from Middle East Observer
Description:
In a recent TV interview, Lebanese MP Cesar Maalouf broke ranks with his pro-American party by thanking Iran for much-needed fuel shipments that Tehran was sending to Lebanon, a groundbreaking move announced by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a recent speech on the occasion of Ashura.
Cesar Maalouf is an MP for the Lebanese Forces, a party that maintains a staunchly pro-US and anti-Iran/Hezbollah political discourse and is led by Samir Geagea. The Christian-based Lebanese Forces was previously a militia that emerged out of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990).
In the interview, the transcript of which can be read below, Maalouf also ridiculed and rejected an initiative proposed by US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, to supply energy-starved Lebanon with electricity via alternative routes involving Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Maalouf said that the US ambassador’s announcement was too little, too late, reflecting a widespread mood in the Lebanon that the US was deliberately besieging and crippling the country in order to punish and turn the tide against Hezbollah.
Source: Al Mayadeen TV (YouTube)
Date: August 20, 2021
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Transcript:
Cesar Maalouf, Lebanese MP for the Lebanese Forces party:
I have a slogan that I’ll borrow from the Lebanese Forces (party): “Where Others Do Not Dare”. I have the courage to speak up and take responsibility for my words. I do not care whether people like my words or not. (If I had to choose) between the (Lebanese) people being humiliated or maintaining their dignity, and me preserving my seat in the Parliament, I would choose the dignity of the people.
Regarding allies, Lebanon is an Arab country. I prefer that the Arab, American, European and Western states help Lebanon and send us medicine, and send us fuel so that the Lebanese people do not get humiliated at the gas stations. However, if our allies have sold us out and abandoned us, and are unable help Lebanon, and a brotherly country named Iran wanted to help the Lebanese people – not only the Shias but all the Lebanese people – (by selling us fuel) at low prices and in exchange for the Lebanese Lira, should I thank this country or insult it? Of course I should thank it. I have to be objective. People did not elect me to be a false witness. People elected me to keep my head held high. I cannot walk among people and offer condolences to an individual and say: “May God have mercy on him/her. (He/she died because) they had no oxygen in the hospital”. Nor can I (apologize) to a child whose parents cannot find baby milk, or to a farmer who does not have diesel to irrigate his land and feed the Lebanese people who (have) become beggars!
I did not ask for the Iranian fuel. I have just thanked Iran for standing with Lebanon. At the same time, I asked the brotherly Arab states (in the past) – notably Saudi Arabia – (to help Lebanon). I am again, via your channel, asking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to look at the situation of the Lebanese people. Do not let the entire Lebanese people bow down because of the economy and the dollar crises just to fight Hezbollah and its weapons. We are all going hungry. We are all being humiliated today. If you have a problem with Hezbollah and its weapons, put this problem aside. We are not talking politics right now. We are talking about the moral thing to do, the human thing to do. It is unacceptable that the Lebanese people get humiliated more than this at the petrol stations. We have fifty martyrs.
Host:
You mean in the (recent) Akkar (explosion)?
Maalouf:
Yes. What (do we call) the (extremely low) levels of diesel and petrol (in the country) and the monopoly (of these commodities)? What (do we call) the smuggling of diesel and petrol to Syria? Are these not sanctions? Is not the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon himself a (major form of) sanctions against Lebanon? He has ruled the country for 26 years. Where is the people’s money? Where is the money of (all those Lebanese) who have deposited their money (in the banks)? Where is the money of the people earned by the sweat of their brows? Where is their life-savings? Where did the money go? We have paid 860 million dollars, in July only, to subsidize oil, to support brokers, thieves and villains in this country. Couldn’t they build a power station with that money?
Host:
Mr. Cesar, regarding the position of the brotherly Arab states and the United States of America, why, in your opinion, did they not provide assistance to Lebanon just as Iran (provided) throughout the crisis? We are talking about a crisis that has started from at least one year ago.
Maalouf:
I don’t know why they are not helping Lebanon. They have been helping us for a hundred years. I thank the Arab states for everything they have given to Lebanon. Help Lebanon. Support the Lebanese army. You say that you are against Hezbollah’s weapons. Support and arm the Lebanese army, so that Hezbollah’s arms become useless. Send us fuel. Your fuel is (basically) free. Why aren’t you sending fuel to the Lebanese people? I am not saying Sunnis send oil to Sunnis, Christians to Christians, or Iran to Shias. I support any unconditional assistance that is offered to all the Lebanese people. What is the problem with that?
