The Realist

Cairo is now saying that it is going to bring charges against Hassan al-Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, after he admitted that an alleged terrorist arrested in Egypt is a member of the group.  This is a very significant escalation in the proxy war between Egypt and Iran, and it is possible it could have quite a destabilizing impact in Egypt.  The Muslim Brotherhood are saying the charges are fabricated and Nasrallah has released a lengthy statement, available via the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar:

According to his eminence [Nasrallah], the Egyptian authorities have detained on November 19, 2008, a Lebanese citizen and accused him alongside other people of attempting to smuggle arms and equipment to Gaza.

“One month later, the Zionist entity launched its deadly aggression against Gaza,” Sayyed Nasrallah noted, recalling that Hezbollah’s position during the offensive was transparent and public. His eminence recalled that he has personally urged the Egyptian regime to open crossing with Gaza. “Then, it was our duty to denounce the Egyptian regime for its refusal to open the crossings,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. “Right after this stance, a political and commercial huge campaign was launched in Egypt against me and Hezbollah, under the instructions of the Egyptian authorities and intelligence. Yet, we considered the campaign as a reaction and a natural price for our stance and we were ready to pay it.”

Hezbollah Secretary General noted that the volume of the campaign launched by the Egyptian regime against his party was remarkable, recalling that some Sunni scholars also condemned the Egyptian President and even accused him of betrayal. “Yet, the Egyptian authorities didn’t condemn those scholars as they did with Hezbollah,” his eminence pointed out to conclude that their position with Hebollah was different “because Hezbollah was a Resistance.” Sayyed Nasrallah went on to say that there are parties in the Arab world that are offensive against the Resistance and are very close to their American and Israeli masters in dealing with this issue.

Nasrallah has set up his statement here by highlighting the salient parts of the Iranian/Hamas/Hezbollah position in the Middle East conflict with the Sunni states: that their main purpose is opposing Israel and not undermining the Sunni states or promoting extremism there, and that the Sunni states are lining up with Israel and the U.S. against “true Muslims”.  Nasrallah is trying to portray the Egyptian regime as opposed to the interests of the “true Muslims” and the Palestinians and in bed with the enemy instead.

Turning into facts, Sayyed Nasrallah recalled that Hezbollah is clear in its positions and has nothing to hide in whatever circumstances. Hence, his eminence declared that the Lebanese citizen Sami Chehab, who was detained in Egypt, was actually a member of Hezbollah. “Our brother Sami, is a member of Hezbollah, we don’t deny this,” Sayyed Nasrallah announced. “He was providing logistic help to the Palestinian resistance at the Egyptian-Palestinian borders,” his eminence added, noting that this was the only right thing that actually didn’t figure in the Egyptian claims. “All other charges against him are false.”

Providing logistic help to Hamas is a goal that many people in the Middle East would support, especially among the Egyptian population – and by making it look like Cairo is cracking down on people who are trying to help Hamas, then Nasrallah is hoping to incense the Egyptian population and increase the strength of affiliated Islamist organizations – mainly the Muslim Brotherhood – in Egypt.  Of course, he doesn’t mention that terrorist attacks such as the ones allegedly planned are another method by which Hezbollah and its Iranian backers try to do this.

“If aiding the Palestinians is a crime, then I am proud of it,” Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized. His eminence noted “that the aim here is to agitate the Egyptian people and to defame Hezbollah’s pure and bright image. This aims to only please the Americans and Israelis for the Egyptian regime has failed by all means.”

Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized that the one who should be charged and condemned over this case was not Sami or his friends but the Egyption regime. “The Egyptian regime should be charged and condemned for besieging Gaza,” his eminence said, noting that the mentioned regime is working day and night on destroying Gaza tunnels.

The Resistance leader expressed regret because the Egyptian regime was escalating its aggression against the resistance movements in the region instead of backing and supporting them. “We were expecting the Egyptian regime to take the initiative and invite the Arabs to discuss how to face the Israeli threats, but unfortunately we saw that the Egyptian regime decided instead to increase his conflict with the Resistance.”

To conclude on the topic, Sayyed Nasrallah fully rejected and denied all charges that Hezbollah was intending to launch an act of aggression in Egypt or at any part of the world. His eminence stressed that his party does not intend to enter into any form of enmity and conflict with any Arab, Islamic or international regime in the world, confirming that its sole enemy remains the Zionist entity.

This is a big theme in discourse among Hamas, Hezbollah and their Iranian supporters – the idea that the Arabs have been unable to defeat Israel because they have been divided among themselves, and that unity in the Muslim world is the key to victory.  Because Nasrallah has reached iconic popularity as the only Arab leader to ever best the Israelis in combat – in the 2006 war – it would significantly undermine him if he were seen to be plotting to attack another Arab state.  This would undermine the message of unity he promotes.  But he is playing a dangerous game, because his backers in Iran demonstrably do not have the best interests of the Arab countries at heart – and here he has been caught in this double game due to the unveiling of a Hezbollah plot in Egypt.  It hence behoves him to paint Egypt as the aggressor, and Egypt as the divider, whereas all he wanted to do was aid Hamas.  Quite.

“The charge of attempting to spread the Shiite way of thinking and practices is baseless,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that no single individual can do so in Egypt. “To accuse us of being agents working for others is also meaningless,” his eminence emphasized.

This is another indication of the problem discussed in the previous passage – many Sunnis consider Shiism to be an apostasy, and they are getting worried about Iran trying to spread the doctrine.  It would harm Nasrallah immeasurably to be seen as a standard-bearer of Shiite attempts to convert Sunnis, which is precisely why the Egyptians have accused him of it.  It would show to many Sunnis that more lay behind his agenda than simply helping Hamas.

Sayyed Nasrallah, meanwhile, expressed regret over the attempts of some Arabs to present Hezbollah as Al-Qaeda, confirming that Hezbollah does not have extensions abroad and is not involved in any conflict in other Arab countries.

“Hezbollah is a purely Lebanese party from its leadership to its base and it has no branches anywhere else,” the Resistance leader asserted. “Hebzollah’s mission is to protect Lebanon from the Zionist danger,” his eminence recalled, stressing that the party doesn’t actually interfere in any internal conflict of any state in the world. “However, in facing the Zionist criminality, it’s our duty to help the Palestinians, just as it’s their duty to help us in the same circumstances.”

More of the same here.

Of course, the very fact that Nasrallah openly admits to providing help to Hamas via Egypt is enough for us to condemn him.  It is clear that no solution or even lasting truce can be found in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while Hamas exists in its current form, and so Hezbollah are guilty of a grevious sin in aiding them; yet the issues at play here are much deeper, and ultimately involve the Iranian bid for ascendancy in the Middle East and the Egyptian resistance.  Once again, as so many times before, the future of the Palestinians is being mortgaged for the attainment of someone else’s end.

More from Rosner.