Made in Israel
This is not the first time, Israeli cargoes found in local markets, and there are those who insist on trafficking, perhaps because of the political protections that allow to bypass all laws and regulations, and continuing to deal with the enemy, just as is the case in the station will Baroque, which sold to the Lebanese-Israeli Internet pure
Rasha Abu Zaki
Products have entered «germ-x» made in Israel to the Lebanese market, crossing the border all the procedures … Thus, easy banner, arrived in the Lebanese consumer, and when it was revealed they really are, withdrawn from the market and importer damaged, but without informing the relevant bodies!
«News» pursued the case, Valmistord denies prior knowledge as one of the Israeli-manufactured, and the Directorate of Consumer Protection and promised to pursue the subject until the end, and the Directorate of Customs as well, but the question that no one wants to answer it, is how to enter Israeli products to Lebanon? Of covering this gross violation? Want to impose normalization in spite of the Lebanese?
If, Israeli products invade Lebanon without any follow-up of the official authorities, and without any accountability for those involved in doing business with Israel. Recently, the detection of commodities and products, many Israeli shopping mall in all regions, but no one moved, but was to cover up those involved in this trade «client».
Latest discoveries, the discovery of products bearing the brand germ-x, which entered the local market, is stamped with the words «Made in Israel» and «to your eyes, my dealer». In the details, that the citizens become aware of the type of tissue wet anti-bacteria, under the name «germ-x» sold in the branches of a big company in Beirut (photo). This product is composed of «bag» Envelopes containing small incest, wrote to the «bag» from abroad, that he made in the United States, while written on the envelopes into the small «bag» a «Made in Israel»! How this product came to Lebanon? How to sell to consumers? What is the role of regulators in the face of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon to the market? Answers, as usual, you throw on the responsibilities of each device on the other!
As soon as the news spread, the company quickly yesterday morning to withdraw the product from the shelves of its branches, but did not inform the Office of the Boycott of Israel is concerned bodies or regulatory agencies in the Ministry of Economy, according to Administrator assures the Consumer Protection Directorate Fouad Fleifel for «News». He says one of the directors of the company «news» that the company were not aware that this product is an Israeli, as it is printed on the outer casing of the product «Made in the USA», immediately report to the Company Bmahep product withdrawn from the branches and damaged … He explained that the company usually import goods from the United States of America, has been importing this product without scrutinized from the inside, and therefore was unaware that the source of Israel.
Fulayfel: Ministry observers cannot detect all goods due to lack of numbers
But how the company was able to import this product? It is known that the consumer subject (at least in theory) to control for several reasons, beginning with the Directorate of Customs and Consumer Protection in the Ministry of Economy to reach to security agencies in charge of follow-up irregularities … But it is clear that these devices are very weak or where they were involved covering this type of trade … Are seeing the Lebanese market since the unprecedented hoped will, which was dogged by «News» Since June of 2008 when it published an investigation of the type of candy sold in Israeli markets of Tripoli, and since then did not ask anyone about this breach of Israel’s economic market for the Lebanese, and continued breach of other categories, most recently cigarettes «Winston» made in Israel, the reason that this phenomenon is not confined to b «error» or «failure», but now opens up serious questions regarding the extent of the existence of networks to the deliberate introduction of Israeli goods to Lebanon, facilitated by some devices.
In this context, confirms a senior source at the Directorate General of Customs Directorate to perform its duties in regard to control of imports, but that 70 percent of goods passing through the green customs declaration, which is to be allowed to enter without supervision to Lebanon, with 30 percent of goods passing through the customs declaration, which subjects them to Red for inspection and control. And explains the source added that some goods are placed on red if the statement raised doubts around specific, so turning to the search for contraband, and verification of goods across this type of risk analysis with accuracy in the inspection. The source suggests that it «can not be members of the customs complicit with traders for the introduction of the goods without control for bribes»! It is noteworthy that the traders tried to circumvent the laws in various ways to earn more profits, so they buy cheaper goods, whatever the country of origin, even if it was Israel. The source believes that the control should be «at home», any of the organs of the Ministry of Economy, to confiscate goods doubtful about them when necessary to carry out patrols on the market.
However, the Director-General for Consumer Protection Directorate, Ministry of Economy, Fouad Fleifel, indicating that the process controls of goods imported to Lebanon is one of the tasks of the customs that reveal the containers and goods and give permission to enter Lebanon. The Fleifel it was likely that the product be the Israeli «germ-x» has entered a statement through the green customs according to the system «star» developed to speed up customs formalities, and will probably also be entered via the Red statement «In both cases, the responsibility of the Customs ». But in this case, that is the responsibility of the Directorate of Consumer Protection in the control of consumer goods after the entry into Lebanon? Fulayfel answer that the Directorate investigations are required after the reporting of breaches of specific, since it cannot monitor the Directorate of all goods coming into Lebanon, and especially they do not include in its staff, only 107 observers in all of Lebanon, with one branch in the concerned company presents more than 26 thousand commodities. The Fleifel the Directorate announces it will open the necessary inquiries and send all data to the public prosecutor, to see how this product to the Lebanese market, and items imported and distributed, and where the development of this product after the withdrawal from the market.