Host:
There was also talk about the possibility of importing medicine from Iran as well, as there is a crisis with regards to medicine in Lebanon. If this step was taken, what would be your comment on it be? Do you welcome it?
Maalouf:
If they want to send medicine from Iran to Lebanon, they are not telling the Lebanese people that this will be the only (products of) medicine (in the country). Whoever wants to buy Iranian medicine, let them buy it; and whoever does not want to, then they are free not to. If the price of the Iranian medicine is a dollar and the price of the European medicine is 30 dollars, and people do not have much money left, they will buy Iranian medicine (ofcourse). They will be buying it willingly, no one will be forcing them to. Even the diesel that will come from Iran. Whoever likes to buy it at a lower price to use it can do so, and whoever does not want to can buy American fuel! No one will prevent them from doing so. However, when we have no diesel, no medicine, no oxygen, no agriculture, no manufacturing (sector), no hospitals, no generators, no electricity, no schools, nor buses on the road, we have no life! Fuel, energy and oil (today) equal life, medicine is a (core element today) of man’s life and dignity. I can only stand on the side of human dignity. What did the other (political) side do other than stand and watch (this crisis go from bad to worse)? What are you watching? (Are you watching) your people die?
Host:
Well then, what do you think of the initiative of the US ambassador (to Lebanon). In a previous statement, you said that we first want the ambassador to allow us to extract oil and gas from Lebanon (i.e. off the Mediterranean Sea). How is the US ambassador preventing us from extracting oil and gas from Lebanon? And how do you read her initiative yesterday following the speech of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah?
Maalouf:
First of all, I tell her that this is too late. She should have supported Lebanon way before that. Lebanon has been sinking for a while. Lebanon has been sinking since the ‘October 17 revolution’ (in 2019). The Total (oil) Company was carrying out prospective studies for oil in Block No. 4. Who gave Total the order to stop and leave Lebanon under the pretext that there is no gas in Lebanon’s (territorial waters)? Who told (the US ambassador) that there is no gas in Lebanon? How is there gas in Cyprus, in Syria and in Turkey, but there is no gas in Lebanon? Lebanon and these states are on the same (geographical) line. They are putting pressure on us. They are imposing sanctions against Lebanon to make us starve, to humiliate us, and make us kneel down. I do not know what they want from us.
I want to use your channel to say something to the US, to France – the ‘tender mother of Lebanon’ – and to all states. If what you want is the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon, I tell you: you will never succeed in doing that. We will kneel down and die of starvation, but we will never naturalize the Palestinians in Lebanon. Palestinians have the right to return to their country. To (the states) who are (offering) to pay 6 billion dollars to naturalize the (Palestinians) in Lebanon I say: “We will give you 6 billion dollars. Take them to your own country.”
Host:
You talk about the crisis as if it was contrived and intentional, as if there is a policy that is dragging Lebanon into this economic situation. What is next?
Maalouf:
They want chaos and civil war.
Host:
Who wants to drag Lebanon into chaos? Who wants to achieve that by creating this crisis?
Maalouf:
Lebanon’s enemies are many and so are its friends. In this crisis, we can tell the enemy from the friend.
Host:
Who is the friend and who is the enemy in this crisis, Mr. Cesar?
Maalouf:
Whoever helps Lebanon is the friend, and whoever does not is the enemy. Let the Lebanese people be the judge in the matter. To some of those on Twitter who attacked me and said that I am jumping ship (i.e. changing political sides and allegiances). I do not jump ship. My position is clear. I am independent. I am a strong patriot. Whoever wants to take a lesson in patriotism can come to me.
Host:
But your position is different from that of the bloc you are a member of, i.e. the bloc that represents the Lebanese Forces (party) in the Lebanese Parliament. Therefore, is it possible that your parliamentary seat and your political future gets affected because of these statements/stances of yours?
