Hariri: Thousand Speeches Like Nasrallah’s Won’t Eliminate Lebanon’s Recognition of STL
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that it reflected his annoyance with the decision to fund the tribunal.
He said in a statement: “A thousand speeches like Nasrallah’s will not eliminate Lebanon’s recognition of the STL.”
He explained that the party leader’s annoyance was also directed against Premier Najib Miqati and reflected in a list of political conditions presented to him by the Free Patriotic Movement.
“These conditions create new tensions in the country, which Nasrallah claims are not cause by him,” the former prime minister stated.
Hariri criticized Nasrallah’s objections that the funding was possible through Arab and non-Arab donations, saying they hold no legal basis.
“The funding has taken place and Nasrallah has helped make it possible,” he added.
He explained that any donations received by Lebanon requires the cabinet’s approval and they become an integral part of public funds.
Hariri implied that Hizbullah controls the March 8-dominated government, and it therefore approved of these donations.
He therefore asked the party followers: “How can the Hizbullah leadership and secretary general cover the funding of a tribunal they claim to be an American-Israeli product?”
Nasrallah said Thursday his party would not “create a problem in the country” over Miqati’s decision to fund the STL, in order to preserve the national interest.
"Even though we remain opposed to the tribunal, we are not going to cause trouble as we place the country's national interest above all else," he said in a televised address.
His comments came a day after Miqati, following months of political wrangling, announced that he had transferred Lebanon's 49 percent annual share of funding to the STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.
"We have not changed our mind: in our opinion, this court is unconstitutional, politicized and sponsored by Israel and the U.S., and it will remain so until the opposite is proven,” Nasrallah declared.
“We still reject any form of financing it or cooperating with it. Had a (cabinet) session been held to discuss the issue of financing, we would have voted against it. And had the issue been put to the vote of parliament, we would’ve also voted against.
“We reject to pay the money of the Lebanese people to finance such a tribunal,” Hizbullah’s leader stressed.
He revealed that he has been “told” that the money to finance the STL would come from “donations by certain sides and nations that will be deposited into the account of the High Relief Commission.”
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