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| قاسم حجيج - Kassem Hejeij |
#Kassem_Hejeij #قاسم_حجيج
Our Heroes Denied Our cinemas are replete with champions and legends.
Drama or comedy; our greatest heroes are often misjudged, maligned, and
initially labeled as villains or tyrants. From Spiderman, Batman, and
Alfred Hitchcock’s, Roger Thornhill from North by Northwest, to the
Green Mile’s John Coffey, provision of the public good is firstly
greeted with government persecution and condemnation. It’s a formula
plot line in which the protagonist confronts a harsh and often
authoritarian antagonist. Typically, the story follows our hero engaging
in an act that saves or redeems another, only to fall victim himself of
autocratic persecution. This oppression frequently is enacted by a
totalitarian or authoritarian government, resulting in the loss of civil
liberties. Now, as too often is the case, life imitates art and Kassem
Hejeij finds himself ostracized and unjustly condemned, without due
process.
Since 1998, Hejeij has been a beloved member and leader in the south
Lebanon town of Deir Ntar. Unique in the Nabatieh province as in all of
Southern Lebanon, Deir Ntar has remained free of Hezbollah and Amal
control and influence. Through his personal wealth, Hejeij has fended
off the militant despots by providing food, medical care and jobs for
the people of his village. Additionally, Hejeij has re-built bridges,
roads, electrical infrastructure, and schools frequently destroyed by
militia actions. He has fought for years to prevent Hezbollah from
taking over the region. Today, instead of being honored for his efforts,
Mr. Hejeij has been falsely accused of being a terrorist sympathizer.
His personal, political and financial battle against Hezbollah and the
lesser Amal, has been rewarded by the United States in his recent
designation as an OFAC – Specially Designated National (SDN). After a
generation in time and an untiring battle against the oppression of
Hezbollah’s terrorism, Hejeij has now being condemned by the oppression
of U.S. totalitarianism.
Void of Due Process Without judicature, hearing or appeal, and with
scant explanation, the US Department of the Treasury which administers
and enforces economic and trade sanctions through The Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) designated Hejeij a Hezbollah “facilitator”. The
U.S. Treasury is short on details announcing in three sparse sentences.
“Hejeij is a Lebanese businessman that maintains direct ties to Hezbollah organizational elements.”
“In addition to his support to Adham Tabaja and his affiliated companies
in Iraq, Hejeij has helped open bank accounts for Hezbollah in Lebanon
and provided credit to Hezbollah procurement companies.”
“Hejeij has also invested in infrastructure that Hezbollah uses in both Lebanon and Iraq.”
The OFAC’s argument seems to lack credence. Every financial institution
in Lebanon is likely to have some tangible link to Hezbollah, along with
the Lebanese armed forces, and obviously the 12 Hezbollah members of
the Lebanese Parliament. As for investments in infrastructure, it’s no
secret that Hejeij has paid to build roads and bridges. Roads and
bridges that had been destroyed by Hezbollah, and rebuilt by Hejeij for
the aid, comfort, and safety of innocent civilians. It’s puzzling that
OFAC does not describe the alleged “support” that Tabaja and his
companies received. And it’s suspicious when you consider that Tabaja
and his companies were “designated” on the same date as, but not before
Hejeij. Therefore, any alleged support of Tabaja or his companies would
have occurred before any designation or prohibitive band on either.
Selling the Story So, how does this phenomenon of hero denunciation
manifest and propagate? We may observe Professor Lawrence Kohlberg’s
stage-one of moral reasoning, (usually found in young children), where
decisions and actions are based on self-gratification and jealousy,
without regard for the cost to others. And so it was, for the fictional
character basis of J. Jonah Jameson, the antagonist, and propagandist of
the Spiderman stories. But for Jameson as well as, and all instances of
real-life authoritarian oppression, the audience or citizenry becomes
as much of a victim as the autocrat’s primary target.
In Mr. Hejeij’s case, the Treasury and OFAC’s skeletal information
restrict society to deal with only the limited information they would
provide as if it were all there is to know. Therefore, we (the audience)
build the best possible story from the information available, and if it
is a good story, we believe it. Paradoxically, it is easier to
construct a coherent story when we know little and when there are fewer
pieces to fit into the puzzle. The autocrat’s comforting conviction is
that its ability to make sense rests on a secure foundation of which the
general public is consumed by an almost unlimited ability to ignore its
ignorance. The amount of evidence and its quality do not count for much
because poor evidence can make a very good story. For some of our most
important beliefs we have no evidence at all, except that people we
respect and trust hold these beliefs. Considering how little we know,
the confidence we have in our beliefs is preposterous.
Nevertheless, our intellectual sanctity is preserved with the undeniable
redemption of our hero. It’s how these stories go; we return to the
original plot line as good triumphs over evil and at the length truth
will out. Maybe not today or as soon as tomorrow, but Kassem Hejeij will
find deliverance. The U.S. if not the Treasury itself will come to
embrace Hejeij as the ally he is and he will be exonerated. Hejeij is
the front-line fighting a personal battle against a U.S. enemy. As the
catch phrase goes; he has “boots on the ground”, and they are his boots,
literally under fire and at risk every day he aids his region and
constituents. As any revered character in heroic epic poetry or champion
of contemporary scripting, Hejeij serves without expectation of
reciprocity or tribute. Kassem Hejeij fights unsung day after day, to
create a peaceful, healthy, and secure homeland for his people. A hero
for our times