Maalouf:
My future is (not more important than) the people’s pain. My future is (to secure) baby milk formula. My future is not to see the Lebanese people being humiliated at petrol stations and facing death at the hospitals. This is my future. My future is not (to secure) a parliamentary seat. I am not a beggar for anyone’s parliamentary seat. My future is not to see my children being humiliated, or not being able to learn. It is not to see them applying for visas to emigrate from Lebanon. My future is the future of Lebanon’s generations. My future is not to become a (Lebanese) MP. This seat has no value for me. It does not change anything. Human dignity is the most important thing for me.
Host:
One last question, Mr. Cesar. Do you welcome any future steps, similar to the Iranian move?
Maalouf:
I ask all states in the Arab and international community to help the Lebanese people, because we cannot handle this anymore. Anyone who sends help, whether Saudi, Iranian, Emirati, French or American, I will be the first to welcome this aid to the Lebanese people who have reached this point because of this corrupt political class that has been ruling Lebanon for 30 years.
As I wrote re Future of Afghanistan, we may even see a Lebanese solution: the End of Humiliation and the Return of Honour to a country that has suffered enough under Anglo Zionazi Capitalist oppression.
The step that has been taken (the import of fuel from Iran) is very important and sensitive; because in addition to breaking the siege of Lebanon, it can also break the siege of Syria and Iran, and on the other hand, it has caused much concern for the US and its allies in Lebanon. Even if we don’t say that a great defeat has been inflicted on the US, we can say that they have been placed in a very tight spot, and what’s more, without Nasrallah having fired a single bullet.
All of the US’ foolishness and the Zionist regime’s arrogance, all of the US and Israel’s mistaken calculations in Lebanon, the policy of starvation and siege against the Lebanese people, with the belief by the US and Israel that the Lebanese would fall to their knees and be provoked against Hezbollah and its weapons, lighting the fire of civil war and all the military and economic actions, could not bring about Washington and Tel Aviv’s desired goals, and if anything, these efforts had the opposite effect to what was intended, such that the most dangerous point for the US and the Zionist regime now is Hezbollah and Nasrallah’s increasing popularity in Lebanon, and the entire Arab world — as the man who had the guts to say “no” to the US.
Of course, it is still not clear how the Iranian tankers will reach Lebanon. Will these tankers unload at the Beirut port, or at Sidon in the south? It is also possible that these shipments will not go to Lebanon directly, and instead go to Baniyas in Syria, and be transported with trucks from there to Lebanon. The more important question is, will the tankers pass through the Suez canal? Or will this canal be closed to the tankers, in favor of the US plan to supply Lebanon with Egyptian gas?
But if the tankers — via Suez within 8 days, or via the Cape of Good Hope within 40 days — reach the Eastern Mediterranean, what will the US and Israeli response entail? Will the tankers be violated at sea? Or in case they unload their cargo at Baniyas, will the empty tankers then be violated?
There are currently no answers for these questions. But without a doubt, the three sides of the Resistance Axis, ie. Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria, know the answers and also know how to respond to any violation of the tankers.
But the US response, whether political or military, will result in a heavy price. Nasrallah has announced that the Iranian tankers are tantamount to Lebanese soil, and any action against them will be taken as a violation of Lebanon, and an affront to Lebanese sovereignty. And if the US and Israel decide to let the tankers through, and sanction Lebanon and Iran in retaliation, what effect could these sanctions have, especially on a starving people that haven’t had food, water or medicine for months?
Meanwhile, Dorothy Shea, the American ambassador in Beirut, has announced her country’s readiness to arrange for the transfer of oil and gas from Egypt, and electricity from Jordan, in order to hinder the imports from Iran and snatch away Hezbollah’s and the Resistance Axis’ victory. But it seems she has forgotten that the logistics and technicalities for the transfer of gas from Egypt to Lebanon will take months to prepare, and also, negotiations regarding this matter must take place with Syria, and the Syrian government must agree to it.
On the other hand, it must become clear that the gas coming from Egypt is not tainted with gas from the Zionist pseudo-state, which travels through the same pipes in Egypt. But of course, Bashar Assad will have the final word there.
Negotiation with Syria, and the transfer of oil and gas through Syrian territory to Lebanon, in the event that the legal, logistical and political conditions are provided, will mean the defeat of the US siege of Syria, ie. the Caesar Act, and the US admitting to this defeat.
But, Syria does not get anything out of all this, so the question is, what will the Syrian government ask for in return, eg. the repeal of the Caesar Act, the ending of the Syrian siege, etc?
