The Campaign against "Hizbullah" and the 1948-Palestinians

Accusations "Israel" made against 1948 Arabs citizens -otherwise known as 1948-Palestinians- of spying for "Hizbullah", fall within the framework of a psychological war "Israel" is waging against Hizbullah in Lebanon, and at the same time constitute an integral part of a campaign suffered by "Israel's" Arab minority, particularly since the far-right wing took power.

Since the August 2006 cease-fire, not a day passes without "Israel" instigating a new problem with Hizbullah, despite the near total calm prevailing over the Lebanese-"Israeli" border. The "Israelis" continue to consider themselves at war with the party, employing diverse tools and methods in a war more psychological than real.

Final chapters are yet to come on the "Scud" missiles Syria supplied Hizbullah with, which turned to a media uproar in "Israel" as it considers this a breach of "the deterrence balance" it claims to have established since the July 2006 war. This is something "Israel" may use as a pretext in any future military strike against the party.
Today again, we stand before a new emerging crisis over indictments against two Palestinians carrying "Israeli" citizenship and accused of spying for Hizbullah.

The psychological war waged by "Israel" against Hizbullah floats into more than one orbit. First, there is the secret war taking place between intelligence agencies, with Lebanon witnessing an important one of its episodes in past months, when Lebanese security services successfully uncovered spy networks working for "Israel", thus dealing a tough moral blow to the "Mossad" apparatus.

In another orbit, diplomatic pressures are being exerted at international level by the "Israeli" Foreign Ministry, with the aim of cracking down on Hizbullah, blockade it internationally, and regionally cordon it off to prevent it from carrying out any operation against "Israeli" targets abroad.

There is also the "Israeli" exaggeration about recent party armament, aimed at inflating the image of the situation on the northern border in order to give it the appearance of being fragile and dangerous, a warning of worse things to come.

The greatest proof of that came in the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's words in Damascus when he warned of a "disaster", should current tensions continue in the region.

Meanwhile, the psychological warfare has not so far exceeded its "Israeli" set framework, as it believes-according to the views and statements of its officials-that this psychological warfare has succeeded in deterring Hizbullah from taking any military action, thus confirming the efficacy of the verbal deterrence weapon.

But this has not stopped the party from continuing its arming operations, which indicate - according to more than one "Israeli" official - that nothing guarantees the continuance of the psychological deterrence balance, should major security upheavals occur within "Israel", or regionally at confrontation level with Iran.

Here, one can return to recent statements made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs, Moshe Yaalon, when he pointed out that "Israel", which possesses the technical capability for a military strike against Iran, is also able to wage war against Gaza, Lebanon and the Syrian army and even Iran, all simultaneously.

The psychological war on Hizbullah has noticeably dramatically escalated after it became indisputably clear to the "Israelis", that the United States opposes any "Israeli" military strike against Iran.

This is not the first time internal Palestinians are accused of spying against "Israel." The Arab minority, which survived plots and schemes of displacement and ethnic cleansing during the 1948 war, is constantly regarded by "Israelis" as traitorous or eyed with distrust.

Since Netanyahu's arrival to power, right-wing parties stepped up their campaigns against Arab parties such as:

- The introduction of a bill that nullifies the legitimacy of any Arab party in the Knesset ‘If found to have established contact with anti-"Israel" Arab sides'

- The proposition of the Citizenship Law bill, which allows the withdrawal of "Israeli" Citizenship from any Arab who does not swear an oath of allegiance to the Zionist Jewish state

- Banning the commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba, also considered "Israel's" independence' celebration.