21/09/2009 Israeli army chief of staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that the military underwent significant improvements since the 2006 war against Lebanon and “has the answer” to any future conflict.

“Since the Second Lebanon War, we have done an all encompassing review of the possibility we may need to fight again in the North. We understand what we need to do next time and the army has the answer,” Ashkenazi told Army Radio in a question and answer session. “It is a strong and high quality military, and I trust it,” he stressed.

After claiming that his army has managed to gain effective deterrence in the north, Ashkenazi said that it was not in Hezbollah’s interest to start a new conflict. “We are monitoring closely what is happening inside of Lebanon. Hezbollah continues to become stronger,” he said.

“I think Hezbollah is not interested, at least at the moment, in renewing actions. But at the same time we are not complacent, we are following events,” he added.

Turning to Iran, the Israeli General claimed the best way to deal with Tehran’s nuclear program is sanctions. “If sanctions don’t work, Israel has the right to defend itself, and all means can be used to achieve this,” Ashkenazi threatened.

About a UN report on Israel’s winter offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli chief of staff said the document was “biased and unbalanced.”

Referring to Richard Goldstone, the South African prosecutor who wrote the report, the Israeli occupation military chief told Army Radio: “He ignored Hamas (rocket) fire. As the one who planned the operation, I say that we have a moral army; we did everything we could to lessen the harm to noncombatants.”

Israeli army chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that the military underwent significant improvements since the 2006 war with Hizbullah and “has the answer” to any future conflict.
“Since the Second Lebanon War, we have done an all encompassing review of the possibility we may need to fight again in the North. We understand what we need to do next time and the IDF has the answer,” Ashkenazi told Army Radio in a question and answer session.

“It is a strong and high quality military, and I trust it,” he stressed.

Ashkenazi added, however, that it was not in Hizbullah’s interest to start a new conflict.

“We are monitoring closely what is happening inside of Lebanon. Hizbullah continues to become stronger,” he said.

Turning to Iran, the general said the best way to deal with Tehran’s nuclear threat is sanctions.

“If (sanctions don’t work), Israel has the right to defend itself, and all means can be used to achieve this,” Ashkenazi added.

About a U.N. report on Israel’s winter offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the general said the document was “biased and unbalanced.”

Referring to Richard Goldstone, the South African prosecutor who wrote the report, the Israeli military chief told Army Radio: “He ignored Hamas (rocket) fire. As the one who planned the operation, I say that we have a moral army; we did everything we could to lessen the harm to noncombatants.”

Israeli director Samuel Maoz’s “Lebanon” may have won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival but it has being given a hostile reception by critics and bloggers in the country it is named after.