Nasrallah, in the context of his efforts to save the Lebanese people from strangulating crises, and after a good management of this crisis, with much shrewdness and calculated initiative, has trapped the US and the Zionist regime in a very tight spot, and has thrown the ball into the enemy’s court. Nasrallah is watching the enemy’s confusion and their movements very closely, and from an operations room full of political and military experts, has his finger on the trigger.
In conclusion, this battle is a test of missile strength, and it remains to be seen which side fires the first missile. This war can result in another defeat for the US and Israeli, even bigger than the defeat in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, 7 US logistical convoys have been targeted in the last two days.
If I remember correctly Nasrallah has mentioned the first oil tanker had arrived in Lebanon. I suppose the others will follow the same route, what ever that may be.
He hasn’t said that the oil tanker had arrived in Lebanon. He said that it was on its way to Lebanon.
I always enjoy your analysis of Iran, the Axis Of Resistance vs the imperial West led by the US and her minions in the MENA region. Thanks for such succinct explanation.
I find these statements quite revealing :
“Who gave Total the order to stop and leave Lebanon under the pretext that there is no gas in Lebanon’s (territorial waters)? Who told (the US ambassador) that there is no gas in Lebanon? How is there gas in Cyprus, in Syria and in Turkey, but there is no gas in Lebanon? Lebanon and these states are on the same (geographical) line. They are putting pressure on us. They are imposing sanctions against Lebanon to make us starve, to humiliate us, and make us kneel down. I do not know what they want from us.
I want to use your channel to say something to the US, to France – the ‘tender mother of Lebanon’ – and to all states. If what you want is the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon, I tell you: you will never succeed in doing that. We will kneel down and die of starvation, but we will never naturalize the Palestinians in Lebanon. Palestinians have the right to return to their country. To (the states) who are (offering) to pay 6 billion dollars to naturalize the (Palestinians) in Lebanon I say: “We will give you 6 billion dollars. Take them to your own country.”
In other words, what we see here is external pressure to prevent energy independence of Lebanon.
Another thing revealed by Mr. Maalouf is the financial offer to resettle Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Do we know cui bono from both?
Rehards, Spiral
Lets hope no one in Lebanon has the courage to scream Allah is Great and send a volley of missiles into Israel after unloading all that fuel?
Often times, your comments will remind me of my mother in law, Gerry.
She is a staunch Christian, although in name only, and can never see the good in anything Muslims do. In fact, she outright refuses to do so.
In my mother in law’s worldview, if you aren’t Christian and if you aren’t white, you can do no right.
She was doing some charity work with Syrian refugees just last week, and long story short, let’s just say she did not imitate Christ in “washing the feet” of the wretches, far from it. She just went there and looked down her nose on those poor people and was cringing the whole time, wondering why God allows people who are so clearly brown and inferior to exist. The fact that her democratically elected government is the reason those people are poor and ‘unwashed’ and escaping their own countries goes completely over her head.
Anyway, the truth is, being a Christian or being a Muslim, and following a bunch of dogmatic ‘knowledge’ written centuries ago by God knows who, is absolutely no guarantee that everything you do is right, or that anything you do is right.
Reason and rationality need to be brought to bear on one’s thoughts and actions, not nonsensical dogma.
For example, your comment here, first of all, when has Lebanon ever fired missiles at Israel, or anyone else, unprovoked and without just cause?
You are clearly insinuating that the Lebanese are a bunch of irrational idiots who scream Allaho Akbar and proceed to blow themselves up. What evidence do you have for such an insinuation?
Nasrallah is one of the smartest and most level-headed human beings on Earth today, not just among Muslims, but among all people.
If ‘Christianity’ is blinding you to seeing the good in a Muslim to such a degree, that you equate one of the kindest, most caring human beings in the world, who everyone loves, with some Zio-ISIS terrorist, then perhaps you need to take a good hard look at your Christianity.
But alas, I am fully aware that my mother in law will never change her mind, she is of Anglo stock, which means she will never stop believing that her kind are inherently superior, and she is a Catholic, which means her mind is fully shut to all reason and rationality; add the two together, and you have someone who will take her dislike of ‘browns’ and Muslims to the grave.
Perhaps you will save yourself from the same fate.
