Sayyid Ali Fahs, the official in charge of Hezbollah’s Preaching and Cultural Activity Unit, delivering a speech at a coming of age ceremony for girls in the Al-Mahdi school in Nabi Chit in the Bekaa Valley (Wadi Press, April 4, 2018)
Painting of Imad Mughniyeh watching characteristic scenes of the war (tanks on fire, a crashing helicopter, rockets landing in Israeli communities) (Ahmad Abdallah’s Facebook page).
Ahmad Abdallah near one of his paintings showing a scene of the Iran-Iraq War (Ahmad Abdallah’s Facebook page)
Signature and emblem of the Al-Mahdi School network – Al-Ahmadiyah, on graffiti of Hezbollah fighters and the Dome of the Rock (Facebook page of Kafr Kila)
Signature of the Educational Mobilization – Al-Khiyam sector, underneath graffiti reading, “The people, the army and the resistance are the shield of the homeland” – a slogan which Hezbollah is striving to inculcate in the Lebanese public (Facebook page of Kafr Kila).
Overview
- Hezbollah constructs a Shiite “mini-state” among the Shiite community in Lebanon, a mini-state which caters for the needs of Shiite inhabitants in all spheres of life. For this purpose, Hezbollah, supported by Iran, is engaged in establishing a civilian system, which operates alongside its military wing, in the spheres of education, culture, health, welfare, finance, sports, construction, agriculture, and more. The social institutions which were established by Hezbollah, as well as the extensive civilian activity, provide Shiite residents with a wide variety of services of the sort which is usually provided by the state (while taking advantage of the weakness of the Lebanese central government and the long-time neglect of the Shiite community). All this is used to create among the Shiites a “resistance society” supporting Hezbollah’s struggle against Israel.[1]
One of the civilian spheres of activity to which Hezbollah dedicates much attention is art and culture. Hezbollah’s activity in this field includes, among other things, lectures to Hezbollah operatives and supporters given by clerics, MPs, academics and military operatives; organization of painting exhibitions and “jihadi exhibitions” (displaying weapons used by Hezbollah and belongings of shahids); production of films, plays, and concerts (including an extensive import of culture products from Iran); and the publication of books on Shiite Islam, with an emphasis on support of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Hezbollah’s cultural and artistic activity is partly managed by the Cultural Unit (also referred to as the Preaching and Cultural Activity Unit). In addition, other social institutions in Hezbollah also engage in the direction and inculcation of artistic and cultural activity (for example, the Educational Mobilization,[2] the Al-Mahdi School network[3] and the women’s organizations[4]). Thus, the cultural and artistic activity is decentralized and the various spheres of activity are divided among various Hezbollah institutions.
Sayyid Ali Fahs, the official in charge of Hezbollah’s Preaching and Cultural Activity Unit, delivering a speech at a coming of age ceremony for girls in the Al-Mahdi school in Nabi Chit in the Bekaa Valley (Wadi Press, April 4, 2018)
- Hezbollah mobilizes its cultural and artistic activity to inculcate its ideology and the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the Shiite community, especially the younger generation. In the spheres of culture and art, outstanding values are support of Hezbollah (“the resistance”) and jihad (holy war) against Israel; nurturing Hezbollah’s cult of shahids and the glorification of shahada (heroic death of the sake of Allah). Other main values are supporting the Islamic Revolution in Iran and nurture the personality cult of Imam Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Paintings on the value of shahada
Glorification of shahids in Hezbollah’s mobilized art. Right: Painting of a mobilized artist in which a relative of a shahid is seen laying flowers on his grave, while his soul ascends to heaven in the background (Ahmad Abdallah’s Facebook page). Left: Portrait of the shahid Hadi Nasrallah, son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a clash with an IDF force in southern Lebanon in September 1997 (Ahmad Abdallah’s Facebook page)
Right: Cover of the book “Qassem Soleimani – Memories and Reflections,” on the experiences of the IRGC’s Qods Force commander in the Iran-Iraq War (Al-Maaref Association’s website). Left: Cover of the book “Imam Khamenei: The Leader and Source of Authority.” Issued in 2014 by the Al-Maaref Association publishing house, the book includes recognition of Khamenei by senior clerics as a source of religious authority (Al-Maaref Association’s website)
- Apparently, the United States has not imposed sanctions on Hezbollah’s Cultural Unit and other cultural and artistic institutions which are used for the indoctrination of Hezbollah operatives and the Shiite community in general (such as the Risalat Association or the Al-Maaref Association). Senior Hezbollah officials running Hezbollah’s cultural and artistic institutions were also not included in the US sanctions list.
Structure of the study
- The study will examine Hezbollah’s activity in four different spheres:
- Hezbollah’s Cultural Unit
- The Lebanese Arts Association – Risalat, mainly engaging the performing arts
- Al-Maaref Islamic Cultural Association, mainly engaging in publishing books and publications
- Ahmad Abdallah, mobilized artist engaging in visual arts
- “Popular art:” Organized graffiti on the wall erected by the IDF on the Israeli-Lebanese border
- Funding the cultural and artistic activity
- Appendix: The ITIC’s publications on Hezbollah’s civilian infrastructure
[1] Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hassan Nasrallah’s deputy, described Hezbollah’s social concept as follows: “Resistance, on our part, is a social worldview with all its aspects: military, cultural, political, and media-related resistance” (Naim Qassem, “Resistance Society: The Will of Shahada and the Creation of Victory,” Dar Al-Maaref al-Hikmiyah, 2008, p. 8). ↑
[2] See the ITIC's Information Bulletin, “Hezbollah’s Education Mobilization: An institution engaged in the indoctrination of Shiite students in Lebanon’s state and private educational systems, in preparation for their joining Hezbollah upon graduation” (July 2019). ↑
[3] See the ITIC's Information Bulletin, “Hezbollah operates networks of private schools indoctrinating the Shiite community in Lebanon with the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and with loyalty to Hezbollah and the path of terrorism” (July 2019). ↑
[4] See the ITIC's Information Bulletin, “Hezbollah’s Women's Organizations Unit” (August 2019). ↑