“This film shows the Israeli point of view,” wrote the Venice correspondent of the Lebanese daily An-Naha.
“It depicts an operation of self-defense where the ‘Other’ does not exist, where the enemy is hidden, absent, treated as ‘terrorist’,” the correspondent wrote.

Maoz’s intensely personal film relives the director’s own experience as a young Israeli soldier in Lebanon in 1982 through the viewpoint of the tank’s gunner.

In the film, Israeli soldiers confined to their tank do not see the horrors and massacres they leave in their wake: a woman on the verge of insanity after the death of her child, an elderly man consumed by hate, the agony of a gutted donkey, and more.

And while the director has said his film was not political, many Lebanese journalists who saw the film during the Venice festival earlier this month are not convinced.

The daily Al-Mustaqbal said the film was an attempt to erase 40 years of “Israeli aggression.”

“The public here in Italy mourned the four soldiers who suffered — and not the victims of war,” it said.

“The film serves only to show the supposed humanity of the Zionist state, which wages war ‘against its will’ and ‘in pain’.”

The daily Al-Akhbar also lambasted the film.

“Many thought it was an anti-war film that criticized the wars waged by the Israeli state and its military, but in reality it is nowhere near critical,” it said.

“(Maoz) merely tells of the psychological crisis experienced by four soldiers inside a tank,” the daily said.

“The film falls, as expected, into the logic that transforms the executioner into a victim or a quasi-victim,” An-Nahar wrote.

“Twenty-seven years after killing someone for the first time in his life, Maoz replaces the tank with a camera. The first is used to kill, the second to convince … but the truth is lost.”

Local critics have also drawn parallels with Israeli director Ari Folman’s 2008 animation “Waltz with Bashir,” which won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination.

“Maoz benefited from the wave started by Ari Folman at Cannes, and the Israeli trend of examining the tortured conscience continues with success,” wrote Al-Akhbar, which ran the headline “Waltz with Samuel Maoz!”

Also a former Israeli soldier who took part in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Folman’s hero, Ari, is haunted by the memories of the massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila and sets off on a quest for a past he cannot remember.

Lebanese entries on blogs and Twitter are also filled with bitter reaction to “Lebanon.”

The blog “Angry Arab News Service” describes Maoz’s film as “an Israeli war movie that paid tribute to killers and butchers of the Israeli army who specialize in killing women in children.

“So this Zionist clown dedicates this movie (I will review it once I get my un-purchased copy) to the warriors and not to the victims of the terrorist Israeli warriors,” the blogger said.

“Great, another Israeli film about Lebanon that only humanises Israeli soldiers and not Lebanese/Palestinians victims,” said a tweet from Lebanon.

Like Folman’s “Waltz with Bashir” before it, “Lebanon” will not be screened in the tiny Mediterranean country due to a national policy of boycotting Israeli products.(AFP)

BEIRUT: Leading Lebanese Shiite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah issued a fatwa, or religious decree, on Sunday forbidding the normalization of ties with neighboring Israel. “The normalization of ties with the Zionist enemy in any form is prohibited by sharia [Islamic law],” Fadlallah said in statement. “We confirm that the fatwa against normalization applies to every Muslim.”

Washington has called on Arab governments to begin normalizing ties with Israel and for the country to halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank to help pave the way for a resumption of Israel-Palestinian talks broken off in December.
Several Arab governments have indicated that they would consider steps towards normalization but only if Israel agrees to a complete halt to settlement construction. Of Israel’s Arab neighbors, only Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Tel Aviv.

Fadlallah urged Arabs not to abandon the Palestinian cause, and “realize the seriousness and dangers threats and challenges that await us.” – AFP, with The Daily Star

A statement signed by the Ziad al-Jarrah division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed Monday it was behind the Katyusha attack against northern Israel last week.
“Your brothers fired two Katyusha rockets from south Lebanon which landed in the Nahariya settlement north of the occupied Palestine,” said a statement on web sites used by militants.

