Bartholomew's Notes

Private Eye magazine draws attention (1) to a curious story that links Hezbollah with Gallaher, the British tobacco firm that makes Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges cigarettes. Gallaher is apparently in a legal dispute with its former Middle East distributor, Tlais Enterprises Ltd (TEL). One of TEL’s complaints against Gallaher is that it allegedly tried to use Hezbollah to lobby the Iranian government to refund tax on damaged goods, in return for which Hezbollah would receive £250,000 if they were successful. The allegations first surfaced back in February, in the Sunday Times:

Yesterday Gallaher, the maker of Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut cigarettes, “denied categorically” that it had entered into any arrangement with Hezbollah.

…However, Tlais Enterprises, which is owned and run by Ptolomeous Tlais (2), a Lebanese businessman, states in a High Court claim which was lodged last week that: “Gallaher enlisted the services of a Middle Eastern group (that is proscribed in the US) to negotiate on its behalf, in an attempt to recover the duty.”

The deal, however, fell through, for a rather predictable reason:

…According to a source close to the negotiations, the radical Islamic group had an objection to dealing with tobacco.

Private Eye now adds:

[TEL barrister Dinos] Saveriades told the Eye that Gallaher, realising the sensitivity of using Hezbollah, advised against referring to it in any correspondence. From then on an abundance of letters, seen by the Eye, refers simply to “the group”.

…when he tried to hand up a transcript from a covertly recorded video of two senior Gallaher executives apparently discussing the Hezbollah deal, the judge declined. The video has been disclosed as part of the evidence by TEL to Gallaher, which told the court that it disputed its authenticity. But here’s a flavour of its contents: “The resolution of the duty issue into Iran is in the hands of Hezbollah. If Hezbollah can’t do it, it probably can’t be done.”

Gallaher’s website, meanwhile, tells us that

…We are committed to responsible behaviour and high ethical values in the way we conduct our business. Underpinning these key principles is our behaving responsibly values statement.

UPDATE: When I wrote the above, I was unaware of a 2002 New Yorker report which claimed that Hezbollah actually raises some funds through tobacco smuggling in South America. Hezbollah is also allegedly involved with the marijuana trade in the middle east, including the Israeli market. Some Israeli marijuana users are now responding with a boycott.

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(1) Paper only – issue 1164 p. 29.

(2) Private Eye states that the owner is Abu Hameed, who is Tlais’s brother.

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Staying with Agape, a rather odd comment from right-wing Christian “media critic” Ted Baehr about Mel Gibson:

Baehr says while Gibson’s actions are deplorable, they probably will not end his career or influence.

“The industry is not the industry of the founding fathers of the movie industry, which was predominantly an industry controlled by people out of the garment district who were Jewish,” says Baehr. “The point of the matter is that what they want are people who are team players.”

“Predominantly an industry controlled by people out of the garment district who were Jewish” seems to be a rather roundabout way of saying “predominently an industry controlled by Jews”. Uncharacteristically, however, Baehr does not pass judgement on whether it is good or bad that a drunken anti-Semitic tirade is (supposedly) less likely to end a star’s career today than in the past.

Baehr gives further thoughts over at ASSIST (caps in original):

…”Some in Hollywood are calling for Mel to be burned at the stake,” Baehr said, “but where were these people when Christians were being bashed in THE DA VINCI CODE, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, LAST TEMPATION OF CHRIST, and CLERKS II?”Mel’s behavior was shocking,” Baehr added. “However, he was very quick to repent and ask for forgiveness. No one is infallible. We are all fallen and we all need forgiveness. Mel Gibson is certainly no exception.”

Baehr also noted that the media seems to have forgotten Rev. Jesse Jackson’s characterization of New York City as “hymie town” and Rev. Al Sharpton’s comments about Jewish “diamond merchants,” not to mention Spike Lee’s racist comments about white women who date black men.

Ted Baehr has featured on this blog previously, when I noted his support of the absurd Judith Reisman in her campaign against the film Kinsey. His MovieGuide website classifies films along a supposedly Christian scale from “wholesome” to “abhorrent”; the latter category has included films such as The Story of the Weeping Camel, a National Geographic documentary about Mongolia which included depiction of Mongolian Buddhist practices (the review, as I quoted here, urged potential viewers to “Consider the Lamb of God Instead”). In 2004 Christianity Today magazine suggested that Baehr’s second business, as a film promoter, conflicts with his role as film critic; the subsequent controversy is discussed here.

UPDATE: The Guardian concurs with Baehr’s assessment of Gibson’s prospects, but has a rather different take on Hollywood’s Jewish aspect:

…in Hollywood, money talks, and by the end of the week it was becoming clear that Gibson, after serving due penitence, would be sheltered as one of Tinseltown’s own.

However:

…”Bigots have so often accused our community of being ‘run by Jews’ that I think it has entered our psyche. We have become so defensive that when faced with a disgusting incident starring a movie star, we as individuals remain relatively silent.” So wrote veteran Hollywood producer Merv Adelson in an ad in the LA Times.

…The Hollywood system was set up by eastern European Jewish immigrants early last century. As Neal Gabler suggests in An Empire of Their Own: “Hollywood Jews embarked on an assimilation so ruthless that they cut their lives to the pattern of American respectability as they interpreted it.” Hollywood’s Jews largely failed to speak out against Hitler or the Nazis until the US had entered the second world war; Jewish studio heads were complicit in the McCarthy witchhunts of the 1950s.

To some observers, that instinct still prevails: business must go on.

“Being old means I have no agenda,” concluded Adelson. “I don’t have to worry about not getting a movie made or being politically correct. Let’s make ourselves proud and not support this jerk in any way, just because he’s a so-called ‘star’.”

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Agape Press reports on a boost for Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham and his Answers in Genesis ministry:

Relying primarily on thousands of donations under $100, the Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis (AiG) has been constructing the Creation Museum, a $25 million project near Cincinnati, Ohio. Imagine their surprise — as well as shouts of joy and prayers of thanksgiving — when a Colorado foundation recently made a one-million-dollar donation to the project.

The $1 million donation was provided by the Christian Community Foundation of Colorado, one of a number of charities currently prospering in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Gazette reported in June:

Christian Community Foundation, a locally based group of 500 donors, has more than doubled its assets in the past five years, from $67 million in 2001 to $172 million in 2005, according to John Mulder, president.

“In our 25-year history, our past five years of charitable activity have approached the total for our first 20 years,” he said.

Mulder cited donors’ ability to see the positive impact of their dollars as the reason for the growth.

And here is that “positive impact”:

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