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| Middle East |
| Hezbollah: Canada ban unjustified |
| 2002-12-12 |
| Lebanon's militant Hezbollah said Thursday Canada's decision to impose a ban on the group was unjustified and biased and part of the U.S. campaign against Arabs and Muslims. A Hezbollah statement said Canada responded to known and continued U.S. and Israeli demands by completely banning the pro-Iranian Muslim group. Canada decided on the complete ban Wednesday after Hezbollah chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah repeatedly encouraged the Palestinians to carry out suicide operations as the only way to end the Israeli occupation. In 2001, Canada outlawed the military wing of Hezbollah and resisted for months pressures to add it to the list of groups accused of being deliberately engaged in terrorist activities. Took them long enough. The Hezbollah statement refuted Canada's accusations, insisting that the "whole world knows Hezbollah is a resistance movement against the Israeli occupation as provided in international laws." It said describing Hezbollah as a terrorist group using "illusionary pretexts in the absence of proof" was "false and unjust defamation." "We ain't terrorists! We only kill Jews, um, and people who like them, and people who won't let us kill them!" "The Canadian authorities have committed a grave mistake which will undoubtedly affect their relations with the Arab and Islamic countries," the statement said. It warned Canada of "increased enmity and hatred" against it like against the U.S. administration because of its "blind bias" to Israel.' Bet you wish you hadn't made those defense cuts now, don't you? The United States placed Hezbollah on its list of groups supporting terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. It has been exerting pressures on Lebanon and Syria to disband Hezbollah. OK, we took too damm long calling them terrorists, too. |
| Posted by:Steve |