@ Anonymous
Why was Peter angry with Jesus and who was the happiest man in the bible?
The reason why Peter was angry with Jesus was because Jesus healed his mother in law?
The happiest man in the Bible was Adam. he didn’t have one.
As for the rest of your comment Wow, you are mistaken, you judge me wrong. I said that from what i saw as a tourist in Israel in the 1990’s when katusha’s landed in the north of Israel. Violence begets violence Anonymous and the hatreds there are great run exceedingly deep.
We had meetings with the Druze which was amazing, and others but the suspicions run deep. Trust is something that is truly earned not given. I’m no expert on things Moslem but what i do know and have seen is troubling. I befriended an expat Syrian Moslem here in Canada and he just looks at me in disbelief and laughs actually and says to me after I told him about all my travels over there the Sinia, entire Israel, and Jordan you did all of that and you are still alive? My Syrian friend is in awe and disbelief and what he says about the zionist state is just so full of vitriol and hate. Woe, i say too myself upon hearing it!
If you read into my comment something which is not there that is your problem.
As a Christian it is my wish above all else that everyone becomes a Christian and experiences what I have experienced with the God of Creation. His love and forgiveness and the truth of the Christian message is very real. Indeed I know from firsthand experience the words:
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5
If you want to learn about the power of God Anonymous you can do no better than by reading my book on climate change or begin here:
/book-review-andrei-martyanovs-the-real-revolution-in-military-affairs/#comment-729151
If you knew what I know it would raise many questions about all of the war and bloodshed.
May Allah have mercy on us all!
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34
“a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:8
We have had this debate before, you and I.
You preach the sinfulness of war and conflict at what is clearly a pro-Resistance venue. You ought to be preaching that to the Jews.
As for the Resistance Axis’ war with the US and the Zionist regime, that is the kind of war which is referred to in Ecclesiastes, and not the kind of war the Jews are making on the Palestinians.
If this were the 1600s and white Christians were colonizing lands inhabitated by the Christ-less savages in America, would you be preaching the sinful nature of war to the natives, or to the white colonists?
Did many of the preachers of that time preach the sinful nature of genocidal war against innocent people to the Christian settlers of the time?
The Resistance Axis is using the very same sword that is spoken of in Matthew, to make war against the Synagogue of Satan. What is your problem with that?
And what is it that you know, that I don’t know, Gerry? Please, do tell.
———————-
Off topic.
Please take any further discussion on this subject to the MFC.
Thank you – the mod.
Doesn’t your mum-in-law even ponder that jesus would be considered brown by the anglosaxons, that he was a semite and not an aryan.
In fact jesus would be more genetically closer to the syrian refugees than her own self.
Who the F gave the American war criminals the right to interfere in the life and security affairs of Lebanon a sovereign nation? Therein lies the answer to Lebanon’s quagmire.
well..one lonely voice among Lebanese forces (for people who are not familiar with local lebanese politics,this is most pro-american, and unfortunately pro-zionist party in Lebanon,although they sell themselves as pure lebanese patriots, and so on,I dont want to write a novel about them). I dont know if this is only his personal PR,or he is having moral dilemmas,but nevertheless, my personal problem with family is not so much money,because there is always someone who travels home and I can send the money via them,however,it is not easy to send medicines for 5 people,all of them taking medications for chronic diseases. I tried to send medicines in kilos,literally,but customs administration in my country stopped it and seized it.
Maalouf:
I don’t know why they are not helping Lebanon. They have been helping us for a hundred years. I thank the Arab states for everything they have given to Lebanon. Help Lebanon. Support the Lebanese army. You say that you are against Hezbollah’s weapons.
So what has changed recently. All of a sudden most of the Gulf States have moved toward the people that a sizable part of Lebonese population believes just nuked your most important city. If they would nuke Lebanon, I think no gas in Lebanon, is going to give the detractors a real gas. The free traders are busy securing free trade routes through the Gulf States. Now the Gulf states got to play ball, especially since the citizenship of the Gulf states is small and they like the bullies money more than the Lebanese or bleeding.
As to the problem with giving countries fuel for cheap, just ask the Venezuelans how that worked out with all they gave to Haiti.Cause Haiti never paid for it even when it was really cheap. Lots of thieves in Haitian Government. I will venture to say, it might not end so different in Lebanon.