and desires. “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! Don’t you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto you were delivered. Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.” Romans 15: 16-18.
Those of little faith and the hopeless forget that our Lebanese people during their six thousand years deeply rooted history never gave in to the will of the devil, and they have always been armed with faith, self confidence and honesty. All foreign invaders and occupiers were forced to withdraw from Lebanon with shame and humiliation. History is our witness to this glorious fact.
We remind those of little faith among our people that the citizens of Sidon (Lebanese city on the Mediterranean sea) burned their city on themselves in 350 B.C. after resisting valiantly against the Persian invader Artaxerxes, preferring death in dignity than life in humiliation and surrender.
Again, Tyre (Lebanese city on the Mediterranean sea) resisted Alexander the Great for seven months in 332 B.C., never surrendering or giving in, which led the Macedonian to crucify many of its people after he took the city and sell two thousand of them as slaves.
And how about our first Maronite Patriarchs? Our best example is Maronite Patriarch Gabriel Hjoula whose faith made him choose death by burning in 1367 in the city of Tripoli in front of the Omari Mosque, refusing to abandon his suffering and humiliated people at the hands of the murderous and oppressive Mameluks. And before him Patriarch Daniel Hadshiti suffered the same fate in 1282 in an unknown location.
Almighty God is mercy, love and consolation for all of us, especially when we are in pain, anguish and encountering hardships. Let us always remember that He shall never abandon any of his children. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selve