Trying To Hit Us Where It Hurts

Israelis in North America are launching an orchestrated judicial attack on Lebanese banks for allegedly “funding terrorists”. The banks in question have resolved to ignore them.

Bank of Beirut, one of the targeted banks..

How stupid do the Israelis living in the USA and Canada think Hezbollah is? Judging by the coordinated lawsuits launched in Canada and the USA by Israeli individuals against Lebanese banks, I would say very stupid.

To the Israeli plaintiffs, Hezbollah — who knows it’s listed on the American list of terrorist groups — will simply have money sent to it via conventional channels, paper trail et all, to support its “terrorist activities”. Mr. Nassrallah will simply ignore all the news of American scrutiny of Middle Eastern banks and call his pals in the U.S. to SWIFT hundreds of thousands of “clean” dollars to his personal account in Fransabank. 

Idiocy aside, it is clear that the Israelis in questions are more interested in the publicity than in actual results, and it is also clear that the official Lebanese response of ignoring the matter altogether, preferring to express trust in the American judicial system, is wholly inadequate.

Lebanese banks and businessmen should do more to expose the smear campaign against our banks for what it really is. Simply stating to the local media that our banks are abiding by international regulations is a nonstarter.

Lebanese activists in the US and Canada should also contribute. After all, two can play this game. Every Lebanese-American with a destroyed house from Israeli missiles, every shopkeeper with lost revenue from the war, every mother whose child was killed should also wage lawsuits against Israeli banks in US and Canada, for funding such destruction and loss of life.

Like the Israeli lawsuits, they won’t reach anywhere, but at least the publicity will neutralize their claim to the moral high grounds.