‘Tea’ and ‘Black Suits’ Prevail in Heated Parliamentary Committee Meeting
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal MPs wrangled on Monday at the human rights parliamentary committee meeting which witnessed curses, threats and counter accusations.
The committee was scheduled to discuss a report by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi on the alleged involvement of the Syrian embassy in the disappearance of Syrian opposition activists in Lebanon.
Lawmakers from the March 14 opposition, which al-Mustaqbal is part of, accused the parliamentary majority of seeking to turn the session into a “trial” over Rifi’s information while the Hizbullah-led forces said the opposition was angered by remarks by General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza that members of the Jassem family had dropped their case in the kidnapping.
Around 60 MPs, Mirza and Minister Shakib Qortbawi and Marwan Charbel participated in the heated session which was also intended to discuss the fate of Syrian opposition member Shebli al-Aisamy and Middle East Airlines engineer Joseph Sader.
According to Rifi’s report, the four Jassem brothers were kidnapped in Lebanon by members of the Syrian embassy staff and an Internal Security Forces guard unit headed by Lt. Salah Hajj in February.
But Mirza informed lawmakers that the Jassem family dropped its lawsuit claiming the four brothers were not kidnapped. He also said there are no judicial cases in the disappearances of al-Aisamy near Aley in May or Sader, who was kidnapped in 2009 near Beirut airport.
This drew the ire of March 14 MPs who began questioning him on how the prosecution could drop such a case when telecommunications data as mentioned in Rifi’s report proved that the embassy was involved in the disappearances.
At this point, Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi criticized the opposition lawmakers for laying doubts on the investigation of the judiciary and recounted how the issue of false witnesses in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case was fabricated.
Moussawi’s comment angered al-Mustaqbal movement MP Ahmed Fatfat who said the Hizbullah-led forces had stirred the false witnesses case when they sought to topple ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s government and were now shying away from the subject after they became part of the new cabinet.
Hizbullah MP Ali Ammar snapped back in anger: “You are conspirators … you are the team of (Jeffrey) Feltman and Condoleezza (Rice) and the killers of children and women during the July war.”
The two lawmakers also bickered on what became known as “black shirts” when groups of Hizbullah members wearing black shirts deployed in the streets of Beirut earlier this year after the collapse of ex-Premier Saad Hariri’s cabinet.
Ammar also accused Fatfat of being the “tea server” in reference to the serving of tea to Israeli soldiers by members of the Internal Security Forces at their barracks in the southern town of Marjayoun during Israel’s 2006 aggression on Lebanon. Fatfat was acting interior minister at that time.
The Hizbullah MP was about to toss a water bottle at Fatfat when other lawmakers calmed him and took him out of the hall. He returned for about seven minutes and then left the parliament building.
The head of the parliamentary committee tried to calm the situation and MP Ghassan Mkhaiber recommended that the judiciary follow up on the kidnappings in Lebanon.
The session was adjourned and the MPs of each party began making statements to reporters accusing the other side of seeking to stir trouble. MP Marwan Hamadeh said the committee hasn’t approved any measure while Fatfat unveiled that Ammar threatened him “to sort out their problem on the street.”
“The session was full of curses and that’s because of Ammar’s attitude,” Fatfat told reporters.
But MP Nawwar al-Sahili defended Ammar by saying that the Hizbullah lawmaker meant he wanted to discuss the issue outside and not during the meeting.
25 October 2011, 10:41
21
I hear a remix of Tea Rash Rash already being made... TeaBlackShirts TeaBlackShirts starring all the idiots from March 1 to 31
How can we take anyone seriously anymore?
25 October 2011, 11:33
07
this is expected as we see this on a daily basis accross the country.
these are murderous thugs, and it does not surprise me this is their language.
actually what would surprise me would be they would use democratic language :)
25 October 2011, 12:05
40
as long as it stays in meetings and not spill into the streets its very healthy democracy , kil fari2 bifdah el tene
25 October 2011, 14:16
05
For those wondering how a unit lays down its arms in a war, POWs exist in each conflict, and they are used by their capturers to mop the floor and clean the toilets and serve tea.
Before wondering and rehashing the words of your leaders think and know this.
POWs exist and no sane leader have ever asked his men to die in a losing war, he preserves his men, get them back to fight the next war, one in which you'll be better prepared.
25 October 2011, 14:38
04
Hizballa only believes in democracy when it serves his evil agenda but quick to use threats and intimidation if anyone questions his motives. One day we will have to go to the streets to get rid of their hegemony.
