Trying to shift the focus away from the severe pressure faced by his own organization, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday once again blamed Israel for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Nasrallah displayed a document from July, 2008, signed by Liora Menachem, whom he claimed was a senior Israeli customs official, saying, Instead of investigating the Israelis, they [the tribunal members] gathered information from them [the Israelis]. We are talking about a political investigation," Nasrallah said. "We have absolute proof that the head of the Customs Office in Israel, Liora Menachem, approved the transfer of these computers through Naqura into Israel. Why were these computers not shipped from Beirut airport? Why did they pass through Israel? Indeed, the entire world knows that Israel is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. This proves that the tribunal's investigation of Hariris murder was carried out in full cooperation with Israeli officials, who received information from the investigators and transferred information back to them.
Nasrallah made his accusations following the indictments of four senior Hezbollah members on charges of planning and carrying out Hariri's murder. The indictments were submitted to the Lebanese government by representatives of the International Court of Justice after an investigation by the U.N.'s Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "The tribunal was established for an obvious political goal ... they cooperated with Israel, Nasrallah said.
In a press conference on Saturday in Beirut, Nasrallah displayed documents apparently approving the transfer of 97 computers related to the investigation by the tribunal.
Nasrallah claimed the computers were transported to Israel by officers of UNIFIL (the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon) through Naqura, in southern Lebanon. According to Nasrallah, the computers were used by the tribunal when it was in Beirut investigating the circumstances surrounding Hariris murder.
