LONDON: Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon angered Israelis and embarrassed officials in London after writing a blog post praising the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a staunchly anti-American cleric linked to Hezbollah.
Frances Guy, who has served nearly four years as the Britain’s ambassador in Lebanon, made her tribute following the cleric’s death late last week. Writing in a blog carried on the Foreign Office’s Web site, she called Fadlallah a decent human being and a "true man of religion."
"Lebanon is a lesser place the day after," she wrote. "If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace."
Officials in Jerusalem were furious. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor described Fadlallah as an extremist who inspired "suicide bombings, assassinations and all kinds of wanton violence."
"The British ambassador must decide whether promoting terror and giving it religious justification can be considered a heritage to be cherished," Palmor said.
Britain’s Foreign Office said Friday the posting had been removed "after mature consideration." A spokeswoman declined to elaborate.
Fadlallah has often been described as a spiritual mentor to Hezbollah — a group classified by the US as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah was a key player in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and carried out a string of high-profile attacks, including the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy and the Marine barracks and French military headquarters in Beirut.
Western intelligence sources said Fadlallah blessed the drivers of the vehicles used in the attack, an allegation the cleric long denied.
Fadlallah’s legacy extended far beyond Lebanon — he threw his support behind the Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and was one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s governing Dawa Party.
He mellowed with age, losing much of his 1980s militancy. His sermons, once fiery diatribes denouncing American imperialism, took on a pragmatic tone as he urged dialogue among nations.
The uproar over Guy’s message follows the dismissal of CNN editor Octavia Nasr after she expressed admiration for Fadlallah on Twitter.
Nasr, who had worked at the news network for 20 years, was fired Wednesday after saying Fadlallah was "one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot."
She later said in a blog that she had been referring to Fadlallah’s attitude toward women’s rights. The cleric has issued edicts banning "honor killings" of women and giving women the right to hit their husbands if attacked first.
She wrote that Fadlallah was "revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It’s something I deeply regret."
