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ISRAEL: Drugs - going out with a bong?

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‘At the end of every joint sits Nasrallah,’ an irresistible headline beckoned me this morning. A mouse-click led to a critique of the new campaign ad by The Israeli Anti-Drug Authority, showing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah wafting, genie-like, out of a bong. ‘They want to destroy us from within,’ it cautioned. Hezbollah intends to flood Israel with drugs, which pose a strategic threat to Israeli society: ‘Anyone doing drugs is lending a hand to the next terror attack!’ The ads (below) ran in Tuesday’s papers.

Israel and the Shiite organization Hezbollah are military adversaries, as any kid both sides of the border knows. But there are also indirect aspects to this war, say some Israeli experts, warning that besides the obvious, cross-border drug-running adds to the organization’s strategic threat.

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While this particular scene isn’t necessarily a big player in global narco-terror, arrests of people suspected of disclosing information to Hezbollah as part of drug-rings are not uncommon here. The latest case was last week. The campaign ad thanks the various security units working day and night against dealers bringing drugs into Israel in return for aiding terror infrastructure.

So, if you are one of between half and one million normative Israelis rolling the occasional joint, writes Yonatan Elmaliach in today’s City Mouse, an online entertainment guide, know that you are enemies of the state, miserable little terrorists.

‘Every drag - a kassam rocket! Every joint - a suicide bombing! The fate of our kidnapped soldiers is on your conscience! No wonder you need a joint to fall asleep at night. Shame on you!,’ he sarcastically scolds pot-doing Israelis, directing his criticism at the over-the-top ad.

I could conclude by demanding the Israeli Anti-Drug Authority be charged and tried for incitement, he writes, but instead recommends tongue-in-cheek that people just lay off the bong and move on to harder drugs: ‘At least you won’t have the next terror attack on your conscience.’

— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

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