Ibrahim Mousawi (; also spelled Moussawi or El-Moussaoui, born 1965) is a Lebanese journalist and spokesman for the Islamist group

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

Biography

He was born in 1965 to a family from

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

and grew up in the southern suburbs of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. Mousawi is

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

. He has two BAs in Journalism and

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

from the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU; ) is the only state-funded public university in Lebanon. It was established in 1951. The university's main campus was originally located in Beirut, but a few satellite campuses were opened due to travel restriction ...

and has worked as a

head master A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s. Mousawi is editor of the weekly Hezbollah newspaper al-Intiqad (Criticism) in Beirut. He has been quoted as a

spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

since at least 1998. He joined the Hezbollah TV station

Al Manar Al-Manar () is a Lebanese satellite television station owned and operated by the Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah,

(the Beacon), which does not include Israeli officials in its broadcasts because, according to Mousawi, "It sraelis an enemy state," and "Why would you put spokesmen for an enemy state on the air?" He hosted a political talk show and worked as editor-in-chief of foreign news at Al Manar. In an article for the '' Daily Star'' in 2002, Mousawi explained the religious basis for

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s in a ''

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

'' of

Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (; 16 November 1935 – 4 July 2010) was a prominent Lebanese- Iraqi Twelver Shia cleric. Born in Najaf, Iraq, Fadlallah studied Islam in Najaf before moving to Lebanon in 1952. In the following de ...

Jeffrey Goldberg Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born 1965) is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic''. During his nine years at ''The Atlantic'' before becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affairs. He moderated ...

wrote in the ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'' magazine that Mousawi had said to him that "Jews are a lesion on the forehead of history." When ''Al-Manar'' was banned from French

satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

for airing a 29-part

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

special ''

Ash-Shatat ''Ash-Shatat'' (; also transliterated ''Al Shatat'') is a 29-part Syrian television series, produced in 2003 by a private Syrian film company, Linn, at a cost of $5.1m. Production Although it was produced in Syria and the closing credits give ...

'' (Diaspora) during October–November 2003, which featured the "

Blood libel against Jews Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...

" and quoted extensively from the

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

, Mousawi said the ban resulted from "political pressure by the Jewish lobby". He earned his MA in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

(AUB) in 2003. Mousawi rose to prominence during the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

as a spokesman for Hezbollah. He said that "Pain is the only language that the enemy understands". Following the cessation of hostilities, Mousawi was invited to speak to European audiences in Ireland, Germany and the UK, where he was announced as a Hezbollah spokesman on posters of the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

. Mousawi received a PhD in

Political Islam Political Islam is the interpretation of Islam as a source of political identity and action. It advocates the formation of state and society according to (the advocates understanding of) Islamic principles, where Islam serves as a source of poli ...

from

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 2007. The title of his dissertation was "Compatibility between Islam and democracy; Shiism and democracy under Wilayat Al-Faqih, Iran as a case study''". He co-authored an article on "''Hizbullah's Jihad Concept" and lectures on Political Science at AUB. In October 2007, Mousawi was refused entry to Ireland on security grounds following a recommendation from the Gardaí and he is also barred from entering the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

because of his links with Hezbollah. The British Conservative Party tried to have Mousawi banned from Britain like

Yusuf al-Qaradawi Yusuf al-Qaradawi (; or ''Yusuf al-Qardawi''; 9 September 1926 – 26 September 2022) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. His influences included Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn ...

and

Moshe Feiglin Moshe Zalman Feiglin (; born 31 July 1962) is a right libertarian-leaning Israeli politician and activist, and the leader of libertarian Zionist party Zehut. As a member of Likud, he headed the Manhigut Yehudit (''Jewish Leadership'') faction w ...

in February 2008, but failed. Mousawi's visit was condemned by Conservative Party Leader

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

and by shadow Defence Minister Baroness Neville-Jones, a former chairwoman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. In February 2009, Hezbollah publicly appointed Mousawi as its new media relations officer.Hezbollah appoints new media relations officer
iloubnan.info - February 04, 2009 When Mousawi was announced for a UK visit in March 2009, campaigners from the

Centre for Social Cohesion The Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) was a right-wing British think tank with its headquarters in London. Founded in 2007 as part of another London think tank, Civitas, it became independent in 2008 and was eventually subsumed into a separate Lon ...

pledged to seek an arrest warrant for him. He was banned from the UK in March 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mousawi, Ibrahim Lebanese journalists Hezbollah members 1965 births Living people Musawis Lebanese University alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham