A man at the scene of the assassination of deputy leader of Hamas' political wing Saleh al-Arouri, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, January 2, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A Lebanese-born history professor currently teaching at the University of British Columbia in Canada recently found himself targeted in an online campaign accusing him of collaborating with Israel following the assassination of Hamas' deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut on Jan. 2.
Numerous internet users shared a post alleging that he is the son of Hezbollah's Executive Council President Hashem Safieddine and insinuating his involvement in the assassination of the senior Hamas figure. These rumors compelled him to issue a denial on social media.
Saleh al-Arouri, along with six other officials and members of Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya, were killed last Tuesday in an airstrike attributed to Israel targeting an office of the Palestinian Islamist movement in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have accused Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the strike, of being behind the attack — the first near Beirut since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
On Saturday, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets towards a military base in northern Israel, presenting this attack as its first retaliation for the elimination of the Hamas deputy leader.
"Hisham Hashem Safieddine, the son of the president of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Hashem Safieddine, was arrested for collaborating with Israel following the assassination of Saleh el-Arouri. The individual who was in Saleh el-Arouri's office and left before his assassination was indeed Hachem Safieddine," a message widely circulated on the X network stated.
يحب أن يكون العميل من هذا الصف والإ الإختراق يكون صعباً #عمالة_بعمالة pic.twitter.com/TA0xMoyk4z
— Antoine A. Saad (@antoinesaad12) January 7, 2024
Reacting to these accusations, the director of the NGO Legal Agenda, Nizar Saghieh, denounced the hostile campaign against Hisham Safieddine and shared the clarification published by the academic.
"Erroneous information claiming that I am the son of the President of the Executive Council of Hezbollah and accusing me, among other things, of collaboration with Israel, has circulated on social media," the professor wrote. He continued, "This information is slanderous against me, for reasons that I still do not understand, although it appears that these are politically motivated given the identity and affiliation of certain individuals who spread this information."
بدأت منذ ايام حملة ضد الصديق هشام صفي الدين متهمة اياه بما تفتقت عنه مخيلة الجهة الدافعة لها. ورغم تكذيب الخبر بأدلة قاطعة ما يزال مؤيدون لنفس الجهة يكررون نفس الاتهامات وكأن لم يسمعوا شيئا. حين نتهم بالعمالة جزافا هكذا فذلك يعني اننا لا نفهم شيئا عن الوطنية. كل التضامن مع هشام! pic.twitter.com/e95EpGC66G
— Nizar SAGHIEH (@nsaghieh) January 8, 2024
Hisham Safieddine has stated that he is not detained and is currently a professor in Canada, specifying that his father's name is Nazem Safieddine.
Several internet users also pointed out in their posts that Hashem Safieddine's son is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of the influential chief of the Revolutionary Guards' external operations, Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in January 2020 in Baghdad, Iraq. However, the son of the head of Hezbollah's executive council is named Reda, not Hisham.
