The Hariri Assassination and the Perfidious Jews

Discussing the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri on "Battleline with Alan Nathan" Tuesday, I remarked, "I'm sure somehow it will be blamed on the Jews." Today, the World Socialist Website proved me right.

An article on today's WSWS website alleges, "Among those who play the game of speculating who organized the car bombing in Beirut, the smart money is undoubtedly on Washington and Tel Aviv." The socialists insist, "The Israeli regime has not infrequently carried out acts of terror and blamed them on its enemies." Moreover, "Washington was prepared in advance to seize upon Hariri’s death as a pretext for escalating its threats against Damascus."

The WS-BS further speculates, "It is quite possible that any limited concessions the Israeli regime may agree to made as part of the 'peace process' with the Palestinians will be repaid by Washington giving the green light for Israeli provocations and military actions against Syria."

According to Al-Jazeera, American socialists are not alone: The Islamic Republic of Iran also blames Israel. Osama's favorite network reports: "'An organized terrorist structure such as the Zionist regime has the capacity for such an operation whose aim is to undermine the unity of Lebanon,' foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency."

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also protested. Terror-sponsor Syria kill a political enemy whose rhetoric undermined its regional aims? "It would be too obvious," he said.

Aside from underscoring the unholy alliance of leftists and Islamists, this convergence demonstrates the invincible ignorance of the fifth column. Despite all the evidence pointing to the obvious -- that Syria killed a former Lebanese prime minister in cold blood -- somehow the fault for every attrocity since the death of Abel redounds to the fault of the United States and/or the Jewish people. Indeed, the abundance of evidence of Syria's guilt itself proves American guilt.

A word to leftist proselytizers: reflexively blaming the world's freest nation is no way to attract partisans to your cause.

Also see Steven Plaut's recent blog for more leftist conspiracy theories.