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Last update - 16:21 20/01/2008
Ministers call for assassination of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah
By Barak Ravid and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Israel, IDF, Hezbollah 

After Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday that his organization is holding the remains of Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War, several government ministers on Sunday called for the militant chief's assassination.

"Nasrallah is a cruel and crazy man," said Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas), during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "I don't understand why he is still breathing. We should have liquidated him a long time ago. I recommend the cabinet assassinate the man.

Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) echoed the sentiment, saying, "Nasrallah is a person who has crossed all lines of inhumanity. We don't need to negotiate with him, we need to destroy him."
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Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim called Nasrallah a "sewer rat," adding, "we must make sure he does not see the light of day."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday advised the cabinet ministers to pay no heed to Nasrallah, maintaining that responding to Nasrallah's remarks only lends them validity.

"The determining factor is not Nasrallah's comments. Our problem is that we always strengthen him and his words more than necessary. He always uses psychological pressure, and I recommend paying no heed to his comments," Barak said.

Israel: We won't negotiate on return of bodies
Highly-placed sources in Jerusalem said Saturday that Israel would not negotiate with Hezbollah over the return of soldiers' remains the Islamist group claimed to be holding and was focusing on obtaining the release of kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

The Jerusalem sources expressed shock at Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's claims about the body parts in his organization's possession.

"There is no intention of cooperating with Nasrallah. We will not be a party to profiteering in the remains of Israeli soldiers and will not trade in body parts," they said.

Senior military officials Saturday confirmed that Hezbollah was in possession of the remains of IDF who died in the Second Lebanon War.

They said the security establishment had updated the families of soldiers who could possibly be affected.

Sources in Jerusalem, meanwhile, confirmed that the person mediating between Israel and Hezbollah is continuing his efforts to bring about another prisoner exchange agreement, one that would include Regev and Goldwasser.

Israeli officials have long been aware that Hezbollah possesses the remains of Israeli soldiers. No complete bodies are involved; the bodies of all soldiers who were killed in the war were retrieved and buried in Israel and every family who asked received a full report about the state of the body at the time of burial.

A statement by the IDF Spokesman's Office said the statements "constitute a cruel and cynical move by an organization that fragrantly tramples the most fundamental, ethical codes, shows no respect for human rights or the international conventions that govern these matters ... we call upon all those with the most basic common sense to view him as cowardly and to condemn him."

Military officials said they believe the remains of about 10 soldiers are involved.

Nasrallah made the statements Saturday in a rally marking the Shi'ite holiday of Ashura.

"Oh Zionists, your army is lying to you ... your army has left the body parts of your soldiers in our villages and fields," Nasrallah said. "Our mujahideen used to fight these Zionists, killing them and collecting their body parts. I am not talking about regular body parts. I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have hands, we have legs ... there is even a near-complete body, a half or three-quarters of a body, from head, to chest to the torso," he added.

