Crossed lines

This has been doing the rounds for a day or so, I’ve been holding off on posting about it as it’s all been a little unclear.

So, a telephone operator working for one of Lebanon’s two big telecommunications companies has been arrested for spying for Israel. Ok. So far, so what? This kind of accusation and arrest actually happens quite frequently in Lebanon, Google it, seems that some poor sod gets accused and spoken to every couple of weeks.

Only… looks like this one has some meat to it. He’s accused of tapping into the phone network and thereby allowing Israel to eavesdrop on all sorts of juicy gossip, learn your location via your phone and generally snoop about.

“Yes, that’s one large taouk plate, fries 

and a Coke, please.”

Telecoms security is a serious issue in Lebanon, Hezbollah came out in force to defend their private, presumably secure, network in the face of calls for them to be regulated a while ago. Seems that they were right to be worried.

On the plus side, I hear MTC are offering an exclusive, one time only deal if you want to switch over from Alpha. Hurry, lines are limited.

It keeps getting better

Bloody Israelis

So, they go and off a Hamas guy in Dubai and now the Arab, well, specifically the Lebanese, tendency toward paranoia has gone off the scale. Following my last post on the trials and tribulations of getting your papers in order, it turns out that Hezbollah regards every foreigner as a potential spook. Happy days.

Naharnet reports Hezbollah MP Nawaf Moussawi as saying, "We must tighten foreign passport control at the airport and elsewhere in the country," Moussawi went on to say, "Every Lebanese and Arab must deal with holders of foreign passports as potential spies."

I'd better not tell the wife.

Thelegalalien

Cheers, Avi. Really appreciate that. Honorary membership of Mossad. Great. Firstly, you steal our passports and then set the beardy brigade after us. I mean, I know we’re not flavour of the month at the moment, what with that little misunderstanding about war crimes and the whole food produce, West Bank-a.k.a.-Israel bumpf, but this is just taking the piss.

- TLA