Tony Badran on How Hizballah Wins, Even When It Loses
The Tikvah Podcast
Tikvah
4.8 • 658 Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since initiating a war against Israel in 2006, the Shiite revolutionary movement Hizballah has built a massive arsenal of rockets that continues to threaten Israel's northern cities and towns. Hizballah is able to sustain this military posture because it also holds decisive sway in Lebanese politics.
Some observers think its political control is waning. In the Lebanese national elections on May 15, Hizballah lost its parliamentary majority, and Reuters reports that there are now "more than a dozen reform-minded newcomers" in the Lebanese parliament.
This week's podcast guest takes a different view. Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he writes about the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. To his eye, the idea of a weakening Hizballah is not only wrong, it's exactly what Hizballah wants outsiders to think. In conversation with Mosaic's editor Jonathan Silver, he explains why it serves Hizballah's interests for Westerners to think that it's weak when it's not—and how even when Hizballah loses seats in Lebanon's parliament, it doesn't lose governing authority.
Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Shia Revolutionary Movement Hezbollah has played a determinative role in Lebanese politics for the last many years. |
| 0:16.0 | Its representatives first entered into the Lebanese parliament in 1992, entered into the government in 2005, |
| 0:22.8 | and from that time to this time, it has had growing and eventually decisive power in Lebanon. |
| 0:29.2 | Since 1997, the United States has designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization, |
| 0:35.0 | and in 2015, the U.S. Congress passed sanctions on foreign |
| 0:39.7 | parties that use U.S. banks to launder money that finances Hezbollah. It is heavily supported |
| 0:46.5 | by Iran, and it is the military force that most directly threatens Israel's northern border. |
| 0:52.8 | Since initiating a war with Israel in 2006, |
| 0:55.8 | it has built ever larger and more advanced rocket capabilities. On May 15th of this year, |
| 1:01.4 | Lebanon held general elections that would determine the composition of its parliament. |
| 1:06.4 | Soon after, Western press coverage of the results reported that Hezbollah lost seats. |
| 1:11.9 | Hezbollah and allies lose majority in Lebanon's parliamentary elections. |
| 1:16.3 | The Washington Post explained on May 17th. |
| 1:19.3 | On May 18th, Reuters noted that the elections saw gains by the anti-Hesbola Lebanese forces party |
| 1:26.4 | and more than a dozen reform-minded newcomers. |
| 1:29.6 | The article also quoted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's plea for cooperation between political groups. |
| 1:36.1 | A conventional wisdom has taken shape in the West, which holds that the spirit of reform is gaining, |
| 1:42.0 | and that the terrorist organization sponsored by Iran, allied with |
| 1:45.5 | Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the terrorist organization that governs Lebanon, has been downgraded. |
| 1:51.6 | My guest today believes that this conventional wisdom is not only wrong, but is in fact |
| 1:56.9 | consistent with an astute messaging initiative that does not embarrass Hezbollah, but in fact |
| 2:02.6 | serves the interests of Hezbollah. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. |
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