By Debbie Schlussel

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a ridiculous op-ed piece by an Israeli newspaper editor, in which he claimed that Hezbollah’s power in Lebanon is waning and dying.  When I read it, I thought, “What is this guy smoking?”  And “What are the WSJ editors smoking in running it?”

Hezbollah & Girlieman Leader Nasrallah Censor Lebanon’s Textbooks

(Nasrallah Girlie Man by David Lunde/Lundesigns)

The writer’s claim was that Hezbollah has only one seat in the Lebanese parliament and that Iran has lost patience with the Hezbos.  PUH-LEEZE.  Hezbollah controls the Lebanese government.  There may be one open member of Hezbollah in its parliament, but there are many members of Hezbollah-allied Harakat Amal in the Lebanese parliament, including the speaker, Nabih Berri, who was the Hezbollah representative in negotiations over TWA Flight 847, which Hezbollah hijacked and on which the group tortured to death Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem. And Iran isn’t going anywhere. Hezbollah is its proxy of choice. Anyone who thinks otherwise lives on Fantasy Island.

Lebanese soldiers kept UN inspectors from investigating an explosion in a Hezbollah warehouse where arms were kept.  And Lebanon’s government–as I’ve noted–allowed Hezbollah to retain video cameras near the Beirut airport, which Hezbollah uses to surveil for dignitaries to kidap for ransom.  There is not a thing the Lebanese government does without the approval of Hezbollah.

And here’s yet more evidence that Hezbollah is more in control in Lebanon than ever.  Lebanon’s education minister is Hezbollah’s bitch and demands that schools to do what Hezbollah wants.

This week, Beirut’s International College (IC), one of Lebanon’s most renowned private schools agreed to plaster opaque stickers over pages of a middle school textbook that has irked the opposition, in particular Hezbollah.

MP Mohammed Fneish, a Hezbollah party member and the minister of labor in the outgoing cabinet, took issue with a US textbook called Modern World History that is taught at IC as a part of the middle school curriculum and last Sunday, according to Associated Press, called for the ministry of education to remove the book from the school.

Imad al-Ashkar, head of private education for the ministry of education, believes Fneish was encouraged to take action after a recent broadcast by Hezbollah-run television station, Al-Manar.

“Manar television spoke about it and showed the part of the book that contains some information [stating] that Hezbollah and Hamas and Islamic Jihad are terrorist organizations,” said Ashkar.

Ashkar said that the ministry of education responded by calling an urgent meeting on Monday with the school’s president, John Johnson, who arrived with members of the International College staff and a copy of the controversial book in hand.

Although the pages with which Al-Manar, and subsequently Fneish, took issue were not removed, as has been reported, Johnson did agree to have the section covered with stickers.

“The part [of the book] talking about what I told you is hidden totally… so no one can read anything under it. If you try to remove the sticker to read the text, it would take apart the page,” said Ashkar.

The International College administration has refused to comment further on the subject.  According to the secretary to the school’s Vice President of Alumni Affairs and Public Relations, queries on this subject should instead be redirected to the ministry of education.

Yes, the same ministry of education that is controlled by Hezbollah. And this college, headed by this dhimmi, Johnson, is now relinquishing its public relations AND its curriculum to Hezbollah by proxy.