The group cited Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and the prevention of worshippers from praying at the Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem as reasons for the attack.

Ziad al-Jarrah, a Lebanese militant, was one of the group of 19 who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Abdullah Azzam was Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden’s mentor. He was killed in a 1989 bomb blast.

It could not be immediately determined whether the statement was authentic.

Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it carried out deadly bombings at the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh in 2005.

Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah on Sunday issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, banning the normalization of ties with Israel.

“Normalization with the Zionist enemy in any form is prohibited by Sharia (Islamic law),” Fadlallah said in statement.
“We confirm that the fatwa against normalization applies to every Muslim,” he stressed.

The United States has called on Arab states to begin normalizing ties with Israel and on the Jewish state to halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in efforts to facilitate resumption of Israel-Palestinian talks broken off in December.

Several Arab governments have indicated that they would consider steps towards normalization but only if Israel agrees to a complete halt to settlement construction.

Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with the Israel.

The sporadic flare ups between Israel and Lebanon on Friday have aroused international reactions. Russia on Saturday voiced “particular concern” and warned against any actions that could raise tensions in the Middle East.
“The latest aggravation on the ceasefire line between Israel and Lebanon is a source of particular concern in connection with continuing efforts to form a government in Lebanon,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The minister reportedly said that such incidents “could have serious consequences” not only in Lebanon but also in the region as a whole. He further encouraged all parties involved to thwart any attempt at raising tensions.

Earlier today, Israel filed a complaint to the United Nations holding the Lebanese government responsible and said Beirut wasn’t doing enough to prevent the presence of armed groups and weapons.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon acknowledged there was still no permanent government in Lebanon, but said the transitional government “must assume its responsibilities” to prevent such attacks.(AFP-Naharnet)

Two Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into Occupied Palestine on Friday prompting retaliatory fire across the border.

Settlers of northern occupied territories said they heard explosions but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. “Debris from at least one Katyusha rocket fired from south Lebanon were found in the area of the city of Nahariya and Kibbutz Gesher Aziv,” an Israeli police official told AFP.

The Israeli occupation army spokesperson said that Israel “views these incidents as very severe, and we hold the government of Lebanon responsible.”

Israeli public radio said the Israeli armed forces responded with artillery fire against the Lebanese village from which the rockets were fired. Channel 10 reported that an electric tower was struck by one of the rockets.

Al-Manar correspondent in the South said that 15 Israeli artillery shells hit the southern village of Al-Qlaileh adding that the calm was prevailing the region though the ambulances rushed to the village from the port city of Tyre, nine kilometers away.

No group has claimed responsibility for the rockets attack fired into the occupied territories.

In such former incidents, investigations revealed the extremist groups were behind those attacks.

Israel warned last month that the Lebanese government as a whole would be blamed for any attack from its territory if Hezbollah was part of the new government to be formed after June elections.

Two Katyusha rockets fired Friday from southern Lebanon landed in northern Israel, drawing retaliatory artillery shelling.
Haaretz said on its website that there have been no reports of casualties.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel Radio said Israeli soldiers launched retaliatory artillery fire against southern Lebanon.

Security sources said two rockets were fired from Qlaileh near the southern port city of Tyre at 3:45pm.

Local television stations said as many as eight artillery rounds hit the outskirts of Qlaileh shortly after the Katyusha attack.

Channel 10 reported that an electric tower was struck by one of the rockets.

Israel police said remnants of a Katyusha rocket were found in northern Israel on Friday.
Residents of northern Israel said they heard explosions.

“Debris from at least one Katyusha rocket fired from south Lebanon was found in the area of the city of Nahariya and Kibbutz Gesher Aziv,” a police source told AFP.(Naharnet-AFP)

On the other hand, IDF’s spokeperson said that Israel “views these incidents as very severe, and hold Lebanon government responsible,” Haaretz reported.