25 October 2011, 16:05
00
لقد ثبت لي اليوم غباء المعلقين الذين يتسابقون لاحتلال السطر الاول في التعليق
حيث المقال تحتوي على اخطاء مطبعية حيث انني اريد ان اعرف هل المشادة حصلت بين فتت و عمار حوري ام مع علي عمار لانني كما اذكر ان فتت و حوري هما من نفس التحالف.
ثانيا, انه لمن المؤسف ان تغتصب حرية الاخرين و ينتهك امنهم على ارض بلد يفترض انه بلد وجد ليحمي كل من يدخل اراضيه . شي معيب
25 October 2011, 16:11
03
Seems to me like Aoun should share his perscription with Jamil el Sayyed & Ali Ammar...
25 October 2011, 16:20
00
Food fights passing for "Parliamentary Committee meetings" it is such a disgrace.
But it shows the frustration of the Hezbollah as they see their world crumbling all around themselves.
They have preached for so long that the devil is Israel as the great repressor of the Arab people when Hezbollah's greatest patron, Bashar Assad is doing to the Arab people of Syria the same things that Benjamin Netanyahu has done to the Arab people of Gaza. How can the acts of one be defended while the acts of the other condemned and used as justification for the weapons of Hezbollah?
Well that's just it, one can't be defended and the other condemned and this has created stress on Hezbollah that spills out into Parliamentary meetings where Hezbollah Deputies feel the urge to throw water bottles at those not so conflicted, such as Fatfat.
Fatfat has no such conflict between his principles and his actions. He can equally condemn Assad and Netanyahu, while Hezbollah is compromised by Assad.
25 October 2011, 17:57
00
wow, politicians come into a meeting to discuss important issues and leave without a single conclusion to their talks, but instead threats and bickering. If only the Arab spring could reach Lebanon, but we are too divided a country to rise as one. Our fait is sealed with these imbeciles and their sons that will come after them
25 October 2011, 18:25
02
who hid between citizens in the south and used them as human shields?
who accepted straight away a ceasefire when boasting to have the capacity to destroy israel and called it a divine victory?
who sheltered hundreds of refugees from the south and next time won t be ready to do this after the arrogance of the divine party....
who is defying the laws of the state and does not accept to comply to the government?
who is doing everything to weaken any lebanese gvt to be sure to keep its arms?
who is threatening publicly MPs ?
who is taking lebanese farmers lands to hide their weapons in the chouf?
they surely love lebanon and care for it and do everything they can to develop it and provide a peaceful life for its citizens!!! ...
and hopefully the lebanese army did nothing otherwise lebanon would have been more seiously damaged by the madness of one party...
25 October 2011, 19:25
02
Unfortunately Hezbollah has turned since 2006 to a clear threat to the lebanese entity, its '' divine victory '' of 11billion $ destructions + 1500 civilians + a shameful begged for cease-fire which some idiots think that Israel asked for, while it was Hezb that asked for it and it was in the interest of the Zionist entity ( as always ) to accept it because its goal was to never finish off Hezb , but to put some UN keepers on the borders to block definitevely any Hezb attempt to start a war , leaving Hezbollah the interior lebanese scene to dominate , thus creating chaos in Lebanon, exactly what the zionist entity wants, in fact Hezbollah now is full of spies as their '' sayyed '' has admitted, and is only serving Irano-Syrian and Zionist purposes,
25 October 2011, 19:46
01
Hezbollah is the biggest threat that Lebanon has ever seen, because it is supported by Lebanese sheeps, blinded by money and confort it gave them and which the state never gave, but if they are willing to give us a chance we can take care of them not like the previous decades where they were left behind, they do have a choice now, it is stupid to fight an entity like the zionist while working indirectly with them like Hezbollah, we can build a strong army, Hezbollah could integrate its squads in the army and make it better, enter just a political life,we can get back our land and protect our oil through direct negotiations without surrendering to Zionist ambitions, and i am sure we willl be smart and confident enough to get back what is ours, M8 must understand that we dont want to eliminate them , but they shouldnt as well, bu we have had enough of threats and illegal constructions, as well as illegal networks and non paying electricity, and march14th stop condemning,nut up or shutup
26 October 2011, 00:08
00
Conspirators? Who's committed to more conspiracies against the Lebanese country than Huzb Allah and its leadership? The Syrian regime is killing people in Lebanon again and kidnapping them like in the good old days, thanks to the March 8 government which completely ignores Syrian military aggression and kidnappings while talking about defending Lebanon's independence.