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      1.   force teh LEB govt and UNFIL to retrieve teh body parts 04:04  |  vik 20/01/08
      2.   anyone with basic common sense is against repugnant reactionary 04:18  |  Sam (UK) 20/01/08
      3.   All in the name of God, right Nasrallah? 04:45  |  Jon 20/01/08
      4.   Respect out rights 04:50  |  Faris Zaidan 20/01/08
      5.   I still can`t figure out 04:51  |  Robert 20/01/08
      6.   nasrallah 04:55  |  Josh 20/01/08
      7.   Excuse Nassrallah: He`s Just a Little Sick! 05:08  |  Brad 20/01/08
      8.   like all evil his turn will come, meanwhile like a ghoul he`ll 05:12  |  ralph 20/01/08
      9.   This hazer is so predictable 05:14  |  Felix 20/01/08
      10.   Disgusting 05:30  |  Philo-Semite 20/01/08
      11.   How ironic 05:42  |  Harvey 20/01/08
      12.   Objective 05:46  |  JJ 20/01/08
      13.   GOOLISH VAMPIRE, SICK MIND LET THE DEAD REST IN PEACE 05:48  |  Joe Barnathan 20/01/08
      14.   Good Publicity for Hizbullah 05:59  |  Appalled in EU 20/01/08
      15.   #3 Sam 06:02  |  Franco 20/01/08
      16.   Another sad reminder of the defeat that Israel suffered... 06:11  |  POP 20/01/08
      17.   Hizballah are not only Iran`s front troops in Lebanon but also 06:20  |  Albert 20/01/08
      18.   The West 06:31  |  Shtarka 20/01/08
      19.   HE` S A HERO 06:44  |  Muslim 20/01/08
      20.   And he is their religious leader? 07:12  |  Kurt 20/01/08
      21.   POP 07:20  |  judith 20/01/08
      22.   sick mofo`s 07:24  |  Kringe 20/01/08
      23.   respect for the dead 07:41  |  opinion 20/01/08
      24.   Why no one is atacking Olmert??? 08:01  |  Mark 20/01/08
      25.   POP Shouldn`t they just"flush the bones down the drain"as you 08:03  |  PETER SM 20/01/08
      26.   Israel has traded in body parts before 08:21  |  Natallie Durson 20/01/08
      27.   Sickening moron 08:25  |  Analyst 20/01/08
      28.   My goodness, Natallie! 08:54  |  Yehudit 20/01/08
      29.   Natallie Durson 08:58  |  S 20/01/08
      30.   Hey Nat: Use Your Body 09:07  |  Brad 20/01/08
      31.   Hizballa is a sick and disgusting organization, and I say it 09:13  |  Fouzi 20/01/08
      32.   Disappointing 09:15  |  Espart 20/01/08
      33.   Notice Lebanese "shepherds" crossing border 09:18  |  Rick and TC 20/01/08
      34.   Israel, the baby faced monster is just playing mind games 09:18  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/01/08
      35.   Muslim in Saudi Arabia 09:25  |  Neighbour 20/01/08
      36.   #29, S 09:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/01/08
      37.   Hypocracy 09:33  |  S.O. 20/01/08
      38.   reply: force teh LEB govt and UNFIL 09:33  |  Ali 20/01/08
      39.   # 26, NATALLIE DURSON 09:37  |  indrajaya 20/01/08
      40.   Nasrallah - a devil in sheep`s clothing 09:38  |  Meir 20/01/08
      41.   to muslim only a barbarian would approve of such evil worship it, 09:40  |  ralph 20/01/08
      42.   Lebanon sold itself to the Devil - Nasrallah 09:44  |  Mark 20/01/08
      43.   # 39, A CORRECTION 09:53  |  indrajaya 20/01/08
      44.   Mark #24 09:58  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 20/01/08
      45.   The return of soldiers remains. 09:59  |  Harold Lane 20/01/08
      46.   Faris Zaidan`s Day Off 10:04  |  Tex 20/01/08
      47.   nasrala forgot something 10:07  |  Adrian de Klerk 20/01/08
      48.   Nasrallah 10:10  |  Sarah 20/01/08
      49.   Nasrallah 10:20  |  Sarah 20/01/08
      50.   Wow, why is Hezbollah so desperate? 10:21  |  Joe Sittizen 20/01/08
      51.   Why is It so bad that he has boddy parts? 10:24  |  Libnanee 20/01/08
      52.   #17 Albert 10:26  |  Sarah 20/01/08
      53.   # 47, ADRIAN DE KLERK 10:28  |  indrajaya 20/01/08
      54.   #29 #39 #44 #43 10:43  |  John 20/01/08
      55.   STUPID, SELF SERVING POLITICIANS 11:13  |  Robert 20/01/08
      56.   ONCE MR. NISRALLAH SAY`S 11:22  |  EDDIE 20/01/08
      57.   Shi`a Islam is barbaric to begin with 11:25  |  Yonatan 20/01/08
      58.   Nasrallah isn`t as clever as he thought he was 11:27  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 20/01/08
      59.   Rhetoric that`s not too smart 11:30  |  Tzfonit 20/01/08
      60.   Silly cabinet ministers 11:46  |  Jacob 20/01/08
      61.   the butcher`s horror shop 11:53  |  scanadu 20/01/08
      62.   Well done Nasrallah 11:56  |  Refugee 20/01/08
      63.   Remember the bombs dropped by Israeli planes 11:57  |  Jacques 20/01/08
      64.   If Israel had the ability to assassinate Nasrallah 11:59  |  Natallie Durson 20/01/08
      65.   Nasrallah 12:03  |  Ussishkin 20/01/08
      66.   who liquidated who? 12:03  |  Imad 20/01/08
      67.   For Faris Zaidan 12:11  |  Star of David 20/01/08
      68.   Note to Nasrallah: 12:12  |  Natallie Durson 20/01/08
      69.   NASRALLA, ISRAEL, OLMERT, BUSH AND RICE. 12:15  |  BARUCH HASHEM 20/01/08
      70.   cruel and crazy...? 12:20  |  ravi 20/01/08