The commotion underway in Lebanon over the Special Tribunal for the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and his comrades is pointless, except that it creates a climate of tension in the country, because it will not do away with the work of international magistrate Daniel Bellemare, or the Special Tribunal for Lebanon itself. If the objective of this commotion is to engage in scaremongering about civil strife, and paralyze the country even more than it currently is, then this itself is a politicization of the STL's results, which has yet to issue an indictment whose contents remain unknown. The politicization is a pre-emptive move against the indictment, and a warning of civil strife is meant to pressure the Lebanese government into requesting that the STL be dissolved. What does politicizing the STL mean? Was the assassination of Rafiq Hariri and his comrades a theft, or a purely ordinary misdemeanor? The crime was political, and Hariri's assassination took place for purely political reasons, just as leaders and officials in Lebanon were assassinated in the past, when they strayed beyond the borders drawn for them by regional powers. Certainly, the indictment that will be issued by Bellemare will be linked to politics. This is because those who carried out the assassination did so for clearly political objectives, and the indictment can only assign a political meaning to the action of the criminals. Saying that the STL should not be politicized is meaningless, unless new ideas are being put forward, namely that the assassination of Hariri and his comrades took place for non-political reasons. Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon are now waging an early campaign against the indictment, which has yet to be issued. The commotion surrounding the politicization of the STL reminds us of Dostoyevksy's novel Crime and Punishment, as the criminal hero, Raskolnikov, considers that he is an exceptional human being, and that he can carry out a despicable criminal act for a reason that is good for him. However, in the end he cannot escape the pain and anguish of carrying out his crime. As the campaign against the STL, which cannot be eliminated, continues, we should ask about the reason for spreading the fear and tension, while the identity of the killer is known only to the person who killed Hariri. If this commotion was meant to serve the interest of the Iranian ally, which is trying to hit back at United Nations Security Council Resolutions through Lebanon, beginning with UNSCR 1559, which talked about Hezbollah's weapons, followed by 1691, which established the STL, to arrive at 1929, with its painful international sanctions on Iran, then these resolutions will not be cancelled. But if the commotion is meant to pressure the Lebanese government to request a cancellation of the STL, this is also not possible, because the STL has been funded for this year, and Bellemare is aware that he must hurry, since he has sufficient funding to complete his work. This is in order for him to avoid the problem of a slowing-down of funding. The threat of civil strife to block or cancel the STL is merely a threat, since the STL cannot be canceled, now that it has been established. Politicizing the tribunal is meaningless, since the crime is political, in any case. If the indictment accuses Lebanese, Syrians or Israelis, this in itself is politicization, since the reason for the crime is political. Let us stop hiding behind words and accusations whose objective is politicization, tension and domination by force. Let us remember the martyrs who have fallen, and whose blood has been shed like others before them. Why were Samir Kassir, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Gemayel, Walid Eido, Basil Fleihan and Francois Hajj killed? Why were Kamal Jumblatt, Bashir Gemayel, Rene Mouawad and George Hawi killed? Why was Marwan Hamade almost killed? All of this blood has been shed in vain, by a decision by the killer, whose arrest is not something that certain people want – the killer is not to be located, or revealed, because the law of murder and assassination in Lebanon is supposed to be stronger than international law. It is time for the truth to come out, or else the high-profile visits to Lebanon will create unrealistic scenarios of canceling the STL. The international tribunal cannot be killed.
